Strange Museums

There are in the world some very strange collections ...

Captain Beany In His Empire .....

..... often the owners of these collections want to share their interests and obsessions with the rest of the world.

These shared collections often become those odd little museums that can be found scattered across the globe. Now in this blog we have mentioned the Museo Della Merda in Italy, but there are many others out there who qualify as being a unique experience. So in no particular order I will list a few that I have come across in my researches into the murkier parts of the web.

I should add that I am barely touching the surface of these strange museums ... in the US alone there are large numbers of old road side attractions, which often take the form of odd museums. Many are relics from the 1950's and 1960's, when small towns on major roads such as Route 66, would try to draw passing travellers in by offering strange attractions. 

So as a compliment to your visit to the Museo Della Merda, how about a trip to the Kitakyshu's Toto Museum in Japan in order to look at the development of bidets .... or perhaps you prefer to go to India to look at a rivals display at the Sulabh International Museum Of Toilets.

Still on that general theme (as a major the cause of the need to use the previous gadgets) - In Port Talbot South Wales, you can visit the The Baked Bean Museum Of Excellence run by Captain Beany (deed poll change apparently), who displays all things baked beans.

Some Males Are More Developed Than Others ......

Then there is the Icelandic Phallological Museum which compares a human penis, with those of whales, mice etc (all creatures great and small in fact .... including a merman!!). Once you get into biological displays in formaldehyde then the world is your oyster (they apparently don't have true penises, but they do have a protrusion for ejaculating sperm).

This leads us to S.E.X .... impossible not to cover our favourite subject of prurient interest .... Thailand has a Condom Museum in Nonthaburi near Bangkok (I am just saying). Then over to Prague for the Sex Machine Museum which includes copulation tables, and ..... wait for it .... a giant pedal operated dildo from a German prison.

Moving swiftly on and back to food fanaticism there was a Watermelon Museum in Beijing (with models of various watermelon types .... you have to be very keen on watermelons one suspects), or mayhap carrots are your thing, in which case The Carrot Museum in Berlotte Belgium (its run by gentlemen who probably would never visit the Icelandic Phallological Museum.... they are called the 'small carrot club').

Now that you are in mood for oddities, heading to London, one can go the the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities - mummified bats, Victorian foetuses et al - not for the faint hearted, and the same goes for the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam, which specialises in displaying human deformities (a bit like Channel4 TV in the UK).  These types of collections are popular, and the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia USA exhibits similar medical items (included pickled human skin and amputated feet).

So now you could trot over to Lima, Peru, to view  its Brain Museum (of which there are a surprisingly large numbers of collections around the globe). On a slightly more creepy note, in Turkey there is a Hair Museum run by a local man in Avanos, Turkey (he snips locks from local women apparently). Finally, now that your in the mood, you can consider a visit to the Salt And Pepper Shaker Museum in Gatlinburg Tennessee USA. No? Well how about the British Lawnmower Museum in Liverpool?

So there you are .... some handy holiday ideas from across the globe.