Wednesday, June 12, 2002
|
Wednesday, June 12, 2002 |
|
See Transylvania
By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
My head is a little fuzzy as I write this. I woke up at 2:30 this morning to watch the U.S. tie Korea in the World Cup. Though I went back to bed after the match, things are still a little muffled and slow right now. It has been a while since I wrote a column. My last column claimed that I would refrain from watching network television for the entire summer. I have dramatically cut down my tv watching but so far haven't enacted much of the life-altering behavior patterns that I planned on. I haven't learned a word of French yet nor have I done much work on my new screenplay, "Blood Island." I did promise in my last column that I would share my thoughts on something called the Dracula Tour. The company that runs the tour provided me with information so I could pass it on to readers of our paper. This is not to be confused with the Bacula Tour that takes visitors on a tour of Quantum Leap star Scott Bacula's hometown of Muncie, Indiana. The Dracula Tour takes visitors to Transylvania, Romania on a week-long excursion to sites mentioned in Bram Stoker's famous novel, including a Halloween celebration in Dracula's castle The trip leaves the United States on Oct. 27 and once in Romania, visitors stop at sites such as Clock Tower, Bran Castle, Black Church, Vlad's birthplace and Vlad's final resting place. Vlad is Vlad the Impaler, the real-life person that Stoker based Dracula on. In addition to these wonderful sites, visitors will also get to witness a mock witch trial, stroll through haunted graveyards and visit a torture museum. Here is the best part, if there is a best part to this tour for freaks and geeks. On Halloween night, guests get in costume, eat a lavish dinner and then retire to the dungeon where "macabre music" is played. What kind of macabre music, you ask? How about hits like "Monster Mash" and songs from the movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." I'll admit that I don't know everything about Dracula, but I'll bet anything that he would not be a fan of the "Monster Mash" or the "Time Warp." He probably also wouldn't care for theme parks, unless it was one of those spooky, abandoned warehouses that are filled with naive co-eds and their lunkheaded boyfriends, and yet, they are developing one as we speak. This is all a ploy to get people to Romania, which isn't on many people's top ten lists of places to go. I'm sure Romania is nice, what with the peasants and the angry mobs toting pitchforks and torches, but people don't want blood and death and fear on their vacations, otherwise Detroit would bring in more cash than DisneyWorld. I also don't think that people want to spend time with a bunch of vampire wannabe wackos. You know, people named Bob and Margaret that had their dentist file their teeth into fangs and now call themselves Arturo and Monistat. A spooky themed trip around Halloween is fine but those going should remember that it is a commercial venture to make some quick cash. I grew up 10 minutes from Salem, Mass., where the witch trials happened in America. Some sites are spooky and interesting but most of it is a giant souvenir shop. If you want more information on the Dracula Tour, phone 1-866-T-E-R-R-O-R-T-O-U-R or e-mal to DracTour@aol.com. If you do decide to go on the tour, bring garlic, holy water and a stake. Also, lock your doors at night and don't play the "pass the orange without your hands" game with the other guests on tour.
|
