I went to Oktoberfest, but I didn’t drink any beer.
I went to New York in '98, but skipped the Twin Towers.
“Will go up there on the next visit” , I thought to myself.
Years ago I stayed in Bonnie Doon but never checked out the serenity.
I read the title and thought “This is the story of my life…”
I hate doing tourist stuff, and I’m not wild about tourists themselves either. So my most precious memories are of little moments spent exploring a back street, or a sidewalk café. Not being herded through a Must See Attraction.
F’rinstance, I’ve been to London a half dozen times, never seen The Tower or Buckingham Palace. I’m sure I’ve caught a glimpse of Big Ben and the Eye… but I wan’t trying to.
No, my favorite thing to do is to find a cheap airfare/hotel package, ‘pop across the pond’ and… find a pub. I’ll adopt a neighborhood pub as my own, and go there at least once a day for a good “Pub Lunch”. And often make new friends.
And as I sit there in front of a roaring fire, with a good book, a sausage and a pint, I think 'Why the hell would I want to be in a queue for some musty old castle?"
Lived in both Indianapolis and Charlotte and I currently live in Orlando (45 min or so from Daytona) and I’ve never been to a Nascar or Indy car race.
Went to the IMS one time while the cars were practicing, and went to CMS one time for a kickass Christmas thing (even drove on the track!) but never actually saw a race
I went to Prague, Oklahoma but I didn’t see The National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague.
Similarly, I’ve been to Nuremberg about 10 times, and have never toured any of the holocaust museum or WW2 stuff. It’s already very real and aware enough for me.
I went down to the crossroads but I did not fall down on my knees.
May have sold my soul, not sure.
I went to Nauvoo, IL and didn’t go into the Joseph Smith house.
But I think Nauvoo is a really odd place. First, few of the historical buildings are restorations – they are recreations. Every building has a couple of LDS members, entirely (when we were there) retirees who were doing their Mission. You’d enter a building and the first thing you’d hear was, “Hello! I’m Brother Thomas and this is Sister Sarah! We’re from Salt Lake City, where are you folks from?”
Understandably, this got old pretty quickly. And the buildings themselves didn’t seem to be all that interesting, so we blew town.