To some in our party, our inclusion of the Criminal Museum on our recent Viennese itinerary seemed a little odd. “But it sounds gruesome.” “But it’s in the middle of nowhere.” “But there are so many other places to visit.”

We pleaded that Haron needed to visit, to help her legal studies. After all, there could be some fascinating stuff that might help her research. So we won the day.

The real reason’s below (and yes, Haron did get a few odd looks as she snapped the photo):

Austrian SM parlour

Yes, dear readers, in the midst of some exceptionally unpleasant displays of murder weapons, skulls of executed villains “and the very cords used to hang them” – there, in the basement, was what our guidebook had enticed us with: a collection of “pieces of equipment from a 19th-century sado-masochist salon”.

Sadly, the display case was firmly locked – but do feel free to email the curators and point out that many museums these days offer historical re-enactments to boost visitor numbers. Only, I suppose, those re-enactments typically involve participants putting on authentic costumes, rather than taking them off…

(Hey, do you think the contents of my study might end up in a museum one day?)