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We reach Dublin Northside, and the rain stops. Magic sun peeks out from behind the cloud. Because our first stop is the Cloud Café. We sit on the veranda and gaze out at North Strand Road. Pleasant songs play in the background, and the city buzzes. A green double-decker bus floats over a stone bridge.

The café offers plenty of gluten-free options. After a delicious lunch, we turn down a narrow street and admire the Halloween decorations on the terraced houses. A bride with a blue face swings on the hook. An autumn wreath adorns the fuchsia door, and the teapot-shaped knocker does knock, knock. While paper bats hang silently in the window like laundry.

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In the distance, we can already see the twisted Croke Park stadium for Gaelic football. Oh, the walk along the Royal Canal, with autumn leaves floating and swans diving, is wonderful. And the sun is so surprising that I unbutton the sleeves of my winter jacket.

Along the way, we stop at the Bronze Shoes monument, which commemorates the forced march of Strokestown tenants who were walking from Roscommon to Dublin in 1847 because they hadn’t paid their rent during the Great Famine.

In Dublin, they boarded a ship to Liverpool and then made their way to North America aboard some of the worst coffin ships. Not all survived. The monument is part of the National Famine Way, which stretches 165 km.

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Fays Dancing Shoes

On Dorset Street, there’s a unique shoemaker’s shop – Fays – the only one of its kind in Dublin, founded by Dan Fay. For 55 years, the craftsmen there have been handcrafting Irish dancing shoes and supplying them to dancers around the world. We left a pair of well-worn shoes of great dancer we know to repair. 🙂

Camera Repair Service

When we open the glass door of a tenement building in the heart of Dublin city at 29/30 Dame Street, our first sight is an ancient elevator behind its original grille, which can only be used by one person.

On the fourth floor, we are greeted by Ron Loughnane, who has been repairing analog camera and digital cameras for 33 years. This place, organized by a community of Dublin photographers, was born out of passion, through the memory of old, manual technology.

We pick up our old Minolta and talk about our love for vintage cameras. M. takes the first photo with the repaired analog while I’m talking to Ron. This meeting wake up a spark in me that I still can find millimeter film for my old reel cine camera. Ron gives me the contact information for a shop that might help me.

Irish Film Institute

With flushed cheeks and analog in the hands, we delve into Temple Bar, which, as usual, is bustling with rock’n roll and art activities. The Irish Film Institute is a place I used to visit often when I lived in Dublin years ago, and I still return to it. My friend Samara took me to this spot first.

There is a cozy cinema, but also a small restaurant and an Irish film gallery. I still remember stopping by on a rainy day to see Woody Allen’s Manhattan. This time, I’m eating a vegetarian lasagna and drinking a locally brewed beer Five Lambs, in honor of my friend Darren, who told me about this beer. In front of the institute is a little square where the Temple Bar Food Market takes place on Saturdays. And right next door is the

Photo Museum Ireland

there, we see the Steve Pyke exhibition “Portraits of Irish Writers.” Then we browse books and meet a guy from the island of Inis Meáin. It turns out that today is the launch of the new publication of Goblin Magazine, which has been showcasing Irish skateboarding culture for over 10 years.

I once wrote on my blog that I wake up on a skateboard with fears on my shoulders. This meeting has refreshed my passion for skateboarding again. But isn’t just about skateboard, also about amazing people, photography, graphics, and help in difficult life situations like depression.

Finally, we stop at a lokal restaurant where the brownie tastes excellent, just like Dublin. A lyrical city, a bit chaotic, sometimes dirty, yet so homely, it lives its everyday life and in my memories.

For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal. – James Joyce believed.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, colorful lights are on. Pubs are getting crowded, and restaurants are astonishingly diverse. People go out to have fun, not just on Halloween. We are backing in Galway. The rain is starting to fall again. The ghosts: the cat, Darren (…) remain in our hearts.