|
Spooky Europe
By Roberta Beach Jacobson
Europe feels a wee bit spooky now and then, you say? No, it‘s not only your imagination. The continent is filled with creepy, crawly things of all manner. Here are some of the ghoulish highlights.
Eating with your eyes closed
How about a restaurant where you have to eat in total darkness? Cologne, Germany has just such a place. You order in light as you enter the building, but after that you are taken to your table in the darkened restaurant. All the waiters are blind (but not the cooks). Better remember your potatoes are at 2 o‘clock, your broccoli at 7 o‘clock, your chicken at 9 ‚clock! Address: Unsicht-Bar (the name means invisible in German), Im Stavenhof 5-7 in Cologne.
The Plague Years
Due to lack of burial space, these skulls and skeletons were removed from area cemeteries during the Plague years and the Palatinate War. They have been stored in the cellar of St. Michael‘s Church in Oppenheim, Germany. The Sewers of Paris
Who knows what sort of monsters inhabit the 2100 kilometers of the French capital‘s famous sewers? Go find out for yourself. Guided tours are given Wednesday to Saturday (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). You enter at Pont d‘Alma - two bridges upstream from the Eiffel Tower.
Frankenstein Family Castle, Germany
Built in 1250 (more than 550 years before Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley‘s book about the monster), today it‘s a fun place to hike around and to photograph the old tower. The drawbridge and moat are long gone, but there is a massive entrance gate. You can find some scattered grave markers and a crypt. Much of the castle fell into ruin by 1850 and in part, only the walls are left standing. The family‘s tiny chapel is used today for wedding ceremonies. To get there, take the B3 road toward Heidelberg and follow the signs to the castle.
A Grave Matter Indeed
You can crawl through the Royal Crypt of Brussels every Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. and it's free. The place to head is the Church of Our Lady in Laken, Brussels.
Dracula Park
The Romanian town of Sighisoara (about 180 miles northwest of Bucharest) opened up a Count Dracula Theme Park. Don‘t you agree it has a certain bite to it?
Witches of Belgium
The annual Witches' Festival takes place every June in Ellezelles, Belgium.
Dead Rat Ball
The Anglo - Belgian painter and print-maker, James, Baron Ensor made much use of carnival (Mardi Gras) masks in his paintings to better emphasize the qualities of the people in his crowd scenes. That‘s how it came to be that the Dead Rat Ball is held every year in his memory in his home town of Ostend, Belgium.
Carnival is the sole focus, with a changing theme each year. It has nothing to do with rodents at all, dead or alive. The gala is named after Le Rat Mort, the artist's favorite cabaret in Paris. Get further information and bookings through the Ostend tourism office: (+32) 59 70 11 99.
Medieval Crime Museum
The Middle Ages were brutal. This four‑story museum in Rothenburg, Germany is bound to give anybody the willies, as you view fingerscrews (to force people to tell the truth) and masks of shame (for those who missed church). The Middle Ages offered all sorts of unusual punishments for citizens, as evidenced by the so-called "baker‘s chairs" - for those bad bakers who dared to short customers on loaf sizes.
The address for the Kriminalmuseum is Burggasse 3-5. You must request guided tours in advance, but all displays are also in English. They have a Website - http://www.kriminalmuseum.rothenburg.de.
Plenty of spiders for everybody
If you like amazing tales, this Copenhagen museum is for you. Find out how people enjoy dining on spiders and scorpions (and maybe you can get a few good recipes to try at home).
You‘ll discover 13 galleries full of the unusual, including art made from cockroaches. Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. and is located in Copenhagen at Radhuspladsen 57. So, when in Europe, tread carefully, even when it‘s not Halloween.. No telling what creepy things await you around the next corner!
Roberta is a regular contributor to The Traveler. More of her work can be found on this website and at www.travelwriters.com/Roberta
Back
to TheTraveler.
|
