I got a similar response when I told people I was going to Canberra for a holiday. One person even asked me what drugs I was on, to consider two weeks in Canberra a good time.
I am a history nut and abnormally interested in Civic Stuff. Canberra, as Australia's capital, not only has what must be the world's coolest houses of parliament (seriously, is there anywhere else you can walk up the side of the building and then roll down? And where the stone floor of the foyer is lousy with fossils?), it has all the best museums.
I saw a landing boat from Gallipoli; not a similar boat, not a replica, an actual Gallipoli landing boat full of bullet holes. I saw The Big Picture. I saw Phar Lap's heart and Rolf Harris's wobbleboard. I saw the freaking Magna Carta; again, not a replica or fascimile but an actual 13th Century piece of vellum with the seal of Edward the First on it!! I bought a coffee mug with the Prime Minister's face on it and saw five Monets and tracked down the fate of a great-great uncle who was killed in WWI. I even got to write on a slate with a slate pencil and saw Ninjas advertising a Mexican restaurant.
What's not to love?
AWESOME!!! See, this is why I maintain that it all depends on what a person finds to be interesting and appealing.
My friend and I both love Victorian architecture and decorating, as well as various things that were around and in vogue during that time. So on my second day out there, we went to Brucemore Mansion and took the tour of it, which was so cool! Despite having been born and raised not far from CR, she'd never been there herself so it was new to both of us and we loved it. Especially when we discovered they had a Porter Music box in the basement, something she'd told me about but I'd not seen in person until then.
And we went to Galena, IL for some shopping, as they have Galena Beads, great for two jewelry makers like ourselves, and we found a store that was right up our alley for clothes and jewelry (both of us go with hippie/boho styles). Then we went back across the river to Dubuque and found Shamrock Imports that has all Irish merchandise (with a few Scottish things, too).
One day we went down past the Amana colonies (where we stopped and got some to die for caramels) to Fireside Winery and got to sit outside and enjoy the nice day and scenery.
Oh, and her town has a $2 second run theater that usually does not play rated R movies. But by pure luck and coincidence, the weekend I was there they decided to play "Public Enemies"!!

So we went and saw it 3 times for less than we'd pay to see it once in a regular theater.
I'm sure some people would have been bored to death but we had a BLAST!
