Bonafide tourist

I have been preparing for this weekends trip to Dublin, much more so than the many other trips I have made up to the big smoke. I have been going up to Dublin every since I was old enough to remember, first to visit family or at Christmas to see the Arnott's toy display and the city all lit up like some sort of magical wonderland. When I hit my teens I would make regular trips to Dublin for concerts or a shopping trip. The thing is when you get used to a city, you stop actually seeing it and you just go where you know you like to eat and shop in the shops you've always gone to. Back then I would have been eating in O'briens sandwich bar and shopping in Topshop or Miss Selfridge and now I am more likely to eat in Milanos and shop in Zara or H&M. 

This weekend however is going to be different. I am not going to stay with friends or family and I wont be shopping up there. We are heading up to see The Riptide Movement play Vicar Street but we have decided to make a weekend out of it. Without shops to go to or friends to catch up with, I have found myself wondering what can a girl do to pass the time in Dublin without actually spending all my weekends money. It's ridiculous really that aside from one AOL team day out a good few years back, where we did the CSI interactive experience, the most touristy thing I have done in Dublin is visit the Zoo and even that was back before I discovered the joy of shopping and was too young to notice how depressed all the animals seem there. 

I have actually gone so far as to borrow a travel guide to Ireland from work to do a bit of research and I have mostly made an incredibly long list of places I will not be visiting including the Guinness factory, Kilmainham Jail and The museum of Leprechauns (personally I think the last one would probably be hilarious but I am not willing to part with €12 in order to find out)

And a short list has been made (it's an actual list because I am that much of a nerd) of places we would like to go. We decided to pick one each and my choice was The Science Museum, my boyfriend picked The Museum of Modern Art and if there's time we'll try and get to Chester Beatty Library. I also really want tea at Clemente and Pekoe and to check out the farmers market in Temple Bar but we'll see how long everything else takes and as with any trip how sore our feet get trying to navigate the city. I will still be having dinner at Milanos but only so I can stop dreaming about pizza but everywhere else will be decided on the go. 
Sunday I will spend catching up with all the family members,who have decided Dublin is the place to be , in Dun-Laoghaire as they have an awesome market in the park there every Sunday ( a woman's got to have her priorities in order).

Even now with the weekend looming, I am already thinking ahead to the weekend in Cork at the end of the month and making plans for that. We're going to be the best tourists ever, minus the giant cameras and novelty tv shirts. 

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