Central park in... Spring?

New York for St Paddy's day was quite something. I've been to the Big Apple a couple of times and have to say I like the place immensely. Particularly when everyone is drinking a lot of beer and pretending to be Irish (although a disturbing proportion of people were drinking Bud Lite. Yup. Bud. Lite. On St Patrick's day).

As can be seen, there was quite a dump the night I arrived, which meant the city was blanketed (with fluffy snow in Central Park and with greyish slush most other places). This certainly didn't stop the parade, which I wasn't sure what to expect from. In the end it was pretty much anyone who had affiliation to pretty much anything (random high schools, fire brigades, you name it - and seemingly regardless of whether they were of Irish significance or not), marching down Park Avenue banging or blowing on various musical instruments. I'm not saying I expected huge inflatable leprechauns or the Guiness float spraying booze over the crowd, but it seemed a little uninspired, and kind of unfocussed. In the end though, everyone was out and having fun, so I guess the major targets were hit.

Plus, it kept the crowds down in other places - like, for example, in FAO Schwartz (the well-known New York toy store - which Tom Hanks added to the fame of by playing on the giant keyboard in Big). All-in-all, between Irish shenanigans, cool toy stores and of course some of those awesome NYC bagels thrown in, a great weekend.