Is there anywhere more boring than Gelsenkirchen?

[Sporting]

Ciudad Real.

I've never been myself but have had it confirmed to me that this is true.

[Southport Zeb]

Woah, hold on, a hat museum? When's that re-opening?

The one in Stockport is open today

[sw2borshch]

I'm no stranger to post- heavy industrial town centres, but when I got off the train in Gelsenkirchen I said to my mate, 'fucking hell, it's like a shit Billingham'.

[Wouter D]

Is it not quite pretty, though? (Serious question; I've never been.)

Its surroundings are fantastically beautiful. And then the sun goes down, and there is fuck all to do after six.

Somebody upthread asked for a definition of "boring", which I cannot provide. But I do know what isn't. The two months I spent in Bristol a few years back were Summer months, and I distinctly remember that one could walk through the city center on a random Wednesday* evening around midnight, with all the bars and terraces chock-full of people having a good time. That, to me, is the opposite of a boring city.

*any day in the middle of the week will do.

[Sporting]

With respect to my late father, who was from that town, Ipswich seems to me to be a dull, dull place.

[Belhaven]

I did find Raleigh, North Carolina less than eventful, certainly not much of a place for walking around or do any shopping.

[treibeis]

Woah, hold on, a hat museum? When's that re-opening?

Fucking hat museums. Pffffft. I live but an hour's drive from the German Cement Museum.

http://zementmuseum-hemmoor.de/start.html

[Felicity, I guess so]

Apart from its magnificent flea market, beer etc Brussels has a great art nouveau/modernisme walking route around some great private houses built in the era

Mönchengladbach is not a really happening town, tis true, but it does have this statue/street art (it moves! You can push it and pose them yourself!) and the bars near it are very welcoming:

[Felicity, I guess so]

In Eickener Straße, about 10 mins from the station, by the way- bottom of the hill from the old ground, which is why I had my 1st Hannen Alt in those bars aged 14, but you'd need to get a (free) bus from the station to the new one.

[sw2borshch]

I'm due to go to Moenchengladbach in a couple of months, I will definitely be looking out for that. Tremendous.

That thing about Gelsenkircheners being loud rings true, now I have reflected on it. "Falsch, Jungs, falsch!"

[seand]

Fucking hat museums. Pffffft. I live but an hour's drive from the German Cement Museum.

http://zementmuseum-hemmoor.de/start.html

I feel a 'most niche museum' thread coming on

[Bored Of Education]

Apart from its magnificent flea market, beer etc Brussels has a great art nouveau/modernisme walking route around some great private houses built in the era

Is that the flea market in the main square? I actually thought that the main square was the prettiest part of Brussels but am not a fan of flea markets much (not even the ones in Havana). The day it was on when we went, it appeared to be populated by stalls selling caged birds as well which disgusts me.

[Felicity, I guess so]

No, I think it was down near the south station. Ms felicity still wears a 1950s dress with roses on that she paid 10p for. And i bought a black and orange woollen cycling jersey for the same price that i still have (note the change of verb...)

[WOM]

I feel a 'most niche museum' thread coming on

We did the Zippo Lighter Museum in Bradford PA last month and it was marvellous.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I once spent two nights in Charleroi. Everything on this thread so far sounds like Las Vegas.

[ursus arctos]

Gelsenkirchen is Charleroi without the charm

The two major "flea markets" in Brussels are the Marché des Antiquités in the Place du Grand Sablon, which is the posh one with genuine antique dealers and stalls adorned with the city colours of green and red



(the same location is used for a "gourmet" food market in the afternoon)

and the Marché aux Puces in the Place du Jeu de Balle, which is much more of the "anything goes" school (and much more loved by the Bruxellois)



I'm virtually certain that FIGS is referring to the Jeu de Balle, which isn't far from Midi/Zuid, but am again perplexed by Bored, as I can't recall a flea market in the Grande Place (though it has been 25 years since I lived in Bxl).

[Felicity, I guess so]

Yes, that looks the part- the clothes were just piled on the ground on tarps.

[treibeis]

If you're prepared to sit through one of the worst films ever made - "Fußball ist unser Leben" -, then you get to see quite a lot of Gelsenkirchen.

[Duncan Gardner]

I did find Raleigh, North Carolina less than eventful, certainly not much of a place for walking around or do any shopping

At the recent funeral of an old family friend, I was talking to the deceased's great-niece from that city who was amazed I'd heard of it (thanks to Chuck Berry's 'Promised Land').

Quick question for the Californians reading. Is Lodi as dull as the song suggests? I'm fairly sure Creedence never actually played there, even in their pre-fame days in the mid-60s.

[adams house cat]

Raleigh is indeed as dull as ditch water. So is Lodi although I never stayed there. A former colleague did and couldn't get out of town quick enough.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Fucking hat museums. Pffffft. I live but an hour's drive from the German Cement Museum.

http://zementmuseum-hemmoor.de/start.html

I'll see your Cement Museum and raise you Munich's Potato Museum.

[ursus arctos]

Oh man, Lodi makes Bakersfield look like Berlin

As far as the "Research Triangle" in North Carolina goes, Durham is much more interesting than Raleigh.

[adams house cat]

Yeah but that's not saying much.

[Duncan Gardner]

Thanks AHC and UA

[Snake Plissken]

I feel a 'most niche museum' thread coming on

BB&F! will win.