Château de Menthon-St-Bernard

Hopeless. A real rip-off. You get sold tickets by a kid. You can only see a few rooms, and they are dusty and neglected, filled with un-wanted lumber from various different unrelated historical periods. The place is like a junk shop.

Worse, in each room you have to listen to local schoolkids reciting texts they've learned and in one room, one of these poor brats plays an out-of-tune piano. It's truly torturous. Just totally annoying and inappropriate.

To add to the irritation, the kids wear "costumes" made from machine-washable nylon - just the sort of rubbish you see in school plays. Trainers underneath them. No particular period, just a vague idea that a long dress = olden days, right?

Why don't they employ adult actors? Because kids are cheaper. And you thought child exploitation was finished in Europe! Not here... where the feudal owners of the castle are still in residence, living off the money brought in by these kids and their "animated tours". Yuk. I totally regret going here.