What a phenomenally Irish weekend!

I didn’t do the things a tourist to Dublin normally does on St. Patrick’s Day (which seems to include a lot of roaming the streets while intoxicated).  Instead, I packed my schedule full of St. Patrick’s Day Festival events.  My friends an I pooled out ticket allotment so we could see many shows.

I’ve pictured some of the events below (I didn’t even take photos at every event, believe it or not).  The photos show how academics enjoy St. Paddy’s!  You can see my brainy friends and me enjoying short films in the Examination Hall of Trinity, for instance.

The group that coordinates the St. Patrick’s Day Festival did a fabulous job!  I send my heartfelt thanks to them!

Incidentally, you’d be amazed to see the streets of Temple Bar on Sunday night:  wall to wall people dressed in green velvet!?!!  I elbowed my way through at 7 PM  (I don’t even want to think what the place was like by midnight).  Even at 7, I was clutching my belongings so tight that I forgot to take a photo!

Turtle Bunbury presented “A Global History of the Irish Abroad.”

Turtle delivered his lecture at Marsh’s Library.

There was an event of short films about Dublin held in the Examination Hall in Trinity College. (I prefer film-watching to exam-talking any day of the week!)

I brought Toni Gray, Giuseppe Conte, and (former Fulbright scholar) Nancy Stenson along with me to the “I _ My City” film viewing.

Nancy and I enjoyed a tasty late-night dinner at Café en Seine on Dawson Street.

David Slattery (who is a full-time writer as well as an Associate Fellow at the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media at The National College of Art and Design here in Dublin) read from his newest book “Poet Madmen Scoundrel: 189 Unusual IrishLives.”

David was introduced by a staff member from Marsh’s Library (this is a fascinating place to visit). I purchased David’s previous book “How to be Irish” and also a catalog of the Library’s current exhibition “Marvels of Science: Books that Changed the World.”

At the Chester Beatty Library, the show TEMPO fused Irish and Brazilian rhythms.

The show featured: Joe Doyle (Vocals & Percussion) Mick Donegan (Hard Shoe Dance) Kelly Baldonaldo (Samba Dance & Percussion) Maia Adelson (Capoeira dance & Percussion)

I finally visited the Smock Alley Theater, for performance art (film+clarinet solos) that brought the eclectic space to life.

I purchased a CD of “Zoë Conway Live” following this performance by the fillde player and her husband, John. She is a professional musician who plays with Riverdance (among other groups).

The show included performances by one of Riverdance’s lead dancers, Zara Curtis.