Most under/over whelming touristy thing you have seen ?

[pplpilot]

I have always quite enjoyed discovering crap things. One that made an indelible impression on my mind was a dodgem ride I once found in the "resort" of Severn Beach. I really wish I had taken a photo. In what was clearly a former petrol station forecourt on the edge of a housing estate, a single dodgem car was available (for a price I do not recall). Apparently fun was to be derived from driving around and around a solitary, poorly disguised, obsolete petrol pump in a small oval area of painted concrete surrounded by a single course of bricks. Quite what you were supposed to "dodge", I could not fathom. Nearby were piles of dirty, once white, plastic chairs and a few drooping parasols, suggesting that people once used to sit here watching the action. Anyone who knows Severn Beach today probably pines for the day.

Brilliant. Is this the place? A quick Google-

 

[Donger]

Brilliant. Is this the place? A quick Google-

View attachment 383648

Brilliant! That's the badger. Never thought that would be on the net. Must have been a good 10 years ago I saw it. This interweb netty thing really is the future.

 

[swee'pea99]

God almighty - it's even worse than you described!

 

[Donger]

God almighty - it's even worse than you described!

I surprised myself with my recollection of it! Wooden boards, not bricks, and fixed dirty white chairs not in a pile. Apart from that pretty spot-on. You see something like that and it really leaves an impression. One of my all time favourite crap places.

 

[Adam4868]

Brilliant. Is this the place? A quick Google-

View attachment 383648

That's the sort of place I want to take my kids !

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

That's the sort of place I want to take my kids !

Is that wise? They'll be choosing your retirement home.

 

[Adam4868]

They'll be nowt left by the time I can retire (not political !) I quite fancy retiring to France,I want to spend my days sitting in a square,people watching smoking and drinking !

 

[raleighnut]

They'll be nowt left by the time I can retire (not political !) I quite fancy retiring to France,I want to spend my days sitting in a square,people watching smoking and drinking !

Nice sooner do it in Italy though.

 

[Piemaster]

Overwhelming - walking into the Science Museum and Stephensons Rocket standing there. I stood there slack jawed, from the info card on it apparently a lot of blokes do. I hadn't realised the real one actually still existed.
Wife/kids walked past barely noticing it.

 

[Sandra6]

Overwhelming - walking into the Science Museum and Stephensons Rocket standing there. I stood there slack jawed, from the info card on it apparently a lot of blokes do. I hadn't realised the real one actually still existed.
Wife/kids walked past barely noticing it.

Isn't Stephenson's rocket on display in York railway museum? I know I've seen it there - unless it's a replica?

The first time I took the children to a Roman fort I was really disappointed - from the brochure we were expecting an actual fort, not just a few bricks in the ground where it used to be. Very glad we walked in through the back gate and avoided paying!

 

[slowmotion]

I surprised myself with my recollection of it! Wooden boards, not bricks, and fixed dirty white chairs not in a pile. Apart from that pretty spot-on. You see something like that and it really leaves an impression. One of my all time favourite crap places.

It's absolutely wonderful!

 

[Salty seadog]

First sight of the turbine hall at Tate Modern is pretty awesome.

Oh yes. I first saw it when Olafur Eliasson's Weather Project was there. Breathtaking.

Ai Weiwei with his Sunflower seeds for my first visit, It was empty a couple of weeks ago for my last. A vast space.

eta, thinking about it I must of been there years before that, that was just the first time I saw the hall being used.

 

[Piemaster]

Isn't Stephenson's rocket on display in York railway museum? I know I've seen it there - unless it's a replica?

Working replica. I'd seen there a few years beforehand too. Thats why the real one had such an effect - not realising it did actually exist.

 

[slowmotion]

Overwhelming.......Kew Bridge Steam Museum -- Grand Junction 90 inch Cornish Beam Engine. It smells awesome, it sounds awesome and it looks awesome.

Here it is getting started up.

[media]
]View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGoQQCM4SMU[/media]

 

[Tin Pot]

Fond memories of the trip and the bell.

Oh tinpot, not looking for an a la politics squabble - no i didn't find nottingham "overwhelming" - guess my affection for it collided with the thread title and your response. Suggest you me and tvc meet for a drink in derby.

Derby...I'm thinking there'll be a lot of horses and long circular hedgerows.

I'm going to be disappointed again, aren't I?