Dublin Dulcimer
See & Hear It

Dublin Dulcimer Photo by Kari

Dublin dulcimer melodies wafted through the streets as I walked past....but wait, why just walk by enjoying the tunes as I pass? I decide to stay and take it all in. I even took these first two little videos with my digital camera. (The third I found on YouTube.) I'd never seen a dulcimer like this one before. I thought they were always smaller, never something that had legs and sat on the floor/ground. Actually, I had to ask what instrument it was and surprised when he said , "dulcimer".

There were other excellent street muscians on the streets of Dublin. Imagine lugging your huge harp onto the streets everyday. But then maybe the harpist lived in an upstairs apartment right above her stage...who knows? Why buy expensive tickets when great music can be enjoyed on the public streets of Dublin, but then they wouldn't mind getting a few euros for their effort, right? Plus we're not all in Dublin, either.

You've heard the story of Joshua Bell, a world reknown violinist, who tried an experiment by playing his violin in the Washington DC metro and how few folks even stopped to give him their ear. Guess they'd rather get all dressed up and spend no less than $100 for a comfortable theater seat to hear him. Oh....and he was playing a $3.5 million Stradivarius.

So, take some time to listen to those street musicians, they may be famous! or at least, pretty good.

Dublin Street Photo by Kari

I loved the charm of Dublin streets (in addition to the Dublin dulcimer )...nothing but the untouched old world feel of streets streaming with busy shoppers darting in and out of numerous unique shops.

One thing I've noticed about Dublin and cities in the UK....guess which two, well, maybe three establishments rarely get remodeled causing them to lose their original charm?

Dublin Jewelry Store Photo by Kari

Give up?

From my observation, the pubs retain their exterior and interior (although I don't normally frequent pubs) style, design, signs ...all the original uniqueness. Also, jewelry stores remain uniquely charming and seem to rarely get the ruinous overhall called renovation. A third group of buildings often stay wonderfully creative and that's the churches. I've pondered these thoughts many times as I travel. I'm assuming, at least in the case of the jewelry stores and pubs, that they had enough customers and resources to remain the same....Why change if the business is good, right?

And the churches, hopefully, also have had enough interested members to keep things up and in an appreciated state.

I'm a hopeless "restoration" nut. I love things to retain their charm. I've seen too many buildings poorly remodeled which leaves them dated and miserable looking. Just think if a town kept it's buildings in a kept up state and never weakened to the unnecessary impluse to update things.....make them more 70's say. Well....then in the 90's, they still look 70's....why not keep them 1900's looking. That will be much more appealing in the years to come than merely dated.

Dublin Street Photo by Kari

We once lived in a 1898 Victorian parsonage and I was thrilled to be able to design a new kitchen, a very modern, convenient one, but one that matched the beauty, style and age of the home. Kitchen remodeling is usually a disaster in not matching the wizened charm of an older home, in my opinion.

American Indian in Dublin Photo by Kari

But, back to Dublin dulcimer.

More travel blurbs by me after Dublin dulcimer.