I'm in Dublin this week finishing some paperwork I need to sort out before I start my Asian Career Break. Probably this is going to be my last post in this European photoblog for a little while. For obvious reasons, I won't be taking and posting many European pictures in the coming months.

At the beginning of January I left Dublin, closing one of the most interesting and eventful chapters of my life. On the day I left the city, I woke up early to finish up all the paperwork and all the tasks I had to do before I left Ireland. When I was bringing some clothes to charity, I was welcomed by this beautiful sunrise with amazing colors and a bird passing by. I will always have some really good memories about my time in Éire.

I visited Belfast for a second time last year (2012) and this time I did the "Black Taxi Tour" and it was very interesting. The driver was part of the Catholic community and he drove me through both the loyalist Protestant areas (i.e., Shankill Road) and the Nationalist enclaves (Falls Road and Bombay Street). One of the most surprising parts of the tour was to pass by the "Peace Lines". I had no clue Belfast had built those walls during the troubles to separate Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods. In this picture you can see one of those walls along Cupar Way in Belfast.

In September last year, K. came to Dublin to visit me, and we rented a car, headed down to the southwest of Ireland and visited the famous Ring of Kerry. I had heard before that this area was one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and the people were right; the landscapes were astounding! When we were going around the ring, we stopped in this spot where I was able to take this nice picture that shows just a glimpse of how nice the area is.

In the south coast of Ireland, very close to Cork, there is a seaport that could be easily known as ‘Titanictown’ since most of the shops, pubs, and restaurants have reference to the famous British passenger liner. The name of this was Queenstown until 1920, and its history is tied to the Titanic because this port was the last European port where it called before heading to New York, and you know the rest of the history. Last year I had the opportunity to visit this town twice, and in one of my visits, I took a picture of the old pier where the boats were bringing the last passengers boarding the Titanic.

A couple of weeks ago K. was visiting Dublin and we rented a car to go for the first time to the Northwest of the country. We drove all the way to Donegal stopping by in Sligo and Bundoran. One of the highlights of the trip was without question the Slieve League cliffs. They are more than 600 meters high and the view is just stunning as you can observe in this picture.

The last week of November, we were surprised in Ireland by a "cold snap" that really lowered the temperature in the country and was followed by heavy snowfall. I love to walk in the snow, and this time I had the chance to do it a couple of times going to work and coming back home. I took this picture in Sandymount on the weekend just after the first snowfall.

O'Connell Street is probably the busiest street in Dublin at any given time with buses coming and going to every corner of the city, pedestrians crossing and meeting at the spire, and taxis waiting for passengers. It is almost a privilege to see it completely deserted, as you can observe in this picture. Some years ago, while I was living in Ireland, I had to go once to a public office in the city center, and I tried to arrive as soon as it was opening. The sun was just coming up, and the street looked so empty that I decided to take this shot. It was not intended, but I captured the James Larking statue in the spotlight. He was a trade union leader and socialist activist, and there is a picture honoring him in the middle of this famous street.

In this first weekend of June I decided to go to Scandinavia for the first time. I had to get up early, and when I went to take the bus to the airport, I saw this nice sunrise on the Sandymount beach.

Today I realised that I was a really lousy paparazzi :). The story is I went to the IFI (Irish Film Institute) to see the Japanese movie Okuribito (Departures, very good by the way) and then suddenly I saw there were a lot of people taking pictures with flashes. It took me some minutes to realise that they were actually taking pictures of Bono, the lead singer from U2. Instinctively I grabbed my phone and tried to take a picture, and well... you can see the result here... no comments.

I bet you haven't seen this version of Davinci's "Last Supper" before :). This mural is located in Dublin, where there is a nice Italian Quarter with some nice restaurants and cafes. A plan that we like to do with K. on the weekends is to go there and grab a coffee.

Yesterday (Oct 17/09) it was a very chilly morning in Dublin, but a couple of hours later the sun came up and it was a very sunny and pleasant day. K. was very kind to get up early and go with me to get my MSc degree. It was nice because the ceremony was in St. Patrick's Cathedral and I hadn't been there before. I took this picture just before entering the place.

A couple of years ago I was crossing a pedestrian bridge over the Liffey River and I was able to take with my mobile a nice picture of the sunset over the Custom House in Dublin

Last week just before my birthday I went to the outdoors module of a leadership program I have been doing for some months now in my company. The module was actually very interesting, but one huge added value was the location: Leenane in Galway County. The landscapes were breathtaking. I took this picture on September 16, 2009, at 6:05 pm in front of the Leenane hotel.

I love to fly, and since I live on an island, I have been flying a lot during the last couple of years. I was going to visit some friends in Spain on September 9, and a couple of minutes after taking off, I saw this really nice sky when the sunset was approaching. So I thought it was worth taking a picture.

Probably the last sunny and warm day in Dublin. I don't know how many times I passed by Merrion Row in front of St. Stephen's Green, but way too many! Nevertheless, today when we were walking with K., we noticed there was a tourist taking pictures in the middle of nowhere. When I watched closely, I noticed she was taking pictures of this old Cemetery, the "Huguenot," where the descendants of the Huguenots, who escaped the French persecution, are buried. Interesting how I missed this spot so many times!

I have been living in Europe for a bit more than 5 years now. I have been lucky enough to meet very interesting people and travel around many European cities, so I thought it would be a good idea to publish random pictures once in a while, and add a small comment :). So here we go: "Saint Patrick's Day Sunset in Dublin 09"

Even if one could assume this picture was taken in the middle of the countryside somewhere in Ireland, this shot was actually captured in the Phoenix Park of Dublin. In the western part of the city, there is a huge park (around 7 km) where I used to go once in a while when the weather was nice. Last autumn I went there with some Brazilian friends and we took some pictures including this one.

The only time I have been in the "North" (Northern Ireland, for the locals) was in November 06. One of the most interesting parts of the trip was going to the "Giant's Causeway", where the lava formations created these particular shapes that you can see on this picture.

One of the first places I visited when I moved to Ireland was the prehistoric complex of Newgrange. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most interesting ancient structures in Ireland, located near the Boyne River, some 30 minutes north of Dublin. Apparently, this place had religious significance for the tribes living in this region more than 3000 years BC. As you can see in the picture I took, on that opportunity, I was very lucky to have an amazing sunny day.