Whenever I stay in a hotel, I make a point to rifle through those brochures of local attractions you often find alongside the reception desk. So many things to see, so little time and money! Recent delights I’ve been forced to forgo include a pencil museum in England and the world’s largest cuckoo clock in the Black Forest. And I’m still not over having missed the gerbil habitat in the United Arab Emirates, so if anyone goes there on R&R, please post a note on how it was.

In the March 20 edition of Stripes’ travel magazine, a photo ran of a man standing inside a gargantuan tongue and teeth. The accompanying text mentioned a newly opened facility in Netherlands. Intrigued, I decided to find out more about it, as well as to look into what other not-quite-so-mainstream attractions might be worthy of our time and dollars.

The Corpus Museum opened on March 14 in Oegstgeest, Netherlands, between Amsterdam and The Hague. The museum’s leadership hopes to attract visitors with an excursion around the human body, showing not only the manner in which it functions but how food, exercise and lifestyle influence good health. If you’ve ever contemplated how your hair grows, or what it would feel like to be a red blood cell, this is the place for you. From the Web site, it appears that children under age 8 are not admitted. Adults pay 16.50 euros for the experience; children under 14 pay 14 euros.

In Germany, a site that has long been on my “to visit” list is the Völklingen Ironworks, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visitors are invited to climb and explore the massive grounds of this now-defunct plant, from its ore sheds to its blast furnaces. Rotating exhibitions are also shown there. The park is near Saarbrücken.

Over in the U.K., the London Tombs Experience is an attraction built into grounds that were once plague pits of 14th century London. During excavations, hundreds of real human bones were unearthed. Now, since historical significance alone presumably isn't quite enough to induce goose-bumps or profits, Hollywood-style effects have been put into place.

Florence, Italy, hosts a Serial Killer Museum, featuring wax figures of well-known murderers, exhibits on forensic techniques, and replicas of gas chambers and electric chairs.

If you’re planning to be based in Europe for a good while longer, you might even live to see the day that Spyland opens. According to “Spyland - the secret is out,” an article on a Web journal dedicated to the amusement industry, construction on this new theme park in the Aragon region of Spain will begin late this year, with a projected opening date of 2010. Spyland is just one of the four major theme parks, which, along with casino hotels, a golf course, a racecourse, and other facilities, will make up the Gran Scala resort, to be built in Zaragoza. Rides and exhibits at Spyland will reflect the history of the secret services worldwide, and guests can stay at a Pentagon-themed hotel.