Tours that make you scratch your head

[Phil&Liz]

Has anyone seen this yet?

Tours That Make You Scratch Your Head

Phil & Liz

[homeatlast]

The Paris sewer tour might be kind of interesting in a weird sort of way but some of the others.....no thanks. Especially the border one. My husband is a customs agent....don't think he would appreciate that one.

[Lakers Fan]

I would pass on all of these

[ToddDH]

Uhhhh.....I think I'll pass. What an insult that one has to sign a "release" to drive tour a part of any US city in daylight. To my way of thinking, that issue could be successfully addressed rather quickly.

Todd

[Snoozeman]

Interesting Thanks for the link.

[Rivilian]

I've taken this one several times when I lived in vienna. I'd always take visitors.

It's a tour in the catacombs and other nether regions beneath Stephansdom, the 12th Century Romandesque Cathedral in the very center of Vienna. It is surrounded by a huge open plaza, usually crowded with locals and tourists.

Anyhoo -- during the Black Death, people were dying so fast that they could not be buried. So large crypts were created under the plaza, and the corpses were dumped willy-nilly into these crypts through holes in the plaza itself. Time and rats reduced the corpses to skeletons fairly quickly. You can see some crypts which are a wild tangle of bones piled pall mall in the crypt.

In other crypts, however, someone on the "staff" removed the bones, and then reinserted them in an order that maximized the density of the bones. They are arranged in very striking patterns, with the skulls looking outward at the tourists.

Finally, we were taken to a more finished underground chamber in which there were a number of largish brass pots with lids. Some vaguely resembled ornate wash tubs; others upright umbrella stands (but with lids). These, we were told, contained the stomachs and intestines of Hapsburg monarchs and other high royalty. Their hearts were also removed and placed in similar vessels which are kept in a different church in Vienna (the name escapes me).

I'll do this all over again in June when I get to take my children to Vienna for two weeks to show them where they played, where they lived, and similar sights which they were too young to remember. And, yes, we'll take the Stephansdom catacomb tour. Wouldn't miss it for anything.

[katlady]

Originally Posted by ToddDH

Uhhhh.....I think I'll pass. What an insult that one has to sign a "release" to drive tour a part of any US city in daylight. To my way of thinking, that issue could be successfully addressed rather quickly.

Todd

I'm wondering what you mean by: "To my way of thinking, that issue could be successfully addressed rather quickly."

Certain places in the USA are very violent. In the Bay Area we have Bayview Hunters point. There was a police car place in front of a daycare and people did a driver by shooting at the police car. That was at about 1PM. I don't like the fact that tour companies are taking advantage of these poor and violent areas to make money. These tours don't help the community and treat the people there as if they are tourist attractions. That bugs the heck out of me.

To the OP I had no idea these tours existed. It's an interesting thread thanks for posting it.