St Patrick's Day in Budapest

On March 17th we celebrated St Patrick's Day here in Budapest. I know what you're thinking....celebrating an Irish day in a non Irish country, but a lot of big cities now get into the swing of St Patrick's celebrations. It's quite a lot of fun and Guinness is supposedly healthy so that's our excuse anyway. The sun's been shining in Buda for the past two weeks and it's even gone over 22º here!

The bar where all the action happened - music & dancing inside!

We went out on Saturday to the pre-organized St Patrick's Day parade. It started in the heart of the city near the Parliament and ended up at Deak Ferenc Ter where there was a party and lots of picnicking in the park. We strolled along soaking up not only the sun, but also the wonderful party atmosphere. Everyone was in a jolly mood, sipping various alcoholic beverages, yes I was enjoying a Guinness myself, and an ice-cream! There was plenty of green, with people decked out in green clothing, some even dressed up as leprechauns! There were stickers and balloons handed out, hats given free on the purchase of a pint of Guinness. All very lovely. 

We tied an empty Guinness can to some balloons and set it free!

When we arrived at Deak we met up with other Erasmus students and all settled into the park for the afternoon. We enjoyed some Irish music and Irish River Dancing inside the bar which was next to the park. Luckily I didn't get sunburnt but I was designated as the 'artist' for the day and was made to draw lucky clovers on the faces of many friends and some random Hungarians who saw me and liked my work! I failed to mention to most people that I was using permanent marker, just to see their reaction the next day! 

Robyn drawing a clover on my face!

It was a really fun day and I got plenty of stares walking home with clovers on my face clutching a bunch of orange, white and green balloons!

Enjoying the sunshine with my friends!