Tea shop

A week ago, I asked for a show of hands in a London lecture theatre.  As I suspected, more people in the audience had been to Machu Picchu than to Lincoln cathedral.  What I didn't expect was the ratio: over three to one.  I was once offered a trip to Machu Picchu myself, but decided it was one of those places Dr Johnson called 'worth seeing, but not worth going to see'.  Why endure a long flight and altitude sickness to see some rubble in the Andes when for £40 I could take a daytrip to one of the world's architectural masterpieces where the only discomfort would be finding the tea shop had closed?

Rory Sutherland, the Spectator, 16th July, 2016