My family probably knows this fact very well, that I love London to bits. It is one of my favourite cities in Europe that I could not stop talking about it and that I even planned a second trip back there. Now that says something, especially when I have limited time and funds to travel around Europe, why would I go back to a city I've already explored (some) and go to somewhere else new instead? Answer: because it's such a lovely city and there's so much to do and see! Even after this second trip, I feel like, eh... I don't think I've seen everything....
After having been once, London was rather easy to navigate this time. Was pretty familiar with the metro systems and got to my hostel with relative ease. It was such a pleasure being able to arrive late into the city, but having the knowledge that supermarkets would still be open, and I could still pop into Marks and Spencers and get their meal deals at 7pm at night... So this time round, I took the opportunity to check out various sights that I had missed on my previous trip and one of them was Madam Tussands Museum. Having already been to the one in NY, I was curious to see what this one would be like. I must say that the tickets were rather expensive, 24 pounds and there was a long queue of people despite having arrived there early, so pictures are below:
I must say that not every wax statue looked like the original. There were some I had to take a double look or look at their plaque to confirm who they were....
If not for the plaque, I would not have recognized Tyra Banks and Kate Moss below, though I managed to recognize Elle almost immediately...
The beckhams were mainly recognized via their style and victoria's hair, but the Victoria's face didn't really make it.... Brad Pitt look the most authentic in that picture below.
Not bad replicas..I have a similar picture of me and Julia Roberts, which was taken in NY in 2005... I have a feeling they switch models around the museums every now and then.
I don't think many people recognized Mr Orlando Bloom below because compared to the rest of the wax models, people were mostly ignoring his statue. I had to look twice to confirm it was him too when I wandered over to his area, though Leonardo below looked pretty real :)
Johnny Depp and Nicole Kidman pass.... Mel Gibson and Will Smith, fail...
There was Miley Cyrus in the corner but she was being beseiged by a bunch of screaming teenagers so I retreated and only got Zac Efron...
Bollywood stars
In the director's chair... hehe...
My name is Bond... James Bond
Props for Aguilera's wax model... looks totally like the real thing..
Shrek!!!
Sports people; A meaner looking version of Beckham, but I must say that Rooney looks like a gorilla here....
Shakespeare and the Pope JPII
Props for Britney Likeness... but Beyonce is a thumbs down....
BFFs...
French and Chinese together...
Ze Royal Family.... I must state here that I could not find Diana's statue in the museum....
Pretty good model of Simon Cowell.
It's kinda scary that Madam Tussands has this... but she was french after all. The caption reads as: This guillotine blade is that one that beheaded Marie Antoinette in 1793. It was purchased from the executioner's family.
Wax models of the executed from the French revolution.
After walking through heaps of wax models, I ventured across the street to the Sherlock Holmes museum... hehe... I was a pretty big fan of his novels when I was a kid and into dectective stories. I hope that I still have my Sherlock Holmes collections somewhere back home unless it was a book that my parents forced me to throw away/sell when we moved house.... (Yes, story of my life... when I was younger I had heaps and heaps of books. But when we moved house to our current flat, Mom only allowed me to choose some books to bring along. The rest were all given or thrown away. I still remember hiding my Enid Blyton books so she wouldn't find them or trying to persuade my brother that Enid Blyton was worth packing in his box... )
So anyhow, anyone who has read Sherlock Holmes would know that this fictional character resided at Baker Street, so it's apt that the nearby tube station is named Baker street station and his museum is situated at 221b baker street. The museum and the shop is a pretty interesting place. You have to ring the bell to get in, and you're greeted by maids dressed in victorian outfits, or by the police officer below at the door.
To go up to the museum, you are first led to this small corridor lit up as it would have looked like in Holmes's time...
Then you go up this really old rickety staircase that creaks LOUDLY with every step..
Venture in the sitting room of Sherlock Holmes, his bedroom.
Other rooms show re-enactments of Sherlock Holmes cases, bits and pieces of clues that helped solved the mystery, or various awards that Sherlock Holmes received during his career...
I recognized this set up of the "The case of the red headed league" from one of the stories I read when I was young.
The museum shop is quite interesting, and built almost like a antique store with heaps of cute sherlock holmes memorabilia
For all beatles fans, this shop was a few shops down from the Sherlock Holmes museum. I had a look inside and found a lot of random Beatles stuff...
Lastly, always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled open when you're out and about in the city and you might see signs like the one below.... Nothing better than to discover that a famous writer lived in the particular building that you're walking past at the month... For the ignorant, H G Wells is a famous Science fiction author.... the movie War of the Worlds (with Tom Cruise) was based on a book he wrote.
After having been once, London was rather easy to navigate this time. Was pretty familiar with the metro systems and got to my hostel with relative ease. It was such a pleasure being able to arrive late into the city, but having the knowledge that supermarkets would still be open, and I could still pop into Marks and Spencers and get their meal deals at 7pm at night... So this time round, I took the opportunity to check out various sights that I had missed on my previous trip and one of them was Madam Tussands Museum. Having already been to the one in NY, I was curious to see what this one would be like. I must say that the tickets were rather expensive, 24 pounds and there was a long queue of people despite having arrived there early, so pictures are below:
I must say that not every wax statue looked like the original. There were some I had to take a double look or look at their plaque to confirm who they were....
If not for the plaque, I would not have recognized Tyra Banks and Kate Moss below, though I managed to recognize Elle almost immediately...
The beckhams were mainly recognized via their style and victoria's hair, but the Victoria's face didn't really make it.... Brad Pitt look the most authentic in that picture below.
Not bad replicas..I have a similar picture of me and Julia Roberts, which was taken in NY in 2005... I have a feeling they switch models around the museums every now and then.
I don't think many people recognized Mr Orlando Bloom below because compared to the rest of the wax models, people were mostly ignoring his statue. I had to look twice to confirm it was him too when I wandered over to his area, though Leonardo below looked pretty real :)
Johnny Depp and Nicole Kidman pass.... Mel Gibson and Will Smith, fail...
There was Miley Cyrus in the corner but she was being beseiged by a bunch of screaming teenagers so I retreated and only got Zac Efron...
Bollywood stars
In the director's chair... hehe...
My name is Bond... James Bond
Props for Aguilera's wax model... looks totally like the real thing..
Shrek!!!
Sports people; A meaner looking version of Beckham, but I must say that Rooney looks like a gorilla here....
Shakespeare and the Pope JPII
Props for Britney Likeness... but Beyonce is a thumbs down....
BFFs...
French and Chinese together...
Ze Royal Family.... I must state here that I could not find Diana's statue in the museum....
Pretty good model of Simon Cowell.
It's kinda scary that Madam Tussands has this... but she was french after all. The caption reads as: This guillotine blade is that one that beheaded Marie Antoinette in 1793. It was purchased from the executioner's family.
Wax models of the executed from the French revolution.
After walking through heaps of wax models, I ventured across the street to the Sherlock Holmes museum... hehe... I was a pretty big fan of his novels when I was a kid and into dectective stories. I hope that I still have my Sherlock Holmes collections somewhere back home unless it was a book that my parents forced me to throw away/sell when we moved house.... (Yes, story of my life... when I was younger I had heaps and heaps of books. But when we moved house to our current flat, Mom only allowed me to choose some books to bring along. The rest were all given or thrown away. I still remember hiding my Enid Blyton books so she wouldn't find them or trying to persuade my brother that Enid Blyton was worth packing in his box... )
So anyhow, anyone who has read Sherlock Holmes would know that this fictional character resided at Baker Street, so it's apt that the nearby tube station is named Baker street station and his museum is situated at 221b baker street. The museum and the shop is a pretty interesting place. You have to ring the bell to get in, and you're greeted by maids dressed in victorian outfits, or by the police officer below at the door.
To go up to the museum, you are first led to this small corridor lit up as it would have looked like in Holmes's time...
Then you go up this really old rickety staircase that creaks LOUDLY with every step..
Venture in the sitting room of Sherlock Holmes, his bedroom.
Other rooms show re-enactments of Sherlock Holmes cases, bits and pieces of clues that helped solved the mystery, or various awards that Sherlock Holmes received during his career...
I recognized this set up of the "The case of the red headed league" from one of the stories I read when I was young.
The museum shop is quite interesting, and built almost like a antique store with heaps of cute sherlock holmes memorabilia
For all beatles fans, this shop was a few shops down from the Sherlock Holmes museum. I had a look inside and found a lot of random Beatles stuff...
Lastly, always a good idea to keep your eyes peeled open when you're out and about in the city and you might see signs like the one below.... Nothing better than to discover that a famous writer lived in the particular building that you're walking past at the month... For the ignorant, H G Wells is a famous Science fiction author.... the movie War of the Worlds (with Tom Cruise) was based on a book he wrote.
