St. Patrick's Day in the Windy City

One great thing about coming back is we were able to bring a bit of Europe with us, for a while at least. Some of Tom's colleagues from Germany were traveling to the city for work and we were fortunate enough to have two of them join us for St. Patrick's Day weekend and all of the adventures that entailed!

The Saturday before is always about dying the Chicago River green. It is a mellow, scenic way to kick off the morning. None of the hard party-ers have been partying too hard yet, and if you time it right, you can avoid the body crushing crowds. I made sure to start everyone off on the right foot with a solid meal of bacon, eggs, and toast before we boarded the L around ten am.

We began at the dyeing of the river, where I lost all of those in my charge during a crowded bathroom break. We were soon reunited and I told them all off for deviating from the plan. We survived massive pedestrian street crossings and got a great view of the river.

From the river we followed the masses to the St. Patrick's Day parade. There we weren't able to score the best view. However, we weren't planning on staying that long and our location made for some interesting people watching... The beginning of the parade kicked off with bagpipes and I was able to get a decent view for that part!

I commend, yet am horrified with, the parents who bring their young children out to the parade! They are far more daring than I would be! Post parade we headed to a not too crowded bar before heading back to Lakeview for food and ice cream. While some people in our neighborhood had a much more traumatic St. Patrick's Day, we thoroughly enjoyed a beautiful day in the city!