Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I certainly hoped that you remembered to wear green on Saturday! :) Micah and I did, as we took part in London's St. Patrick's Day celebration festival. We started the afternoon at Covent Garden - arguably the most popular outdoor shopping market in all of London. Lining the square or piazza around the regular market stands were Irish booths.

It was extremely crowded, but we enjoyed the experience as we sampled Irish breads, cheese (pictured below), jams, jelly beans, and desserts. We ate Irish beef and stout stew for dinner, and for dessert Micah had a piece of Bailey's cheesecake, while I went for the chocolate fudge cake. Yummy!

There are always a lot of street performers in Covent Garden. Here a crowd enjoying drinks and dinner at Punch & Judy watch one below...

Here is the guy everyone has their eyes on. I know it isn't polite to stare, but how can you not stare at a crazy man with a tutu on a unicycle? Besides, I think he likes that attention. :)

This guy in green was standing beside Ina's Kitchen Desserts (where Micah and I bought our desserts). The desserts were £2.00 per slice, but for £3.00 you can get a kiss from this over-sized leprechaun. Needless to say I didn't opt for the extra and apparently, neither did these girls!

This green giant, on stilts of course, was weaving his way through the crowds with surprising ease!

When we'd sampled all we could at Covent Garden, Micah and I walked through Leicester Square and on to Piccadilly where crowds of people were just hanging out. The pubs were overflowing, so people were standing in the streets, socializing and celebrating St. Patty's Day with the brew of the Irish - a Guinness. When we were here last summer, people were standing in the streets with their drinks as well - it's all part of the culture here. It almost felt like summer as we walked the streets on Saturday evening - except that instead of being 90 degrees, it was only 45!