(Welcome!) Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

The original plan was to start this blog with a post about how I happened to come to the the name and the address of this blog. This post is still to come later on... But I didn't want to miss the opportunity of mentioning Saint Patrick's Day here. I mean, Saint Patrick is the saint of Ireland, and March 17th, which happens to be today, is the big celebration day. Regarding this, it's really a pity that I spent only autumn/winter in Ireland, not spring. Otherwise this would have been an article for my old blog. But yeah, I've experienced other celebrations in Ireland, Samhain and the Christmas Carol, for example.
But it's undeniable, Saint Patrick is everywhere in Ireland. I already spotted him on the first day tour I did during my semester abroad:

Somewhere near the Hill of Tara, I think (Celtic Boyne Valley Tour - when my blog was still in German)

So, he's very important for the Irish. As I found out when watching YouTube videos of an Irish lad, it's even important to them how you nickname their national saint. Never ever call him Patty, call him Paddy, please! Seán, the YouTube guy, did a whole video about this topic! xD (And he did some more videos about Saint Paddy's Day...)
In Germany, Saint Patrick's Day doesn't seem to be a big deal, I fear. Maybe I'll be proved wrong when I go to university later today, but I don't really think my American lecturer cares a lot about it either...
And when I went to Ikea in Mannheim last Saturday (memo for myself: Saturday is not the best day to go to Ikea), there were not only a lot of people, but there was also a lot of green stuff.

But I couldn't spot any shamrocks and it was kind of obvious that it was for spring time in general...

A pun only natives of German will understand. The literal translation of "taking a duvet day" would be "making blue", and "making green" is Ikea's spring version of this saying.

Anyway, it felt a bit Irish there because of all this green. And I even bought a shower curtain in "Irish style" (green and blue with clouds :-D).
But now, I won't annoy you with a picture of my shower curtain but finally start searching for some green clothing in order to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day appropriately. If I can't find any (which might happen - I don't really wear green), I'll have to cuddle with my plush sheep (plural) instead.
Oh, and since a post about Ireland is not complete without sheep, I have something for you. This picture was actually taken somewhere in Italy, on the way home from my Rome trip...

"Oh, sheep!" - being in Italy, feeling like being in Ireland :-)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!