St. Patricks Day!!!

Day 2...

I woke up at 6:30am..got ready..then met up with everyone for Breakfast downstairs at 7:30am. We all left on a coach bus around 8 and headed for St. Patrick's Cathedral. Our tour guide for that day was from Ireland. She explained different parts of the city while on the bus and had quite a sense of humor too. The one quote I remember her saying was " A woman is to be loved, not understood." I forget who she said wrote it but I thought it was great and true!

We arrive at the Cathedral and it was so BEAUTIFUL! When you walk into the church it is just incredible to see how big it is! The architecture was just amazing to see because I remember learning about these buildings when taking an Art history class last year. How they used a lot of arches and stained glass during that time period. While in the church they're were a lot of exhibits to look at. I really liked looking at the old books...such as the music books...I've taken music appreciation in the past and the way music all started is very interesting to me. There was a choir of children singing and some people were praying. St. Patricks is more of a religious holiday in Ireland as in the US it is more of an excuse to drink and party. The tour guide then gave us some time to look around and buy any souveiners. I decided to buy rosary beads and then I walked outside to the bus.

We took a ride to a beautiful park that had a HUGE cross that was given to the land from Pope John Paul 2..I took some pics and then we got back onto the bus. We also saw the (white house) of Ireland. I had no idea that a woman was President there and that there was a previous woman president. I guess you can say I had cultural shock when I heard that because it is crazy for us that Hillary is running for President..that is my opinion. So then we ended up at Trinity College for the book of Kells. The tour guide then left and we were on our own. The book of Kells was interesting because of how this guy had the neatess hand writing!! I thought the library was insane!! It reminded me of the library in the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast." The people that guarded the exhibits were very strict because you were not allowed to video or take pictures.
It was time to see the famous St. Patrick's Day Parade!!! Unfortunately is was way to packed at the time...so I did not see it...kids were climbing up on street lights and sitting on top of telephone booths to catch the view but I wasn't going to risk getting hurt in a different country!!!I got my face painted with a shamrock..had my irish drinking shirt..bought a irish scarf, and irish whistle be part of the festivities. It was just madness but I had a lot of fun spending it with my new friends. A lot of walking, but lucky for us, the day was beautiful with the sun shining making it feel not so cold.

Later..checked out the fair that was in the middle of the city. It was very "Americanized"...reminded me of being at Great Adventure..Me, Tamika, and April decided to go on the ferris wheel because we heard from locals the view is great. It was Tamika's first time on one..and well..I give her a lot of credit going on it because the ride was not safe at all!!! I was sitting next to where you get out.. I mean I could litterally fall out of this thing with one wrong move!!!(good thing they didn't open bars till 4pm!!)

We all eventually met up with everyone near the spire for dinner. Please forgive me for not remembering the names to these places...but it was a cute little place and they served us fish and chips..the fish was ehhh but the chips were good..like I said before..the food was not great..but after walking all day anything tasted good. After dinner most of us went back to the Hotel to chill out before going back to the city...afterall how could you not go to the pubs on St. Patricks Day!?

The pubs were packed and filled with drunk people...had a lot of fun and danced the night away..met some locals outside and learned a little about there culture...I think meeting people was probably one of the best things about the trip. It started getting late so we all went back to the hotel and met some more locals. Did not get to sleep till 8am the next morning!! St. Patrick's Day was probably one of the best days on the trip and it just made me more excited about the rest of the week!!!