Just In! | Travel News

Washington: Seattle’s Gum Wall one of the world’s “germiest” attractions

 
 

Jean Yang gets help from Ankur Dhar in adding a wad to the Gum Wall in Post Alley in Seattle
Jean Yang gets help from Ankur Dhar in adding a wad to the Gum Wall in Post Alley in Seattle
Alan Berner / Seattle Times

This is not a TripAdvisor Top-10 list you want to be on. Runner-up status for world’s germiest tourist attraction goes to Seattle’s Gum Wall in Post Alley, second only to Ireland’s Blarney Stone. It’s a form of people’s participatory art apparently started by improv Market Theatre-goers in the early 1990s, who thought better of sticking their gum under seats and started leaving it on the brick wall outside. Over the years, it’s grown vertically, horizontally and now is spreading to the wall on the west side of the alley, with gum stuck to the signs requesting “No Gum This Side, Thank You.” The Pike Place Market estimates the wall holds 750,000 wads of gum. The Gum Wall beat out Paris’ sewer tour and India’s Karni Mata Rat Temple.

Seattle Times

Read more Just In! | Travel News stories from the Miami Herald

  •  

Eagle Creek Afar Backpack

    Gear + Gadgets

    Got your backpack

    Always improving its lines of luggage for the adventurous, Eagle Creek has fine-tuned its new Afar Backpack to be all business and a pleasure. About the dimensions of a standard wheel-aboard bag (12.5 inches by 20.5 inches by 8.5 inches deep), the Afar weighs in at a mere 1 pound, 11 ounces. It is equipped with a slew of great features: well-padded contoured shoulder straps, a tuck away padded hip belt, adjustable sternum straps, external compression straps and a sturdy top grab handle. A padded breathable mesh back panel makes for comfy cushioning. The back panel cleverly incorporates a zippered padded compartment for a laptop (up to 17 inches) that doesn’t broadcast your precious cargo to would-be thieves. The spacious main zippered compartment is blessedly unstructured, three roomy external mesh pouches are great for jackets, water bottles, snacks and maps, and a very well-designed zippered front organizer pocket has pouches and elastic slots for a cell phone, camera, sunglasses, pens and other essentials. Double-lock zippers, hidden slip pockets for documents, and reflective accents for nighttime visibility are smart security elements. Available in a dreamy slate blue, sunny ochre and basic black.

  • Viking Cruises

    Company known for river trips announces ocean ship

    Viking Cruises, a company known for offering river cruises, on Friday announced that it was launching a new cruise line for ocean-going trips.

  •  

Taliesin is the former home of the late architect, Frank Lloyd Wright.

    Wisconsin: Taliesin tours daily

    Take the tour

Miami Herald

Join the
Discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

The Miami Herald uses Facebook's commenting system. You need to log in with a Facebook account in order to comment. If you have questions about commenting with your Facebook account, click here.

Have a news tip? You can send it anonymously. Click here to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

Hide Comments

This affects comments on all stories.

Cancel OK

  • Videos



  • Quick Job Search

Enter Keyword(s) Enter City Select a State Select a Category