The “Germiest” World Attractions
June 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
TripAdvisor has been putting out surveys and polls on just about everything you can imagine lately. One of their latest polls — “the top 5 germiest world attractions” — has made the folks at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) delirious with joy.
According to the poll of 4,600 travelers, since the swine flu outbreak 34% of people have become more “germaphobic” when traveling. And there are signs of even greater phobia — on TripAdvisor’s forums the use of the word “germs” has increased 97% and “sanitizer” 182%.
But the big news, of course, is its listing of the world’s top “germiest” sites:
- The Blarney Stone, at Ireland’s Blarney Castle, kissed by 400,000 people per year
- The Wall of Gum, at the Market Theatre in Seattle, Washington — a bizarre wall “mural” started by theater-goers in the 1990s
- Oscar Wilde’s Tomb in Paris’ Pere-Lachaise cemetery — adorned with a rainbow of lipstick kiss-marks
- Venice’s famed St. Mark’s Square — home to thousands of pigeons and the things pigeon leave behind
- Grauman’s Chinese Theater, in Hollywood, CA — which made the list since millions of fans touch the molds of their favorite stars
Reading this exposé I realized I had already been exposed to three of the sites, lacking only contagion at the Wall of Gum and Oscar Wilde’s Tomb. And, as luck would have it, I was to be in Seattle soon. Two days later I packed my hand sanitizer and set out for the airport.
The Wall was not an easily place to find. Hidden away on the southern end of Seattle’s crowded Pike Place Market, we found it only after being directed there by a tout for a restaurant a hundred yards away.
And it was as bizarre as TripAdvisor had promised: a gazillion pieces of gum stuck to the wall by movie buffs and tourists over a period of nearly two decades — a veritable museum to Wrigley and Trident. And Listerine and Scope, as well.
Tourists — most in their twenties and younger — wandered by to view the surreal mural, many making a personal donation before they left. They were often photographed by their friends — some whom appeared to want to keep their distance — as they molded their gummy wads into little pieces of art work.
I couldn’t help but wonder why some gum salesman wasn’t making a killing here. And also how soon I could get to Paris.
Jim Ferri
