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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask what famous landmark or must visit place/thing were you secretly underwhelmed by?

750 replies

Midge1978 · 12/09/2017 23:33

I went to stonehenge this year and whilst I was trying to get in touch with my inner druid, trying to project historical importance and mystery onto the place, I just couldn't escape the feeling that I was just looking at some very old stones and it was actually (whisper) a little bit boring!! Dh thought it was all marvellous though so I have never told him!!!

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cathyandclare · 13/09/2017 10:51

Really shocked by lots of these. Saw the Taj Mahal last week and thought it was magical, it was at dawn and v quiet though, so less touristy. I also thought the Grand Canyon was amazing and loved Pisa too. I was disappointed in the Mona Lisa as a 12 year old on s school trip though...

echt · 13/09/2017 10:51

I preferred Blackpool tower to the Eiffel tower as it was far more impressive to the tiny child I was when first viewing it

This reminded if a friend accounting for not taking their mum to see the Eiffel Tower, as they'd already been to Blackpool, and the towers were "much of a muchness" :o

StorminaBcup · 13/09/2017 10:51

Sorry Daaaaaaan - you might love it still!

Curtainsider · 13/09/2017 10:52

There is a generic quality at play echt.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 13/09/2017 10:52

I thought the Trevi fountain was great, but was surprised to come upon it just walking round the corner in an ordinary street.
Pisa was very underwhelming and you couldn't go up the tower when I went. I hated the tatty track up to it and the market type stalls selling tat.
Wasn't keen on Dublin.

Love Lake Garda, Venice, particularly St Mark's Square, which I saw for the first time at night, with an orchestra playing and people dancing.
Winchester and Canterbury cathedrals are impressive.

honeyroar · 13/09/2017 10:55

Definitely the Mona Lisa and the Sistine Chapel. You queue up and get herded past it, and for both I thought "was that it??"

I also thought the Grand Canyon was a bit underwhelming when I first saw it. It's so big it's hard to get the scale of it. I preferred the Canyon du Verdon in France, which is more like a gorge and you get the depth more. I have been back to the Canyon a few more times and find it more impressive each time- especially in bad weather. I saw it with snow once, and last month in a big thunder storm, which was dramatic!

Sorry but I was another underwhelmed by York Minster. It was nice, but the first big one I went to was the Duomo in Florence, and that was just so much more impressive in every way.

I agree most things are better seen out of season with less folk around. I went to Christ the Redeemer in Rio 20yrs ago and it was superb. I went back this year and it was incredibly crowded, and although amazing, not as magical. Same for the Great Wall pre and post Olympics!

Daaaaaaan · 13/09/2017 10:57

No problemo StorminaBcup to be honest I will also be one of those people doing the arms outstretched pose Grin

Curtainsider · 13/09/2017 10:59

Mine was very hush hush.

The80sweregreat · 13/09/2017 11:03

Towers are 'much of a muchness' so funny. My mum went to Austria to see the passion play with her church friends. she said ' oh, you;ve seen one mountain, you;ve seen them all'!! ( she enjoyed it though)
I liked Venice , despite the crowds and rain ( May time) but again , i wouldnt rush back.

IHeartDodo · 13/09/2017 11:04

Not RTFT but the statue of liberty - much smaller than I expected!
The Taj Mahal on the other hand - didn't expect that much because I'd already seen so many pictures... but it was AMAZING! I actually teared up!

PlausibleSuit · 13/09/2017 11:05

I think things - sights, works of art, whatever - only move you if you have an emotional connection with them. Ticking things off a list is never going to be quite as satisfying, because we don't respond the same way to any two different things.

So, for example, I have a real gut reaction to Francis Bacon's work. Not because I think it's beautiful (it's not - some of it is very distressing) but because I can respond to the pain and loss that he put into the work. I can identify with it, and through it, the artist and how he might have felt. Same with Van Gogh.

Whereas it's virtually impossible to have any kind of response to the Mona Lisa because a) we've all seen reproductions of it a million times before, and b) you can't get near it on your own. It's never personal. Art (and, by extension, how we look at things like architecture and landscape) is about how it makes you feel.

Amusingly, I also had a hugely emotional response to the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I stood and watched it for over an hour, completely transfixed. I found it really moving and it's one of my go-to mental images when I meditate. To this day, I could not tell you why.

I always think of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch with this sort of stuff. That's a work of art about a reaction to a work of art. A tiny little painting that most people would walk straight past, but to the protagonist (and presumably the author) it holds the greatest of meaning.

The80sweregreat · 13/09/2017 11:07

My dh went to the Taj mahal on a business trip. I made him have a picture taken on the bench where Diana sat - he wasnt impressed really. said it was too busy, too many touts etc etc.
I wonder if our expectations are too much sometimes?

Polkadotties · 13/09/2017 11:08

Sistine Chapel. I'm not religious in the slightest. I can appreciate the hours it took to paint etc but to me it's just a painted ceiling

pineapplehead48 · 13/09/2017 11:08

Budapest - not a landmark but an entire city. Don't get me wrong, it was nice but that was just it. Nothing spectacular and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone

Kazzyhoward · 13/09/2017 11:13

I think things - sights, works of art, whatever - only move you if you have an emotional connection with them.

Exactly this. Most of the "sights" can these days been seen at the touch of a button on your ipad screen, not just photos, but videos, 360 degree views, etc. So, it's no longer just "seeing" them as such, it's turning them into an experience that makes the difference. Otherwise, just sit at home and look at your ipad.

onlyslightlyinterested · 13/09/2017 11:18

I remember seeing the Grand canyon for the first time. Just glimpses at first through the car window. It literally took my breath away. I involuntarily crawled out of my seat to get away from it. Amazing sight! The most disappointing for me was the Tower of London. I'm very interested in all things Tudor, but found it very sterile and touristy.

The80sweregreat · 13/09/2017 11:21

The Tower of london is a bit of a let down too.
The Jewel house seemed odd to me ( i was only about 12) and i;ve since learnt that they are probably not the real jewels anyway! ( from friend of friend who;s dad was a Beefeater in the 70s ) its probably an urban myth, but i wasnt impressed. Maybe i need to go back and see all these things again!!

Androidsdreamofelectricsheep · 13/09/2017 11:22

Bondi beach

MissSueFlay · 13/09/2017 11:31

Hollywood Boulevard - I was expecting it to be super-glamourous, kind of stepping back into the golden Fred Astair-Ginger Rogers world.
It was dirty, with wall-to-wall tat shops and a slightly dangerous vibe, like things could just kick off... All round seedy really. I was so disappointed.

BillBrysonsBeard · 13/09/2017 11:32

Petra was just as magical and aladdin-ish as the photos, but the pyramids were ruined by sellers, mcdonalds and rubbish. I thought it would be in the middle of rolling sand.. it spoilt the mystic!

Elendon · 13/09/2017 11:43

I loved the Tower of London when I went two years ago, but was underwhelmed by the Jewel House - barely time to gasp and you're off the conveyor belt.

Lovelise · 13/09/2017 11:45

The Eden Project

TrickOrRuddyTreat · 13/09/2017 11:50

Rome - I love Italy and had been desperate to visit Rome for years but just found it very disappointing. It is, to me, lacking in any personality and I am baffled by the (many) people who think it is romantic. Like other posters I was surprised to find the Trevi fountain is basically stuffed down an alley.

Pisa - agree with others again here, the area around the tower is tat-central.

Niagra Falls - the falls themselves are quite something (I was on the Canadian side) but the are around is like a mini Blackpool and in my head I expected it to be more national park-y.

I adore Florence but not in the hight of summer (same with Venice) but outside of the busy times it's awesome, I'd definitely recommend a winter visit to those who have been previously and were disappointed. I do agree with the poster who mentioned the Uffizi being eleventy million 'madonna and child's though!

IHeartDodo · 13/09/2017 12:02

@The80sweregreat when we went, we got up at 5am or something so we could be the first ones there in the morning - not too crowded or hot!
It was magical.
They also make you take off your shoes and that marble gets very hot in the sun after a while!!

StopHammerTime · 13/09/2017 12:08

All of Australia underwhelmed me to be honest. The Sydney Opera House looked really cheap and shoddy up close.

Lands End is very tacky but the surrounding beaches, St Michael's Mount and the Minnack Theatre more than make up for it.

Have to say that I loved Giant's Causeway!

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