Reflections on the Weekend

On my way back from a fantastic weekend with my girlfriend.
Over the past month or so, she and I have been doing a lot of "tourist" stuff. It started with me taking her up to Scotland and showing her some of my old haunts and exploring new places. Since then we have been doing a lot of sightseeing. Part of this is so we can actually say we've done something over our weekends, part of it is to convince her that London is a really cool place to live with no end of things to do and discover. So far we have been having an amazing time.
Anyhow, she is on placement at the moment and staying with her parents for it. Therefore this weekend I packed my bags and we went off to their place for some exploring. Like I said earlier, it was wonderful. We had a great time together and did some really cool stuff.
Unfortunately (it having been quite a while since I've done any attraction type stuff and not been on expenses), the cost of it all shocked me a wee bit. The things we went to all charged fairly significant entrance fees and that was with student discount. On both days I think we got value for money. We had great fun together. That was the point of the day. I like to think we learned a thing or two as well.
I don't have a problem with paying for attraction. I understand these things can't run for nothing and like I say, I think they generally represent value for money. What disappointed me was the determination of such places to get money out of customers at all costs. At one place, gift shops certainly equalled if not outnumbered the billed attractions (the attractions were in a number of buildings with a gift shop in each and a few more for good measure). Let's not even mention the coffee/ice cream/hot dog stands.
Again, I don't have a problem with gift shops per se but the sheer number left me feeling like the whole organisation was a cynical attempt to make money disguised as an attraction rather than attraction doing what was necessary to stay solvent. The sheer amount of saturation marketing served only to put me off buying anything. I feel acutely sorry for those that have kids since they lap up the worst of the over-priced plastic tat and have to be negotiated out of it every time. (As an aside: parents please PLEASE, if you're at something and your kids are making a racket, take them out of the situation for the benefit of everyone. Particularly if it's a guided tour. I know it can't be easy with a couple of wee ones especially when they're tired but don't inflict it on everyone else.)
Rant aside, like I say, it was a lovely weekend and the attractions did a fantastic job of catering to all audiences.
JR