Oh, man. The Luxor in Las Vegas. We stayed there for a week while on vacation. The rooms in the building were stupidly hot. The elevators were somewhat cool from an engineering perspective, but everything about the place was pretty crappy. Wouldn't visit again.
By extension, Las Vegas might be interesting to see once in a lifetime, but it's certainly not worth a trip back to it. The only good memory of the trip was me driving in the desert out from palmdale, heading up 15 and seeing the signs for Barstow. I finally got to say my favorite words out loud.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.
Of course, the wife had no clue what the fuck I was talking about, so the moment was lost on her. In any case, the take away is to ignore Las Vegas generally, the Luxor, specifically.
I've been told by French friends that the Eiffel tower is not worth the 6 hours queue to get inside. I didn't because I only had a day to spend in Paris.
Guy I worked with lived in an apartment right down the road from the pyramids at Giza. He never visited. "Lines were too long. Not that interesting." quoth he.
I've traveled a little--visited 35 countries and lived in 6--and I've been racking my brain to find a tourist attraction I found disappointing. Can't find one.
But then, the reasons are that I never visit a place specifically for its tourist sites. I'm infinitely curious about the human experience all over the world, so even if a site ends up sucking, I find something to interest me. The closest I came to being resentful of a place was probably Kyoto, Japan, or maybe Ubud, Indonesia. In both cases, I was told about this amazing place, only to find something much less impressive. Fortunately, the people I met made up for it.
Manneken Pis. It's so tiny and the square is always overcrowded with tourists. It's pretty much tied with Mona Lisa, which is also tiny and overcrowded with tourists.
Louvre is pretty nice though, it's so huge that if you decide to look at something the crowds ignore, you'll almost walk alone. Check out Napoleon III's chambers. They're pretty grand.
I used to read a lot of Belgian comics when I was a kid. That would have been a good place to visit for me. Maybe next time then. Unless I feel a certain urge to go see Manneken Pis again. ;)
Really? Out of 2 months backpacking in Spain and France, the Sagrada Familia was on my top 3 of favorite things to visit...
I think what we remember about the attractions we see is largely based on two things : our own expectations (influenced by what we heard or read about it before) and what aspects or details of the attractions we focus on. I personally found the fact that it was still in construction after 124 years (when I visited it back in 2006) amazing in itself, including seeing the builders working on it, but the parts that were completed were also impressive.
Attractions would be wonderful is it were not for the tourists ... loud-mouthed, pushy, uncaring, thoroughly obnoxious tourists.
One example springs to mind:
When we were visiting Yellowstone last year I had severely injured my leg, and had difficulty walking even with a cane. Because of my infirmity I deliberately got to Old Faithful well ahead of the next eruption so that I could seat myself comfortably on the very front row of the viewing area. An avid photographer sat next to me and set up his tripod ready for the event. Very near to eruption time some loud-mouthed obnoxious tourists plonked themselves right in front of us (i.e. beyond the allowed seating area), yapping away to one another, taking selfies, blocking the photographer's tripod set-up, generally spoiling the view and the sense of occasion for everyone who had waited so patiently in the designated tourist area. One particularly obnoxious woman started pressing up in front of me, and complained bitterly that I should move my injured leg and cane so that she could wriggle backward and perch herself on the wall. What a total fucking bitch. To hell with her and all other loud-mouthed morons.
The city of Cannes. Does it count as an attraction? There is absolutely nothing to see or do, besides the Film festival in May. The beach is made of big pebbles, unpractical. Just because the name of the place is known doesn't mean it's interesting to visit. But, granted, it was never known as a "tourist attraction" in the first place. That's probably my bad. Damn movie-lover me!
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Oh, man. The Luxor in Las Vegas. We stayed there for a week while on vacation. The rooms in the building were stupidly hot. The elevators were somewhat cool from an engineering perspective, but everything about the place was pretty crappy. Wouldn't visit again.
By extension, Las Vegas might be interesting to see once in a lifetime, but it's certainly not worth a trip back to it. The only good memory of the trip was me driving in the desert out from palmdale, heading up 15 and seeing the signs for Barstow. I finally got to say my favorite words out loud.
Of course, the wife had no clue what the fuck I was talking about, so the moment was lost on her. In any case, the take away is to ignore Las Vegas generally, the Luxor, specifically.
I've been told by French friends that the Eiffel tower is not worth the 6 hours queue to get inside. I didn't because I only had a day to spend in Paris.
It's worth seeing from up close though.
Guy I worked with lived in an apartment right down the road from the pyramids at Giza. He never visited. "Lines were too long. Not that interesting." quoth he.
I've been inside the Great Pyramid. Well worth it.
I've traveled a little--visited 35 countries and lived in 6--and I've been racking my brain to find a tourist attraction I found disappointing. Can't find one.
But then, the reasons are that I never visit a place specifically for its tourist sites. I'm infinitely curious about the human experience all over the world, so even if a site ends up sucking, I find something to interest me. The closest I came to being resentful of a place was probably Kyoto, Japan, or maybe Ubud, Indonesia. In both cases, I was told about this amazing place, only to find something much less impressive. Fortunately, the people I met made up for it.
I really admire your attitude, and I think exactly like you.
Manneken Pis. It's so tiny and the square is always overcrowded with tourists. It's pretty much tied with Mona Lisa, which is also tiny and overcrowded with tourists.
Louvre is pretty nice though, it's so huge that if you decide to look at something the crowds ignore, you'll almost walk alone. Check out Napoleon III's chambers. They're pretty grand.
Came here to post exactly this about Manneken Pis.
The comic book museum is nice though, but all the comics you can buy are in French and Dutch and I can read neither :-(
I used to read a lot of Belgian comics when I was a kid. That would have been a good place to visit for me. Maybe next time then. Unless I feel a certain urge to go see Manneken Pis again. ;)
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Hate to say it but the Segrada Familia. That thing will never be completed.
Still wonderful to look at, surely? It's quite reasonable for a cathedral to take a few hundred years to build.
Really? Out of 2 months backpacking in Spain and France, the Sagrada Familia was on my top 3 of favorite things to visit...
I think what we remember about the attractions we see is largely based on two things : our own expectations (influenced by what we heard or read about it before) and what aspects or details of the attractions we focus on. I personally found the fact that it was still in construction after 124 years (when I visited it back in 2006) amazing in itself, including seeing the builders working on it, but the parts that were completed were also impressive.
Attractions would be wonderful is it were not for the tourists ... loud-mouthed, pushy, uncaring, thoroughly obnoxious tourists.
One example springs to mind:
When we were visiting Yellowstone last year I had severely injured my leg, and had difficulty walking even with a cane. Because of my infirmity I deliberately got to Old Faithful well ahead of the next eruption so that I could seat myself comfortably on the very front row of the viewing area. An avid photographer sat next to me and set up his tripod ready for the event. Very near to eruption time some loud-mouthed obnoxious tourists plonked themselves right in front of us (i.e. beyond the allowed seating area), yapping away to one another, taking selfies, blocking the photographer's tripod set-up, generally spoiling the view and the sense of occasion for everyone who had waited so patiently in the designated tourist area. One particularly obnoxious woman started pressing up in front of me, and complained bitterly that I should move my injured leg and cane so that she could wriggle backward and perch herself on the wall. What a total fucking bitch. To hell with her and all other loud-mouthed morons.
I always cringe inside when visiting little family run tourist traps when the staff are so eager and the actual attraction is so... meh.
The city of Cannes. Does it count as an attraction? There is absolutely nothing to see or do, besides the Film festival in May. The beach is made of big pebbles, unpractical. Just because the name of the place is known doesn't mean it's interesting to visit. But, granted, it was never known as a "tourist attraction" in the first place. That's probably my bad. Damn movie-lover me!
Six Flags over anywhere..Wait for a ride can be 45 minutes while the ride itself might last five.