The great parade, or how I tried to miss it.

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Waking up the next morning on St. Patty's Day, I had high expectations as I was planning on heading out of town to meet a friend who lives in Dublin(Jenny), while Scott enjoyed the parade. We got up early enough and I was not able to contact my friend as her cell phone seemed off, so I went into town with Scott until I would get the train out. We ended up going to the main street and standing somewhere so we could get a glimpse of the parade(about 2 hours before it started). I continued calling numerous times to Jenny, but had no luck getting through and was still standing in the same place when the parade started at 12:30.
First up after the officials and horses walked by was a bit shocking. West Des Moines Valley High School (who had destroyed my school in drama festivals for some years) was the lead marching band, though they were pretty terrible, so I gave in my 'FAIRFIELD ROCKS' to them as they passed. The parade itself was fantastic though a camera could best interpret the many columns and groups that filed past showing off the incredible amount of work each organization must of put into their work artistically and in labor. My favorite by far was a German group that had these terrifying men in monks robes and stone masks with each strapped to their back 40 or 50 bells of various sizes, and all 20 of the monks jumping simultaneously made quite a ghastly sound along the road. But anything from transvestites to miming men on stilts with wire bodies cast in front of them came trotting by and I can hardly remember the half of it all. Quite splendid but crowded as Dublin must be in that time.

With the parade finishing, the giant crowd dispersed and half a million people started filing around the Dublin streets creating some chaos. I finally called Jenny again and got through, but it was so loud I could not hear her and as I tried to make contact with her, I ran straight into a large man from Berlin by the name of Dennis who works in the same organization as me. We had met one evening when his community came for a visit to ours and as we bumped into each other it took a moment for us to recognize each others' face but we soon got names out and familiarity was reached quickly, and shockingly considering the giant crowd we were in. Scott and him were in desperate need of finding beer so their quest began and I continued to call Jenny on Scott's mobile. I finally got through to her and she broke the news that her train being an hour and half ride would not be very worthwhile to come visit her and ride back to town in one evening so decided it best be called off, it was so loud that was all I could take and basically dropped the idea then and there.

So Scott, Dennis, and I walked for some time around town, waiting for the alcohol curfew of 4PM to come and ended up going to the Jameson Whiskey distillery, left Scott there on his guided tour, and Dennis and I went out for a night on the town stopping at the only pub I liked from the bar crawl the night before, The Long Stone(has a beautiful giant sculpted face of a fireplace). We walked in and had to push our way through the crush of people and eventually made it upstairs and seated ourselves while all the racket of the gaelic football game downstairs continued. We sat there some hours getting friendly with any number of people from Spain, Germany, and Sweden, but strangely not a soul from Ireland. We eventually moved on with a crew in hopes to some nice pub, but on reaching it finding that it was so full they weren't allowing anyone in, we ended up sadly in a disgusting night club where Dennis managed to spend 80 Euros on beer alone. Was there until maybe 4AM trying to fit in, but not at all, and finally splitting up with Dennis I took a bus back to the Hilton. Possibly the best part of my trip was this bus ride, as the Hilton was so far out of town, only locals were on the bus and I managed to get friendly with a great deal of them in the 20 minute ride. It made me like Dublin for a few minutes.
Scott was fast asleep in the hotel having returned earlier than me surprisingly, and I quickly plopped down hoping to grab at least 3 hours of sleep. And I did.

So waking up I forced Scott up for a moment from his hangover, I feeling no better, and said our goodbyes. I got a taxi in town as no buses were running on a bank holiday at 7am sadly, and met Dennis, who I told the night before I intended to take the bus with him back towards his community even though it was not a direct route at all homewards. He showed up just as I did but looked more terrible than I could imaigne, completely bleary, hand scabbed, and with a oily newspaper all to show for himself. As he had just been planning on showing up for the parade, staying the night and going home, he did not book a room anywhere, and was hoping to have slept in the train station though he did not know Dublin at all. He ended up finding the train station locked at 4am, and wandered around sleeping on the street for the night until he found an open shop with some magazines where he stay for some time. It was also probably the coldest day in the month unexpectedly, and all his clothing stained in beer did not really heighten his morning. So we got on the bus to Thomastown and slept some more, arriving there around noon. We got off the bus both thoroughly still in a drugged mood from the night before and were quite agitated over all realizing we may be walking back to his community, Jerpoint, which was quite a walk from town. As we left town I sadly burst out screaming and throwing my small bag to the road. I just remembered I left my bag in the bus trunk.

Once my composure was regained and the headache of the idea came about, we continued walking back to Jerpoint as hail enveloped us though moved on quickly. Jerpoint is named after an ancient abbey nearby which is quite a beautiful ruin left on the way though I was in no mood to appreciate it though I smiled outwardly in hopes that could solve my problem. At least I would be seeing another Camphill. We finally reached there, and I called the bus company and waiting for an answer. I explained my situation to a senior, and as I was expected to be back in Dingle that day things seemed doubtful(a 5 hour drive still by car). After much phone calls, and other issues, I was able to bike to town that evening, get my bag from the bus driver, and then stay the night in Jerpoint. Which was fairly nice as they have a great deal of young coworkers which provides entertainment, though all of us were wrecked from pubbing the night before. Before going to bed though we walked outside to discover it was snowing, which was a nice change after the periodic storms all day, and the fact I hadnt seen snow falling in years.

I woke up early the next morning to begin hitching back to Dingle, and damn it was cold. It took my some hours and I made it maybe an hour west of I was, just to find out since it was a bank holiday, that the quick bus to where I wanted to go was not running, and had to take a very indirect route to Limerick and arriving back in Dingle quite late but in time for some dinner.



That was my little adventure. I am now wrapping things up over here with Easter week, and planning on getting out of Ireland in 2 weeks, though I would of been glad to explore the country a bit more (if my wallet was limitless).
Portugal here I come.



I have to go to Dublin first though to fly.

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Comments

[Grego's mom]

so enjoying your blog's
thank deavey, you are on such a great adventure, I'm loving hearing about it all, reminds me of my teens hitch hiking in southern England in the pouring rain and sleeping in phone boxes, anyway I'm looking forward to your Portugal adventure, all the best, Debs

[Blums]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVEY
Boaz was over tonight and he let us read your blog. My goodness, you are having non-stop adventures. Blimey. Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to you. All is well in Fair city of Fairfield. Love, from the Blums

[rivka dror]

hi there!
hi davey,after a very long time i read some of your adventures- you should keep them all and make it into a book... amaizing! your birthday was about 2 days ago,and between all the cleaning to PESACH i seng you a song(did you hear it?)and wish you lots af good adventures, and hopefully-no money problem...keep on rolling! love-all of the dror's.