Wednesday

Yesterday was a blast! I heard there were over 500,000 people in the crowd to watch the parade in Dublin. That's about 1/8 of the population of Ireland. It was so crowded I could barely move. I didn't have the greatest view to start with, but two guys lifted me onto a phone booth (I think they saw the disappointed look on my face when I couldn't see anything). I had the BEST view of the parade from the top of that thing! The first photo is looking north down O'Connell Street.

The crowd was a sea of green hats. The kids were especially decked out with dyed hair, ribbons, and hats they made at school. I had a good few hours up on the phone booth to watch everyone. The actual parade lasted about an hour. In the parade there were marching bands, floats, dancers, actors, acrobats, and cars/motorcycles. The parade is televised and many people will watch it in their homes. And if you're not into crowds, I can see why! (Dad, you would've gone crazy.) There were also pretty big parades in the towns around the area.

The buses were on a holiday schedule and didn't go to where I usually get on/off due to the parade, so I ended up walking around for awhile until I found a stop with my bus number. I spent an hour or so back at Marie's home before going to meet the other student teachers in Bray, another coastal town about 15 minutes away by bus. The other girls are really nice. One of them I actually went to Western with and recognized.

The bottom photo is me in front of the river Liffey. It works as a perfect reference point for getting around Dublin. Sadly, the river was not dyed green this year.

You can play the video I posted below.