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Travel Experiences

Saint Patrick’s Day 2015: Cities Going Green

8 mins read
Oonagh Shiel

Each year, for the past five years, Tourism Ireland has gone around the world with a big tin of green paint illuminating landmarks natural and manmade for Saint Patrick’s Day.

OK, perhaps it’s not a tin of green paint, it’s more than likely done with lights, but it gets the Irish party started. The greened landmark is a focal point for city celebrations and it acts, for the Irish diaspora, as a light in the window, reminding them of home.

Every year a few new landmarks get greened. This year the Colosseum in Rome, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee will go green.

Other sites going green for the first time include Porte de Bourgogne in Bordeaux, the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge in Nashville, the Jumeirah Etihad Towers hotel in Abu Dhabi, the Town Halls of Munich and Bamberg, the National Sanctuary of Cristo Rei (Christ the King statue) in Lisbon, the Fram polar exploration ship in Oslo, as well as City Hall in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Old greenies include Niagara Falls (US and Canadian sides), the London Eye, the Allianz Arena in Munich, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the Sky Tower in Auckland, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Cibeles Fountain and Palace in Madrid and the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland® in Paris.

Chicago is famous as the city where the river is dyed green, but the Chicago River is not the only thing.   Navy Pier, the John Hancock Center, the United Center (home to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago Bulls), the Wrigley Building, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Block Thirty Seven shopping mall, Old St Patrick’s Church and Macy’s department store all go green.   Special greening “selfie stations” will be set up around the city in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day – so that Chicagoans can join in the celebrations.  There’s a strong commercial reason behind the greening. March is a popular month for booking overseas holidays and the lit-up landmarks help reinforce Ireland as a potential destination.  In Ireland, since 2013, many high-profile buildings such as airports, city and council offices, railway stations, hotels and churches have replicated the international greening.

And of course millions of people dress up in their greenest finery like this gent in Boston:

Here’s the complete list of what’s going green around March 17. The first-time “greenings” are marked with an asterisk. And the pictures of the Colosseum, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the Grand Ole Opry are what we think they’ll look like.

Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening 2015:

 

UK:

 

London Eye

 

Town Hall clock, Manchester

 

‘Armadillo’ (SECC), Glasgow

 

The SSE Hydro, Glasgow

 

The London Eye. Image © Tourism Ireland

 

The Clyde Auditorium. Image © Tourism Ireland

 

Town Hall in Manchester. Clock face is green – for upcoming St Patrick’s day A photo posted by Andrew Yee (@andrewyee) on

North America

 

United States

 

Grand Ole Opry, Nashville *

 

John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, Nashville *

 

Empire State Building, New York

 

GREENing of Chicago

 

United Center (home of the Chicago Bulls) *

 

Block Thirty Seven (shopping mall) *

 

Macy’s *

 

Navy Pier

 

John Hancock Center

 

Old St Patrick’s Church

 

Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower

 

Trump International Hotel & Tower

 

Wrigley Building

 

Chicago Board of Trade

 

Novak Construction *

 

State Street

 

Empire State Building New York. Photo: tsaiproject

 

 

 

@trumpchicago at night! A photo posted by Matthew Smith (@mjsmith0523) on

 

Canada

 

Niagara Falls (on both the Canadian and US sides)

 

Whistler, Canada’s famous ski resort in British Columbia

 

City Hall, Toronto

 

Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa

 

Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

 

The Niagara Falls, both sides greened. Image © Tourism Ireland

 

Europe

 

Austria

 

Burgtheater (City Hall), Vienna

 

Wiener Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater Amusement Park), Vienna

 

Skiwelt Söll (ski resort)

 

Kaprun Castle, Zell-am-See region

Burgtheater, greened. Photo: dreamcat115

 

 

Belgium

Manneken Pis statue, Brussels (“dressed” in Irish costume)

France

 

Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris *

 

Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland® Paris

 

Porte de Bourgogne, Bordeaux *

 

Irish Embassy, Paris

 

Irish Cultural Centre, Paris *

 

Publicis landmark building on the Champs Elysées, Paris *

 

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland Paris. Image © Tourism Ireland

 

 

Germany

 

Allianz Arena, Munich

 

Town Hall, Munich *

 

Odeonsplatz, Munich

 

Olympic Tower, Munich

 

Town Hall, Bamberg *

 

English language school, Bamberg *

 

‘Lighthouse’ building, Düsseldorf

 

Neumünster church (built over the tomb of St Kilian), Würzburg

 

Town Hall, Würzburg

 

Irish pubs network

 

Allianz Arena in Munich shines in Green today for St. Patrick’s day 🙂 A photo posted by @florianmarcel on

   

Italy

 

Colosseum, Rome *

 

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy. Image © Tourism Ireland

 

Norway

 

Fram polar exploration ship, Oslo *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCZHK_KicE&feature=youtu.be

Portugal

National Sanctuary of Cristo Rei (Christ the King statue), Lisbon * Museu Condes de Castro Guimarães, Caiscais  

 

Slovenia

 

Ljubljana Castle

 

Philharmonic Hall, Slovenia *

 

Spain

 

Cibeles Fountain and Palace, Madrid

 

Tower of Hércules (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Galicia

 

 

Switzerland

 

Rhine Falls, near Zurich

 

 

Australia and New Zealand

 

Town Hall, Sydney *

 

Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

 

Sky Tower, Auckland

 

Auckland War Memorial Museum *

 

Sydney Town Hall you Green and gorgeous you are! #emeraldandivyball #cancercouncil #amazing #lush A photo posted by @rosechocolatebeauty on

 

And the rest of the world…

 

Christ the Redeemer statue, Brazil

 

Jumeirah Etihad Towers hotel, Abu Dhabi *

 

Burj Al Arab hotel, Dubai

 

City Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia *

 

 

CheapflightsTravel ExperiencesSaint Patrick’s Day 2015: Cities Going Green

About the author

Oonagh ShielContent Manager at Cheapflights whose travel life can be best summed up as BC (before children) and PC (post children). We only travel during the school holidays so short-haul trips and staycations are our specialities!
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