Back to the grind after Paddy's Day
James Britton | Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 1:39PM
We had a great three-day weekend and it was much more laid back than I had planned, which was kinda nice. On Saturday, I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Galway with Erin and Aidan. It rained the entire day. Actually it rained the entire weekend, but that wasn't enough to dampen our spirits.
Though rainy, the parade was about the best I'd ever been to, period. There were school marching bands, traditional dancers, fun-costumed dancers, Gaelic football clubs, hurling clubs, pipers, ethnic groups of Galway and of course St. Patrick himself and a few fun variations as well. There were only a handful of corporate sponsored floats which is how it should be. The only other St. Patrick's Day Parade I have attended was in St. Louis and although it was large, it was mostly company sponsored groups dressed up in kitschy garb. I could definitely spot the American tourists a mile away since they were the only ones dressed in green leprechaun hats wearing t-shirts emblazoned with Kiss me, I'm Irish and shamrocks.
The crowd was quite large and estimated to be about 50,000, although it didn't seem like that many. Maybe the rain forced all but the hard-core parade goers to the pubs to watch Ireland give Italy a pounding in rugby, only to see their hopes of winning the 6 Nations Rugby title dashed after Scotland allowed France to score at the end of the following game. I digress... It was a great parade and I highly recommend attending it next year if you can.
Since it rained all weekend, we were forced inside for most of it. We cooked great meals, drank plenty of Guinness and watched loads of movies. It was a great break before the last two weeks of classes. Off to finish my paper...
St. Patrick's Day, family, undefined 
Reader Comments (3)
***James***
Hey sounds like a great time. I can't see that far ahead but as of now my travels probably won't take me to Ireland. Maybe the Czech Republic, Europe area..
Finals week for me ends in two days. Work hard these last couple weeks bro. Keep bloggin', love reading your stuff.
Wow, you have finals already? Are you on a quarter system? I have 2 weeks of class left, a 3 week break for Easter, then 2 weeks of final exams, finally the semester will be over for the summer. Best wishes on your exams!
glad it was a good parade!!! sounds like you had a blast.