Sydney St. Patrick's Day

Kind of grudgingly went in to the city to see the St. Patrick's day parade at the weekend. Haven't really gone to see it much when I was in Dublin, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'd have to try and swat away accusations about my patriotism from back home (and that I didn't have anything better to do), I wouldn't have gone to see it in Sydney either. Pleasantly surprised to see the number of people out to see the parade itself (the place to spend the afternoon getting hammered was in Hyde Park). But it was slightly cringing to see 4-lane George St. cordoned off, with lots of people on each side patiently waiting for floats and such, to have so much of the parade consist of tiny groups of people representing each county from back home. There were two MC's giving it their oirish sounding best - "who-hoa there, look at Galway there... Oh, Galway Baaaaayyyyy....."