Best and Worst Tourist Attractions

The Louvre was a disappointment? THE LOUVRE? Okey dokey. I went there four times in the ten days I was in Paris. A disappointment? Not to me.

Re Times Square, I never understood why a street was of interest to anybody. But I'm a jaded Noo Yawker who has seen this street hundreds of times. Yawn.

Re the Statue of Liberty, Seeing it by boat from the harbor made me think of the millions of immigrants who saw it when they arrived here. Thought about what they thought about. I found it moving. On the other hand, going up in it was not a treat. It roused two phobias--fear of heights and fear of small places. Who knew?

The Eiffel Tower was eh. A great symbol, but not much to look at.

A big disappointment to me was the Fountain of Trevi in Rome. It's stuck on the back of a building. Not what I pictured. I threw in my coins and made my wishes anyway.

here you go c.i. :
DRIVING TO ELLA'S

we've always found it's best to go when there is a crowd waiting to get in .
you may have to wait 30-40 minutes , but you know the food is fresh - at least that's what we've always found .
we've only be there in march and november - maybe it's not as good during the tourist season .
we always order BROILED , never fried - gladly pay the extra buck !
as far as the wait staff goes , we've usually found that if we are friendly to them , realize that at times they are under pressure , not made unresonable demands , they'll look after us .
(of course , leaving a good tip the first time usually assures good service on subsequent visits - and a few nice words while ordering , such as : "came all the way from canada :wink: for ella's seafood " , goes a long way to get good service ) .
hbg(it's really cruel of you to get me salivating AGAIN - have you no mercy ?)

There seems to be nobody complaining about the Hofbraeuhaus - good or bad!

I agree with Linkat about expectations. I don't actively dislike Times Square (from a certain level of abstraction I even find the area beautiful, especially at night), but I've never thought of it as a "tourist attraction." So to out-of-towners coming to New York thinking that Times Square is an attraction, I can see how it would be disappointing.

They've cleaned up Times Square quite abit. It used to have real "flavor".

The good ol' days:

One of my biggest letdown was my first visit to Paris. It was in the late fifties, and by then I had heard so much about the City of Light. But once there, we really didn't see all that much that was supposed to be so chic and sophisticated.

The only thing that has stuck with me from that first visit was when I ordered my steak well done, it came back medium rare. Been ordering steaks medium rare ever since. Our mother cooked steaks until they were over done.

My subsequent visits to Paris has been much more fulfilling, because of the different districts, the museums, using the Metro, and being more familiar with Paris.

That was my thought when I saw it for the first time - what's the big deal!