Well today was a full on day. It started with a trip to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, naturally on Baker Street. This was set in such a cute, dingy old house- the floorboards really creak and groan as you walk about too. Each of the rooms were laid out for Sherlock and Watson, in a way just as they were described in the books. Seeing as Sherlock isn’t actually real (sorry if I spoilt that for anyone) there isn’t actually much to see as such, because it is all fiction, but it is great to see the rooms and stories brought to life just like you would imagine, with old books, fireplaces, old fashioned lighting, doctor’s utensils, pipes and other accessories. Sections of the Holmes stories are played out with dummies, although I must say the craftsmanship left a lot to be desired.
The staff are dressed in period costume and even Dr Watson was on call for those wanting a picture. There were lots of letters on display from Holmes fans requesting autographs, my favourite being from a little boy, who had to write a letter for extra credit at school, even though he told his teacher it was stupid because everyone knows Holmes isn’t real!
Next it was on to some more lifelike models at Madame Tussauds. Unlike the old days, it’s fully interactive now, so you can touch and get photos with the ‘celebs’. There are a number of themed rooms, from the red carpet party, to the sports centre, the World Leaders section, Royalty, musicians and the Chamber of Horrors. The Chamber of Horrors isn’t that scary, except it’s really dark and as you’re trying to find you way people leap out at you and growl and spit and pretend to lick you and stuff like they are crazed. Although they don’t actually touch you they get really close and come out of nowhere, so it’s pretty freaky. There’s plenty of blood and gore with displays showing the guillotine and other methods of torture.
But, back to the nice stuff. Had to do what everyone does when they’re here and get photos with the celebs like Johnny Depp, Helen Mirren, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, Audrey Hepburn, Robin Williams, Oscar Wilde, Henry VIII, the Queen and many more.
Some of them are so well done it is scary, like Morgan Freeman, Nelson Mandela, Whoppie Goldberg and Yassah Arafat. Others actually leave a lot to be desired. John Travolta, David Beckham, Mel Gibson, James Dean and Elvis all looked nothing like the real people in my opinion. All of the models are supposedly meticulously done, and I guess it’s hard to create ones of those people who have already passed away – but John Travolta! Come on, he obviously never modelled for them, they must have just guessed.
Another thing – it’s really hard to take photos of yourself with the models, although it does look more authentic I guess. Later on my friend Saba joined me, so that made it easier, but even then the models have this distant look in their eyes and are looking in different directions, so it makes it difficult to look like you are actually with them. But that’s all part of the fun I guess. The rooms they are in are also cool, done like movie sets, with fancy lighting and props. A lot of my personal favourite celebs were missing though, no Meryl Streep, no Tom Hanks, no Clint Eastwood. Oh well, will just have to meet them for real some day J
In the red carpet section they had a Japanese wax model pretending to take photos of the celebs, and she was so lifelike, I actually went to ask her to take my picture! And while I was waiting in the hall for Saba (who got a bit lost) I was sitting on the floor with my legs crossed, and people coming out of the lift thought I was wax! I moved at one point and this lady actually screamed!
It’s quite amazing how Madame Tussauds came about – she used to work for a man who worked with wax and made death masks of those executed in Britain. Her museum was a huge attraction for many years before becoming what it is today.
There was also an awesome ride through a mini London with a black cab as your vehicle. On the way you were shown the history of London, the kings and queens of old, medieval times (complete with rats gnawing fruit on the ground), war time, carnivals and more, all created with moving models and sounds. It was so cool we went on it twice! There was a merry go round with a freaky model on it that would snap its eyes around to look at you every time it went past – seriously it was like an adult chucky doll.
Then it was on to the Marvel Comics section, where I decided to hang with Spiderman. The best bit here was the 4D movie. 4D is always awesome, no matter what the genre, and this was no exception. As the comic characters go on their adventure, not only is it 3D, but you feel the water splash on you, the whoosh past your ears as Spiderman releases his cobweb, or the Hulk smashes his hands together. The freakiest part was when Wolverine stuck out his claws and you felt the jabs come through your seat. It was really cool, edge of your seat stuff, and the girls behind us literally screamed every time this happened.
Then after a nice dinner at Balfours (a lovely Italian place with profiteroles to die for) I headed off to Ripley’s Believe It or Not Auditorium, which is open till midnight (and I was there that late too). It was interesting in parts although a lot of the things weren’t real (i.e. there might have been a cow born with a leg coming out of its back, but this was just a model) and it was highly overpriced for what was there, but hey, it had some interesting stuff. Loved the mini-cooper covered in Swarovski crystals, the paintings crafted from gumballs, chewing gum, lint, pennies, plasticine, stamps and even butterflies, the Titanic and Tower of London models crafted from toothpicks, the pants of one of the world’s heaviest twins, the shrunken heads , and the comic containing the dead creators ashes! There was also a torture section here, which wasn’t much, but the horrifying bit was the electric chair re-creation – you pulled the lever and the model writhed and squirmed and smoked to an extent that was so real it was horrifying.
Then we came to the mirror maze. The most confusing part of the evening. By now it was after 11pm and I was pretty tired, and do you think I could find my way out of this daunting maze? I kept arriving back at the entrance, and it got to the point where I was starting to almost panic, I would imagine people have some real freak-outs in there. There is little lighting and you just go around and around in circles, seeing duplicates of yourself at every turn, no idea whether you can step through the space in front of you or if it is another optical illusion or dead end. As it was close to closing time and I hadn’t yet cracked it, I’m embarrassed to say I was led out by one of the staff – although it made me feel better when she made a few wrong turns too, and she knows the way! Then it was back home for a good rest!
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