Happy St Patrick’s Day!

On Saturday last we had the serious, liturgically approved, thread about the man. Tonight we have a thread about the celebrations of all things Irish.  Every St Paddy’s Day, I remember this place:

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That is a bar-mat from an Irish Pub that doesn’t really exist anymore. The Shannon Irish pub in Berlin, Germany from 1986-1992 was a very very special place to be. It was owned by Mark and Declan, two Dubliners living in West Berlin (more to come on the Shannon in a later ‘Cold War’ post). Berlin had a large Irish community in that time as the Irish economy wasn’t really that great. So Ireland did what it always did, export its young who made outposts of Irishness wherever they went.  The Irish in Berlin did not fail, there were about 8 really good Irish Pubs, The Shannon was my favorite.

The Irish community in Berlin numbered into the thousands, they did everything from run companies to tend bar and waitress in cafe’s. They managed, no matter why they were there, to hold onto home…always proud to be a Dubliner, a Corkman, or whatever identity they carried from the island. On St Patrick’s Day it was damn near impossible to get into the Irish Pubs due to the crowd. All of the Berlin Irish would be out on that night, celebrating home and lamenting leaving, always with a hope to return for good, one day.

Cheers Mark and Declan, and Slainte! to the rest of you!

(It seems someone else like the place)

Anyone else have a good Irish Pub or a story?

This is also an Open Thread,.