Chicago Trip - Day 2 - St. Patrick's Day Celebration

We woke up early today so that we could have breakfast before heading to watch the dyeing of the river green. We discovered that most eating places were closed due to St. Patrick's Day celebration and so we ended up in McDonald's.

This is our breakfast - Southern Style Chicken Biscuit (left) and Sausage Biscuit with Egg (right)... Wonders why we do not have biscuit back in SG?

The we headed off towards the river for a good spot to view the dyeing process... The area was already crowded with people! We just kept walking till we found a "good" spot...
Photos of boaters getting ready to dye the river and you can see the number of people thatgathered to watch... Many were dressed in green and had green accessories!

The dyeing process begins! Actually orange powder is poured into the river so the river is actually orange in colour before changing to green!! Amazing right? Hehe... =p

Dyeing of the River Green - Part 1

Basically the boats just move up and down the river pouring orange powder into the river till it is homogeneously green. Its now still not very green...

See the bright green colour the river has turned into!

Dyeing of the River Green - Part 2

More photos showing the green river...

Shots of the green river from Columbus Bridge...

After witnessing the dyeing of the river green, we proceeded to the stretch of road for the parade. This photo of the Chicago skyline was taken on our way to the parade area...

A crowd was already gathered along the stretch of road and we kept walking till we could find a "good" spot to view the parade...

Start of the parade!!

Some of the floats at the parade, felt that they were somewhat similar, with the colours white and green...

Vehicles dressed for the celebration...

Marching bands, there were so many of them...

Cute Irish girls dancing...

This is interesting as the ages of the performing girls get younger at the back...

A girls band with some cute steps...

Elvis with green hair... =p

Some other shots taken during the parade...

Us with green beads around our neck, these beads were given by parade participants. Almost everyone were wearing them! Many souvenirs were actually given out during the parade, they include green beads, green hats, candy...

A group of spectators dressed in green, a man with huge horns and a family well prepared for the long parade...

The end of the parade was marked by these policeman, the parade lasted close to 3 hours (from 12 pm to about 3pm)...

This was taken as we were leaving the parade area...