It's March 20th and time for an Operation Chi-rish wrap-up.
As predicted, the weekend before St. Patty's Day in Chicago is ridiculous and crazy. But also extremely fun. I woke up early to head down to watch the river get dyed with my roommate. Walking the streets at 9 a.m., I passed by groups of people dressed in green, some who were already drinking and others beelining it to the bar. When I got to the El, I had to wait for a second train because the first one was so packed!
Downtown was filled with shamrock shakers despite the rain. The skies stopped spitting at us for about 30 minutes, just enough time to watch the river change colors without an umbrella. However, the rest of the day we weren't so lucky. It poured, but my roommates and I hopped to a few different bars throughout the day and after taking a dinner break, ventured into the night.
1. Finding a spot along the river to watch the boats dump the dye into the water. As I said, it was wet, but so cool to watch! Motorboats drive back and forth along the area of water sprinkling some kind of dye in, turning the water an electric or neon greenish-yellow (it turn bright green once it spreads out). The crowd cheered every time the boat came around.
As predicted, the weekend before St. Patty's Day in Chicago is ridiculous and crazy. But also extremely fun. I woke up early to head down to watch the river get dyed with my roommate. Walking the streets at 9 a.m., I passed by groups of people dressed in green, some who were already drinking and others beelining it to the bar. When I got to the El, I had to wait for a second train because the first one was so packed!
Downtown was filled with shamrock shakers despite the rain. The skies stopped spitting at us for about 30 minutes, just enough time to watch the river change colors without an umbrella. However, the rest of the day we weren't so lucky. It poured, but my roommates and I hopped to a few different bars throughout the day and after taking a dinner break, ventured into the night.
Last Thursday, I shared a list of things I wanted to do during my first Chicago St. Patty's Day. I'm happy to tell you that I was able to complete my mission--and then some.
1. Finding a spot along the river to watch the boats dump the dye into the water. As I said, it was wet, but so cool to watch! Motorboats drive back and forth along the area of water sprinkling some kind of dye in, turning the water an electric or neon greenish-yellow (it turn bright green once it spreads out). The crowd cheered every time the boat came around.
2. Drinking a glass (or two, or three) of green beer. Try three. Even got to keep the souvenir Chi-rish plastic mugs! At the first bar, the one with the mugs, me and Laura enjoyed a corn beef sandwich. It was delicious and so filling!
3. Drinking that beer at one of the many Irish pubs hosting live Irish bands. This didn't happen until actual St. Patrick's Day when me and Elli enjoyed a couple green beers during happy hour (well, I had the beer...she had her vodka-soda drink dyed green to fit in).
Needless to say, it was a very successful day, er, couple days. The party didn't stop because the weekend was over. The actual St. Patty's Day--a Wednesday--gave everyone an excuse to drink an extra day in the middle of the week!
God Bless the Irish!
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