A whole lotta green!

March 17th and St Patrick's day has arrived.  We woke to a gorgeous sunny morning.  The townhouse we were staying at had a lovely cafe- Coco's downstairs and we trooped off for a pre-parade breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for me, a HUGE omelet for Frank and the girls had french toast with fruit and maple syrup.  The coffee was awesome too.  Then it was up a half block or so to Eyre Square- the roads were filling up fast- we found a spot in the sun and waited behind the guard rails for the parade to begin.  We found some friendly leprechauns handing out necklaces and some general cheer.  After about an hour the parade started up the street- there were little kids hurling, huge floats, small floats- some interesting characters all round- there was even a circus and the local army contingent.  A good hour or so of parade and it was over.  What a great way to spend a morning in Ireland.
Afterwards we headed to a camera store that I had found, who could charge my battery for 5 euros- being there is still no sign of my charger I will have to do this so I can capture the rest of this trip.  We had 2 hours before we could return and retrieve it.  A coffee shop sounded in order while the crowds dispersed (most of the crowds straight to the pubs!) We walked back down shop street to the water and a lovely walk on the water to the tip of Galway- there was plenty of cheer going on that is for sure.  The girls were hungry, so we made a quick stop at Apache Pizza- and then back up the street to retrieve my battery.  Back to the room we had a small break from the madding crowds - we could hear them walking by!
We headed back out and thought we would search for a pub and some dinner- this were knew might be a tough task at this hour and considering that people were piling into the pubs and not so many leaving.  We tried the Kings Head again- we got in but it was packed- we were prevented from going out for a few minutes as a couple of guys had decided to cause a ruckus with the bouncers (silly boys).  We walked down a ways on the main drag then turned down a little side street and happened upon Busters Bar- the food looked good and the crowd pretty tame- we even found a table right away.  The girls ordered a small dinner - still full from the pizza.  Frank and I were pretty famished- we had good burger and Irish stew respectively.  After we were full and ambled back to the hotel.  The girls were done, so we dropped them off and then headed out for a nightcap- we found a bit of live music and some great drinks in a bar called Garvans.  The Irish coffee was to die for. A quick one and we headed back to the hotel dodging the litter strew streets- the was one heck of a mess left after all this St Paddy's revelry. A great bucket list item checked off.