kim

I am fascinated that you thought the Anne Frank house was over rated. Personally, I was incredibly moved by it, but even acknowledging that not everyone is going to have the same reaction, I have to say that I am STUNNED to hear it called over-rated. <BR> <BR>That said, I was disappointed in the Mona Lisa, can't say the changing of the guards was over-rated because I couldn't actually see any of it, and didn't think the sacre torte (I think that is what it was called) was the best desert in the world. <BR> <BR>Kim

Thyra

Wow, I don't think anything I've seen I would call "over-rated". Sometimes it's fun and interesting to see something kind of "cheesy" or seemingly "insignificant". <BR> <BR>Maybe something that you expect to "blow you away" does not, but I find I tend to re-adjust my expectations based on the actual thing. <BR> <BR>In a wonderful art class at Collage the professor spent the better part of a month...breaking down our expectations and modern conceptions of "beauty" and "esthetics" so that we could become blank piece of paper.. free from pre concieved notions of what was "worth-it" or "not worth it". When travelling I try to approach all sights this way. That way nothing lets me down... everything is interesting in some way, even if it's just the history surrounding it, or a fictious mystique.

anissa

What fun! I whole heartedly agree with the Mona Lisa - I almost cried I was so disappointed when I saw it the first time. Stratford upon Avon (and I love Shakespere!). Big Ben (I can't get past European Vacation, "Look kids, Big Ben Parliment!"). Madame Tousouds (sp?). Frankenstein's castle at Halloween. And I hate to say it, but Neuschwanstein - I love the outside, but can't stand the inside of the castle.

kim

Just correcting my spelling - that would be the sacher torte, I believe.

elaine

I won't say "overrated", just personally disappointing: Stonehenge <BR> <BR>

sue

I agree with the Mannekin Pis, Notre Dame and Circus Maximus. Other over-hyped places: <BR>-Champs Elysee <BR>-Ponte Vecchio (Tijuana on a bridge, as my friend says) <BR>-Bruges - I know, I know you all love it. Too touristy and Disneyland like for me. <BR>

TBH

Kim, <BR> <BR>Sacher torte is right up there at the top! <BR> <BR>My wife and I went to the Sacher Hotel in Vienna to get the original. We weren't dressed well enough to sit in the real dining room, so we were hustled off to tourista hell. Sat there, waited and waited, finally got service and waited some more for this incredibly tatseless piece of cake. <BR> <BR>Perhaps that is why we found the Vienese to be so uptight and haughty...perhaps they ate too much of that junk!

Katherine

The Last Supper in Milan. Leonardo was clearly an inventor, not a painter. Now Michaelangelo.........everything of his is worth seeing! The Pieta is amazing and David; YUM!

Bill

<BR>Kim - Re the Anne Frank House: It strikes me as something for which you need a strong emotional bond (presumably from the book) going in. Lacking that bond, it's just a group of dingy rooms packed with tourists. Unless you are immersed in the story, the house is a rather weak metaphor for human determination, suffering, man's inhumanity to man... or whatever it is that people read into it. I started the book when I was 12 but got bored and never finished it. I did see the movie as a teen, however. The house itself, though, didn't grab me at all. <BR> <BR>Thinking of a comparable place that DID grab me, I instantly came up with the Gettysburg battlefield. Having read extensively about the battle and having envisioned the place in my mind, it was VERY moving to stand on Little Round Top or among the boulders of Devil's Den. To many other people, it would just be a pile of rocks -- an over-hyped "waste of time". <BR> <BR>I suspect it's so with many of the things that "move" people when they go to Europe. There are sights and experiences that will strongly appeal to almost anyone -- the hyped "must-sees" of the guidebooks -- and others that are more esoteric in their appeal. The premise of my post was that the guidebooks sometimes confuse the two and promote esoteric things like the Mannekin Pis and the Mona Lisa as must-sees.

xxxx

My jaw dropped when we finally got to the Mannekin Pis-- what a let down! <BR> <BR>And I am sorry to admit that I was disappointed when we got to Notre Dame-- being that I am not Christian, my feeling is that, once I have seen once church, I have seen them all. I don't mean to offend anyone at all. But I had heard many different emotions people had felt being there, and I felt nothing.

james

For me, the mermaid in Copenhagen. Soooooo small - really disappointing.

BTilke

Living in Brussels, I agree that the Mannekin Pis is one of the most over-rated sights in the world. I don't even know how it got to be such a tourist trap or why people bother to make all those ridiculous costumes for it. <BR>Next on my list would be Montmartre. Whenever I show friends around Paris, I tell them if they want to see Montmartre, they're going on their own. <BR>And a big ditto for the Sacher torte. Talk about dry and tasteless!! Yes, I've had it at the Sacher Hotel. Blecch. I spend my excess calories in Vienna on Austrian wine, which is often under rated! <BR>BTilke

Dickie

Michaelangelo's statue of David. Proportionally, I'm bigger you know where.

Ben Haines

I agree with the excellent list of London kitsch. Just to summarise, Changing of the Guard (foot and horse), Madame Tussaud's, London Dungeon, Crown Jewels, Big Ben. In normal English that non specialists speak in London Big Ben is the clock in the tower in the Palace of St Stephen. Then in Warwickshire Stratford upon Avon. <BR> <BR>I'll add one of my own: the Clink Prison. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London

Judy

No Dickie, where are you bigger? It must be the feet &gt;g&lt;. But David's chest & torso are just brilliant. <BR> Yes, Bill, I grew up not far from Gettysburg, and when I was small we would go there constantly and I guess when you are young, battlefields lose their impact. Now, I am profoundly moved by them. <BR>I would say Pisa....very overated IMO. <BR>Judy <BR>

Judy

Senior moment....I meant the leaning Tower of Pisa....Judy

Laura

To Katherine: No, no, you must give Leonardo another chance!!....His art is exquisite...go see his 'Virgin of the Rocks' at the National Gallery in London or his 'Madonna and St. Anne in the Louvre....When you see the love in St. Anne's eyes, I promise, you will be so moved. Go see.........

Kurt

This website. Highly overrated and going downhill fast.

alan

Hi <BR>I wanted to my own thoughts on overrated sites. i know that I will get a lot of "are you crazy" type of responses, but to me it was Venice. <BR>Venice is a beautiful city and should be seen. I just couldn't believe how many other tourists there were. For me the waiting in lines, the crowds, the overinflated prices etc. take away from the beauty of a place. I found it overated and not as enjoyable as I had hoped. <BR>alan

Rooben

Dear Bill! <BR> <BR>EUROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <BR> <BR>West Virginia beats the hell out of Europe. <BR> <BR>Rooben