That's one of the main reasons I hate doing tours. While they can help you see a lot of different things, they always seemed aimed at keeping the tour group separate from the general population, which always seemed to defeat the purpose.

Yeah, plus I hate having NO control over how long you stay somewhere. I am still bitter about the fact that I had to leave one of the places where I had the most fun in france after only about an hour and a half because I was on a tour.