Rel

We did a sewer tour in Paris in 1991. Actually toured the city's sewage system - it was amazing. We still talk about it - and no, it didn't actually smell.

Boots

Lenin's body in Moscow. Unfortunately, the image has stayed with me far longer than some of the beautiful things I have seen.

thanks for the reply

ttt

Lisa

There is an alarming museum in Vienna -- can't remember the name -- full of body parts in jars. Somebody remember the name of this place?

sue

Auswitz was terrible - it will never leave my head. <BR> <BR>Seeing a body being burned along the river in Kathmandu was no picnic, either.

Chatters

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

P_M

I saw Lenin's mummy, and it looked like a wax figurine to me. I have also seen different body parts and bones in museums, as well as mummies. These things do not disturb me that much, but Dachau was something that will never leave me.

Another disturbing sight was one I stumbled across in Brazil. My friend and I wandered into a church in Manaus. There were about 5 people standing at the altar and at first we didn't realize a quiet ceremony was going on. Suddenly a young woman began wailing, then we saw the tiny casket with a baby inside. We should have left immediately, but we just froze with shock. The small family kissed the baby on the forehead, then they closed the lid. At that point we did leave, but it still chokes me up to remember this scene.

Scarlett

I am one of the few ( I think) people that avoid these attractions.
I have never gone to the Catacombs or Dungeons or purposely seen grotesque sights. They sort of stay with me and as one poster said earlier in this thread, the ugly sight was stuck in his head longer than the beautiful sights. I am afraid that will happen to me
I think a lot of the way I see travel is to be away from things that are unpleasant, like the news and ugliness that is in every newspaper.
Maybe the closest I have come is when we were in St Martin one year and they had just hung a goat upside down in the street and cut its throat. I was happy to find out before I saw it. So that is my near-grotesque memory~

Patrick

Well at the basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari, Italy they display the bones of this famous saint. In other words, it's Santa Claus's bones!! I wouldn't show them to a five year old!!

Also grotesque is the image I have of the French women in sleeveless dresses with hairy and sweaty armpits, tucking long loaves of bread under there to take home to the family for dinner.

thomthumb

I think that the gutt wrenching feeling I had while standing on the bluffs of Omaha Beach in Normandy on the anniversary will never leave me. I've been to many American civil war sites, but I never felt what I felt on that beach. Maybe because I was a machinegunner in the army, and used a gun that was designed after the German one. Knowing the capabilities of that gun, and seeing the distances and fields of fire, it was hard for me to believe that anyone survived on that beach.

degas

The absolute worse thing I ever saw in europe was when I walked in on my mother-in-law as she was climbing out of the bath!

Lord, oh lord, mere words can never describe the terrible shock I received. Talk about the creature from the dark lagoon!

I couldn't eat for at least an hour and still have nightmares where she asks me to dry the scales on her back!

indytravel

I've posted this before:

My first time in Paris in spring of 2001 I was walking with a friend through the edge of a park in Montmartre on the way up to Sacre Coeur. We were walking side by side.

I noticed this lady up ahead. She had that slightly crazed homeless look. Mumbling to herself she was squatting down next to a park bench peeing.

I was just a few feet in front of her as she stood and pulled up her fishnet pantyhose. I saw things I never dreamed, OK never had nightmares about seeing, on a public sidewalk.

amp;

As I walked past she, in a drunken, slurred French, was muttering that if men could do it in the street so could she.

My friend right next to me never saw a thing. I had to make him turn around and look at the puddle and weaving, retreating woman before he'd believe me.

zeppo2

I agree with the Paris Catacombs and the Cappuccin in Rome, but I found the tour of St. Michan's church in Dublin most grotesque. After being introduced to all the perserved bodies, we were encouraged to shake the hand of a knight from the crusades. If we can mention US sights, the Rosicrucian Museum's mummy display in San Jose gave me nightmares as an eight-year-old boy.

Amy

Hmmm...I thought the Crusader in St. Michan's was a right friendly touch, compared with the drawn and quartered guys in the next crypt up the lane.

There's a lovely little charnel house in Hallstatt, Austria where the skulls have the names done in calligraphy and ornamentation; ivy and roses seemed to be quite popular. The bones are neatly folded underneath.

The various bone displays have never really bothered me, as I'm all for the idea of the body being temporary and the spirit eternal.

Scarlett

OK, I think Patrick and Degas have a tie for worst sight LOL

LoveItaly

zeppo2, your comment about the San Jose Rosicrucian Museum and the mummy made me chuckle. When my daughter was in grammer school, about 10 I think, her class had a field trip there and I went along as one of the drivers.
Four darling little girls in the car, who freaked out all the way home. Not a good field trip for a child I think.

TrishB

Huh! When I was a little girl, the Rosicrucian Museum was a real favorite, and I don't remember any of the kids freaking out. This would have been in the late '50s. A big hit was the shrunken heads.

But for creepy things in Europe, I think the Leprosy Museum in Bergen, Norway deserves a nod.

hunnym

Wow, there are some interesting (and gross!) things in this thread!!!

The few things that have freaked me out the most aren't relics or sights...it's those things that get to my semi-weak stomach. Once in Bratislava I ordered a &quot;risotto&quot; and found a piece of pig skin - complete with hair - sticking up out of it! It was so disgusting I &quot;went vegetarian&quot; for the remainder of the trip.

I've also experienced some REALLY DISGUSTING bathrooms in Europe that I'm not going to describe. Let's just say that after opening up the door to one I ran out retching and drastically cut down on liquids the rest of the trip.

jeri

At one of the big museums in Chicago (yes,I know it's not in Europe) they have two men who had donated their bodies to science. The bodies were frozen and cut into 1&quot; slices, one vertically, one horizontally, and then were sandwiched between glass and hinged together to be flipped through like a book. I will never, ever forget it. . .

they also have real babies in bottles (from miscarriages). Won't forget that either. . .

SeaUrchin

I agree with you Scarlett, I think it is safe to say I will never purposely go into a crypt to look at bones arranged in any style whatsoever.

On my first trip to Italy I, by accident, saw a little glass case in a church. In it was what looked like a little black potato chip, then I read the description and it was a saint's tongue. That was enough for me.