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Quirkiest St Patrick's Day 'Greenings' revealed

You know that old joke - what do the Big Banana in Australia, Ethiopian Airlines and rhino statue...
Newstalk
Newstalk

11.14 15 Mar 2017


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Quirkiest St Patrick's...

Quirkiest St Patrick's Day 'Greenings' revealed

Newstalk
Newstalk

11.14 15 Mar 2017


Share this article


You know that old joke - what do the Big Banana in Australia, Ethiopian Airlines and rhino statues in Nairobi have in common?

Well, now it has an answer - they are just some of the more unusual places going green this St Patrick's Day.

It is part of the Global Greening initiative by Tourism Ireland, which will see a record number of landmarks go green on March 17th.

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Beginning back in 2010, it saw just the Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland go green.

But this year, more than 240 sites are signed up to take part.

From Rome to Rio and from London to Las Vegas, a host of buildings and sites around the world will be turning a shade of green over the coming days.

An Ethiopian Airlines Airbus goes green | Image: Supplied to Newstalk.com

These include some unlikely places and things, including:

  • Three of Australia’s famous ‘Big Things’ - The Big Banana, The Big Kangaroo and The Big Tasmanian Devil
  • Two rhino statues - called Kyela and Lankeu (mother and baby), in Nairobi National Park, Kenya
  • The Big Nickel - a giant replica of the Canadian 5-cent coin from 1951 in Sudbury, Canada
  • The Big Fiddle of the Ceilidh - the world’s largest fiddle, on Cape Breton Island in Canada
  • Futalognkosaurus - a lifesize cast skeleton of the dinosaur in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto
  • An Ethiopian Airlines aircraft in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • The Kelpies (horse head statues) in Scotland
  • A troupe of ‘greened’ Irish dancers on the London Underground
  • The Irish saxophone on the Charles de Gaulle bridge in Dinant (Belgium)
  • An Irish-Finnish ice fishing championship in Tampere, Finland
An Irish-Finnish ice fishing championship in Tampere, Finland | Image: Supplied to Newstalk.com

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: "This is the eighth year of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative and it’s bigger and better than ever this year, with some wonderful (and unusual!) new additions.

"St Patrick’s Day traditionally marks the real start of the tourism season for us; our aim is to bring a smile to the faces of people around the world and to convey the message that Ireland offers the warmest of welcomes and great fun, as well as wonderful scenery and heritage."

Some new buildings and sites taking part this year include One World Trade Center in New York, the beautiful Petit Palais on the Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc in Barcelona.

Artist's impression of One World Trade Center in New York going green | Image: Tourism Ireland

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