Monday, March 22, 2010

St. Patrick's Day

We had such a fab St. Patrick's Day adventure.


Ollie ADORES trains. He is about as obsessed with trains as a little boy of 1 1/2 can be! Instead of parking in Downpatrick (which we knew would be MEGA busy) we parked in a place in the middle of nowhere, called Inch Abbey. There is a small steam train that runs from Inch Abbey to Downpatrick in just under 10 minutes. We thought it would make a lovely treat for Ollie. He loved it. He chooo-choooed the whole way there.

How cute is this place?






When we arrived in Downpatrick we headed up the hill to Downpatrick County Museum which had free entertainment on all day long. We saw the bagpipers first, then we took Ollie to get his face painted and then we watched a little bit of irish dancing in the marquee.


Ollie enjoyed holding his flags.


After we spent a while at the museum, we stopped for lunch. We had the BEST fish and chips (James had a burger). Ollie didn't eat much at all because I think his teeth were hurting. We then spent some time trying to get him to go to sleep in his pram because he was getting grumpy and tired....

When he had fallen asleep, we walked up to Down Cathedral to see inside the Cathedral and to see St. Patrick's grave.


After seeing the grave we walked back down the hill to find a good spot to watch the parade. It took AGES for the parade to start, Ollie woke in the meantime but was easy to occupy.


The parade started with a display of vintage cars which Ollie enjoyed. He stared wideeyed at every vehicle that went past. There were some beautiful cars... and some funny looking ones like the Reliant Robin.


THIS was weird!! It was like a car that was being lifted by the huge robot monster behind it. Very clever.

There were bands...


More funny, huge, clever things...

Ollie was a little bit freaked out by the big people!


There was a tractor display...


...and a display of massive motorbikes!




After the parade finished, we made our way back to the train station to wait for the train to take us back to the car!


All in all, a fun day and we all ended up exhausted! It was also lovely having James off work for a day too as he has been so busy lately!

5 comments:

  1. thanks for stopping by on saturday! i'm with ollie...a bit freaked out by the large people! It sure looks like a great day out...i can now say i have seen saint patrick's grave..oh won't my irish friends be proud :). have a great week!

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  2. It looked like a great day in Downpatrick - maybe we should head there next year.

    Great photos.

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  3. I love this!!! I so want to travel more....

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