SINGAPORE - Whether you choose to rub, kiss or pat them,
travel website VirtualTourist.com has come up with a list of the top monuments
in the world believed to bring good luck.
1. Victor Noir Grave; Pere Lachaise, Paris, France
Noir’s grave is one of the site’s prime attractions. A rub of
his trousers is thought to increase fertility and as such is often frequented by
women hoping to become pregnant.
2. Showgirls Bronze; Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
If luck is truly a lady then visitors to Las Vegas should
make the kick-line statue outside the Riviera’s Crazy Girls review a priority.
It’s said that a little fanny pat will increase gamblers’ odds.
3. Bull Mosaic; Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, Italy
If shoppers in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele look a little
dizzy there’s a good reason. Legend has it that planting your heel on the
testicles of the mall’s bull mosaic and spinning around will bring good luck.
4. Blarney Stone; Blarney Castle, Blarney, Co. Cork, Ireland
At a loss for words? Try kissing the Blarney Stone. Thought
to give visitors exceptional powers of speech, the stone must be kissed upside
down from a prone position. In an effort to ensure the safety of visiting
kissers, Blarney Castle provides a worker to assist in the process.
5. Sensoji Temple; Tokyo, Japan
Visitors to the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo believe that a little
of the temple’s incense rubbed on an aching body part acts as a cure-all for
everything from sore throats to backaches.
6. Chandelier; Cochem Castle, Cochem, Germany
As if a mermaid with antlers was not unusual enough, this one
is thought to bring good luck. The worn-down paint on the sea creature’s red
tummy is proof of how many believers come to give the fixture a little tickle.
7. Intihuatana Stone; Machu Picchu, Peru
Originally constructed as a time measurement device by which
sacred ceremonies could be planned, the Intihuatana Stone has developed a
secondary function. Some say that sensitive types can rub their foreheads
against the stone and see spirits.
8. Manhole Covers; Sweden
It’s hard enough to look out for cracks in the sidewalk, but
in Sweden residents also have to look out for manhole covers. Labeled with
letters that represent different things like "love" or "lost love," pedestrians
either avoid or touch their feet to the covers depending on what fate they might
bring.
9. Lincoln’s Tomb; Springfield, Illinois.
It’s been reported that people from all over the world come
to not only pay their respects to Abraham Lincoln but touch the tip of the
former president’s nose, thought to be lucky.
10. Il Porcellino; Sydney, Australia
Visitors who think they’ve seen this somewhere else would be right. A copy of
the famous Il Porcellino in Florence, this boar was a gift to the Sydney
Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital. Like its counterpart, the statue’s snout is
said to bring good luck to those who rub it. – Reuters
