Celtic Tiger

Before the Celtic tiger hit, before the Euro came to be in Ireland, I visited with a few friends I had met while working a tech job. I traveled to Dublin, and from there to Galway, and then to Sligo. Here are some of the photos circa 1998:

Charles Stewart Parnell Monument top of O'Connell Street in City Centre Dublin:

Sligo Bay:

The view from SuperMacs in city centre Dublin 1998:

Pub Gogerty's keg rotation:

The following image is of the Kylemore Cafe, shot from Bewleys(which is no more):

Temple Bar's keg rotation:

View from a window of the Trinity Arms hotel, Dublin:

Half Penny Bridge, over the Liffey River, Dublin:

Random late bar in Sligo:

Random street photo Temple bar area,Dublin:

Interior of Temple Bar:

I must admit my first visit to Ireland was quite special. And, oddly, I look back on it as being a much different place from now. Things change, places change, people change. I'll keep taking photos to freeze as much of it as I can.

Stranger in a Strange Land

It was the height of the Celtic Tiger in 2006-2007. Getting my work permit took longer than expected. So I had to conserve on expenditures. It would be nearly a month before I would be working, I was told.

I spent my days enjoying a smoke, a drink, and conversing with the neighbors. At first, some of their accents were nearly indiscernible. It wasn't at all like the soft southern Irish or Northern Ireland accents we hear so much in movies and on the television in the US. The urban Dublin accent is quite a bit more cutting and spoken very quickly, and peppered with a good deal of slang. It was about a week before I could really hold my own in conversation after a few drinks. Between drinking,smoking, and chatting, I took the occasional light rail(Luas) into Dublin for some photography.

My favorite place to kill time in the city center was Messr's McGuire's off of O'Connel.

I also occasionally took the Dublin bus to random places to see some of the city, either purposefully or by accident:

Many photos I have are from the second floor of a bus:

I also did some walking:

More laters, folks. I have to catch a bus.