This is Hitchcock who is posed in such a comical gesture at Madame Tussaud's.

Soon after you get off the underground at Baker Street, you'll see a light green dome. It is the London Planetarium next to Madame Tussaud's. In front of this building, there is always a long queue waiting for admission to Madame Tussaud's, so you can't miss the place.
I heard that the story of Madame Tussaud's began when a French girl whose name was Marie Grosholtz, later Madame Tussaud, had been taught wax modeling skills by her mother's employer, a German Doctor. After that, she became tutor to King Louis XVI's sister. During the French Revolution, she was ordered to make death masks of the executed King and Queen to prove her allegiance. After that, she married Francois Tussaud. In 1802, when she was 41 years old, she went to England with her sons. Then, when she was 74 years old, she built the former wax museum in Baker Street. The wax museum moved to the present site in 1884, after her grandson took over it. Madame Tussaud's has a long long history!
Actually, I've visited three times since I went to England for the first time. Whenever I visited, I was surprised and excited by the life size copies of famous people. There are members of the royal families from history and from the present. In addition, there are many wellknown characters from history and dolls who reenact the scenes of executions tother with scenes from famous paintings. Moreover, you can see many many film stars, singers and heros. I heard that they measure precisely the size of more than two hundreds parts of the original person's body to make a wax copy. Because of this, the copy and the original person is an exact likeness. Many stars are welcomed to donate their own clothes to Madame Tussaud's, so the copy of your favorite star, which you can see there, might wear the clothes which the original star used to wear. Actually, Madame Tussaud's is a really enjoyable place!!
However, the admission fee is a little expensive ; moreover, there is always a long long queue. Therefore, I sometimes gave up　to enter. As matter of fact, I haven't entered for many years.
On my third time visit, I followed the advice of "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" and entered the London Planetarium first. Truely, I didn't have to wait for the admission so much. However, although I had expected that I could look up at many beautiful stars in the heavens, the program which I saw was about global warming and somewhat educational, so I couldn't enjoy seeing the beautiful stars so much. I think that the program must change often and of course, the program was quite nice, so it is a good way to enter the Planetarium first and then Madame Tussaud's if you don't like waiting.

* "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" is a series of Japanese books which talks about travelling in each country all over the wolrd. There is a lot of valuable information which is written by many of it's readers.

left : David Bowie ; middle : the Beatles ; right : Michael Jackson
Unfortunately, Madame Tussaud's is the only place where we can see all members of the Beatles together.
Talking of Michael, 　there are two photos of Michael here. Left is younger Michael which I saw on my second trip and right is the older one which I saw sometime later. I think that if the original person is alive and he or she is popular, a newer copy will be made every several years like this. I wonder if I visit there now, can I see another newer Michael, who has fairer skin?

left : Queen Victoria. She is always dignified. I heard that she sometimes changed her clothes. There are other members of the royal family in Madame Tussaud's.
middle : Picasso, who is sitting in the chair and Gogh, who is standing to the right. This is the only place which we can see many famous paintors together.
right : young Mozart

left : Anthony Hopkins. He quite resembles the original Hopkins, doesn't he?
right : Cher. She looks like the original Cher too. "Moonstruck", where she appeared with Nicolas Cage, is my favorite movie.

After you enjoy the wax museum, the next place which you'll go is "the sprit of London"! Here, you can see the town of London.
However, the capacity of the vehicle which you board is for two people and Madame Tussaud's is always crowded, so if you visit alone, you may have to share the vehicle with a stranger. Me too! Two complete strangers sit side by side for just several minutes. There's a little bit of fate involved, isn't there?　

If you go straight down Marylebone Road from Madame Taussaud's, you'll come to Baker Street. Then, if you turn right and walk on the street, you'll find the sign, "221b Baker Street" on your left hand side. They say Sherlock Holmes lived there. After a short walk from there, you'll find Sherlock Holmes Museum. I prefer Miss Marple to Holmes, so I thought that the six pounds was a little expensive for the admission fee. However, if you love Holmes, you'll enjoy visiting the place, because the library, the living room and other rooms are maybe a good reproduct(?). Everything and every room may remids you of many scenes from the novels.
Moreover, there is Sherlock Homes Memorabilia Company on the opposite side of the road from the museum. You can buy goods from the TV series, Sherlock Holmes. Finally, you'll find Sherlock Holmes Hotel along Baker Street. Like this, if you walk on Baker Street, you can probably find many places and things which relate to Holmes. It's interesting, isn't it?

left : the entrance of Sherlock Holmes Museum ; middle : inside the museum. If you go up the stairs, you'll come to Holmes' rooms.
From the ground floor to the second floor, then to the attic, many rooms of Sherlock Homes are reproduced.
After you enter the entrance, there is a shop where you can buy a lot of goods related to Holmes.

Rock Circus

　Rock Circus, a sister museum of Madame Tussaud's, is in Piccadilly Circus. The copies of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson used to wave to you from the balcony. However, now they have gone! I miss them a little. The copies which you can see are related to only Rock music such as the Beatles and Sex Pistols. Therefore, it was less crowded compared to Madame Tussaud's. However, I could see the precise look alike copies of the Beatles. As long as I remember, they sang on the stage and their movement and their expression was very real. If you love Rock music, I assure you that it is an enjoyable place.
By the way, I wanted to visit Tokyo Tower before, because I heard that there was the wax figure of Jimmy Hendrix there. More than ten years have passed since then. Is Jimmy still there?

The Rock Circus building used to look more spectacular.

(2002.7.29)

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Trip to England

I really Love London!