Happy St Patrick's Day!

Went to see St Patrick's Day parade in Belfast with my kids, J and J's mum. Mainly because J's daughters were in the parade. Lucky that my kids' school was off on the 17th this year. The last time we went to Belfast was when my kids were very small, so today was, in a way, their first time seeing the city. I was afraid that my wee one might become sick in a car, but with a help of a little tablet, she was fine both on the way to Belfast and back home! (So, I came home with big pile of empty plastic bags.) Well done, girl!

J's kids were great walking on stilts with pretty costumes and fun face-paintings. Their smiles were gorgeous. It was cold and very windy. I'm sure the girls must have been chilled to the bones.

A disappointed thing was, the parade finished in 10 minutes. (I don't know exactly how long it lasted, but I thought everything finished in less than 10 minutes.) And is this tiny fancy-dress walk the parade of the capital city?? It was like travelling by car for 45 minutes just to see one firework in the sky... If J's kids hadn't been in the parade, I would have ask the Belfast council to pay for petrol for J's mum's car!!! The last year's Orangemen's parade in my town was 1000 times better than this!!

The Belfast council was hoping the parade would become a cross-community event. But no, I didn't see anything cross-community except J's girls participating. There were loads of tricolour flags. I know, St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, but surely not only of the Irish Republic. ( Or, is he?) I'm not sure if I should call the people who were carrying the tricolour flags being naive, ignorant or segregating. I'm sure some American tourists were wondering why a Union Jack was flying on the City Hall.

My girls enjoyed today's outing and loved a Disney shop and a shopping mall. So, I guess we should go to Belfast again for shopping when it gets warmer.