London 2018: Marylebone - Sherlock Holmes, Madame Tussauds

Marylebone is an affluent neighbourhood located just north of Mayfair and north-east of Hyde Park.  It is named after St Marylebone Parish Church, dedicated to Saint Mary.  It was home to some famous people including John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the Beatles, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series.  The two major tourist attractions in Marylebone are the Sherlock Holmes Museum and Madame Tussauds, the famous wax museum.  Although the two attractions are situated fairly close to each other, either one would take the better part of the morning to tour thoroughly and the entry fees were fairly steep, so I had choose between them.  I have always wanted to visit Madame Tussauds and decided that London was the place to do so, since this is where it all started.  Therefore, I settled for taking a photo of the exterior of the Sherlock Holmes Museum.

To get to Maryleborne, we took the underground to the Baker Street tube station.  As a tribute to the iconic stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the walls of the tube station are covered with posters illustrating and detailing some of his more popular titles such as “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Sign of Four”.  The Sherlock Holmes Museum displays the address number of 221B Baker St (the fictional address of the detective) on its door, even though it actually resides between buildings 237 and 241.  This led to confusion for the mail delivery service and I guess they are lucky there was never a fire there!  The museum contains props and set recreations from past TV or movie adaptations of various Holmes stories as well as books, games and other memorabilia.  We were able to see examples of some of these items by peering through the windows of the museum.

Madame Tussauds is a wax museum that displays incredibly life-like wax representations of figures ranging from royalty, politics, history, sports, music, literature, television, theatre, fashion and even fictional characters.  The first museum was founded in Marylebone, London by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud (nee Grosholtz) in 1835.  Since then, 23 other versions have sprung up across 4 continents.   Initially the main attraction of the London museum was the “Chamber of Horrors”, containing wax images of notorious murderers and other infamous historical figures, meant to shock and titillate.  Deemed as too scary (or historically irrelevant?) for younger children, the Chamber of Horrors has been closed since 2016.  Instead, the wax museum focuses on popular movie franchises such as The Avengers and Star Wars.  To stay relevant, Madame Tussauds needs to continually add to its collection to capture the current day’s zeitgeist.  One of the museum’s most recent additions is the highly anticipated wax figures of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, in honour of their nuptials.  To avoid long lineups, we purchased our tickets ahead of time and chose the first time slot (9am) which let us in before all the people without timed tickets.  There was only a few of us in the advance ticket line so for a few brief moments when we first entered, we were able to get uncontested access to the more popular figures including Harry and Meghan.

The first section of Madame Tussaud’s is devoted to movie Stars and Celebrities.  Wandering around this area was fun as we recognized the wax figures of one iconic actor after another.  We spotted Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Colin Furth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hardy, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet,  just to name a few.  In amongst the actors were a few celebrities of pop culture including David and Victoria Beckham, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who were posed as if taking a selfie (which I jumped in on) and supermodel Cara Delevingne, who Rich sidled up beside, so that he can now claim that he was “this close” to a supermodel.  There was a small Bollywood section that attracted the Indian tourists but since we did not recognize any of the figures, we did not spend much time there.

For the most part, the likenesses of the wax figures were exceptional and extremely life-like.  You actually felt like you were standing next to the real person!  There were a few failures though including the wax works for George Clooney and Daniel Craig.  Although the general body build, hair and clothing made it fairly obvious who the figures were supposed to represent, the facial features left much to be desired.  There were also tributes to popular Movie Characters including Jennifer Lawrence dressed as Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games, E.T. the extraterrestrial from the famous bicycle scene, Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, Bruce “Yipee-Ki-Yay” Willis from Die Hard, and the giant green ogre Shrek, who reminded me of someone …

The next two sections dealt with athletes and figures from history, which gave me issues since I didn’t know who many of these people were, and there were no labels to clarify.  In the Sports section, I did recognize Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, known at one point as the fastest man alive, as well as boxer Mohammed Ali and tennis star Rafael Nadal.  But there was a soccer player, cricket player, gymnast, female runner and others that I had no clue about.  I tried the scale next to the Ali wax figure to see what boxing weight I fell under—I am a “flyweight”.  I didn’t fare much better in the History section but I did pick out Teresa May (a fairly recent addition), Albert Einstein, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and the Dahli Lama.

Interspersed in the History section were figures of past British Royalty including Queen Elizabeth I, Henry VIII and Queen Victoria.  After seeing their portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, it was fun to see them in the (waxy) “flesh” as 3-D representations.  There were also figures made for most of the current generation of royals including the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, as well as a very elegant Princess Diana.  I really enjoyed standing next to the Queen Mother since she was one of the few wax figures that I was taller than!  I probably would have measured well against Queen Victoria as well, but I didn’t do that comparison.  Rich and I each lined up for the opportunity to be photographed in a scene depicting the Royal family standing in front of the Royal balcony at Buckingham Palace. The members included Charles and Camilla, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, and Will and Kate, but not Harry and Meghan, who were found in the stars and celebrity section.  The idea was that a Madame Tussaud’s staff member would take your photo and then hand you a bar code that enables you to purchase your photo from the gift shop.  I’m not sure how many photos they were actually able to sell, since most people just asked a friend or family member to stand behind the photographer and snap a photo for free using their cell phone or camera.  There was also the option to have Royal Tea “with the Queen”.

I fared much better in the Music section and was able to identify most of the singers or groups.  As if passing the torch from one of the original “boy bands” to one from recent years, we saw the Beatles situated next to the group One Direction, with Elvis Presley positioned between them.  We also came across Adele, Amy Winehouse and Miley Cyrus sitting on a giant “tongue slide”, which is a prop she is known for using in her concerts.  There were also good representations of Britney Spears, Freddy Mercury from Queen, Jimi Hendrix and Beyonce.  Based on their locations in the museum, I found it interesting that Yeezy (Kanye West) and Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) are better known for being celebrities than for their music.

The next section provided a comprehensive History of Madame Tussaud, the empire that she built and the legacy she left behind.  Marie Tussaud (nee Grosholtz 1761) was taught the art of wax modeling by physician and sculptor Phillipe Curtius, who originally created figures to illustrate anatomy, but eventually moved to commercial “portraiture”.  Together, they created sculptures for royalty, rich patrons and celebrities of the time, as well as modeling notorious criminals in what would be the precursor to the Chamber of Horrors.  During the French Revolution, Tussaud was arrested and almost executed for being a “royal sympathizer” but was released due to the connections of Curtius.  Adapting to the new reality, Tussaud deviated from her sculptural work and began creating death masks for the famous people executed by the guillotine, such as King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.  Prior to her death in 1850, she created her own self-portrait wax figure.  It is on display along with her own death mask, presumably created by her sons who took over the business.  In a very clever move that brings relevance to the current generation, the process of how a wax figure is created is explained not using a historic figure, but rather with pop icon Beyonce.  A video plays detailing the steps of measuring and analyzing Beyonce’s face and body for the sculpture, while physical displays illustrate the various steps including the tools used to take the measurements, creating the mould, selecting eye and hair colours, and putting it all together with finishing touches.

Next up was the “Spirit of London” Black Taxi Cab amusement ride that takes you on a journey through the historical and cultural events of London.  With wax figures and animatronics providing vignettes that move from the Tudor period, to the Plague and Great Fire of 1665-1666, the building of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Nelson’s Column, Winston Churchill’s battle cries during WWII, to the swinging 1960s and the vibrant 1980s, you are inundated with colourful sights and sounds as your black cab barrels through from scene to scene.

The Star Wars experience was quite impressive as characters, scenes and locations from all the various films in the saga were represented.  You could take a seat with Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon as it blasted into outer space, hang out with Hans Solo in the cantina on Tatooine, or get a close look at Yoda, Storm troopers, R2D2 and CP3O, a shackled Princess Leia in her gold bikini with Jabba the Hutt and Darth Vader battling Luke Skywalker with their light sabers drawn as Emperor Palpatine looks on.  From the more recent movies, there was a lightsabre battle as Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi duel with Darth Maul, and Rey with her robot BB8 on the desert plant of Jakku.  As a photo op, you could recreate the “Luke I am your father” scene with Darth Vader or participate in a lightsabre fight against Anakin Skywalker after he has turned to the Dark Side.

The final experience took us to the Marvel Secret Command Centre where we get to interact with Marvel superheroes including Spiderman, The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and Miss Marvel (a.k.a. Carol Danvers, who I had never heard of before this).  Each hero has a dossier that details his or her real name, height, weight, history or backstory, and super powers or skills.  In addition to interacting with the wax figures, we actually were able to turn ourselves into a couple of them.  By stepping behind a green screen, you could see what you look like if you turned into the Hulk.  There was also the opportunity to try on Wolverine’s deadly long, sharp claws.

This was all a preamble to the main event, a 4-Dimensional Avengers movie starring the six superheroes featured in the Command Centre.  Given the usual 3-D glasses and seated in a 360-degree 4-D cinema, we eagerly anticipated the start of the movie, wondering what the 4th dimension would entail.  The plot involved our superheroes fighting the evil Doctor Doom and his army of lethal robotic accomplices.  In addition to the usual action taking place in 3-D where objects are hurled towards you, you could also feel blasts of air at your neck and your legs, as well as tremors caused by the destruction of vehicles and buildings.  At one point, when water was splashed on the screen, you could actually feel a light sprinkle of water fall upon you and when a crash comes at you from behind, your seat bulges behind your back as you experience the impact.  This was quite the amazing experience!

Of course, the final stop of Madame Tussauds’ was the prerequisite visit through the gift shop where we found the typical souvenirs featuring London attractions as well as highlights from the museum.  There were teapots shaped like red double-decker buses and Big Ben, LEGO models of the Buckingham Palace and the London skyline (including the London Eye and Bridge), Royal family Pop Vinyl dolls, Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hats, and Star Wars mugs.  The coolest thing in the gift shop was a recreation of Hans Solo frozen in carbonite, from the famous scene in "The Empire Strikes Back".  I wasn’t sure if it was actually for sale, but since there are many offerings of this item on eBay, I guess so.  Who wouldn't want a frozen Hans Solo in their home?  Visiting Madame Tussauds was so much fun.  It turned out to be much more entertaining and interactive than either Rich or I anticipated, especially Rich who was not looking forward to this.  But given all the airplanes and vintage watches that I tagged along to see during this trip, he owed me an experience that was primarily for me.

Following our time at Madame Tussauds, we had lunch at Trishna, another Michelin 1-star upscale Indian restaurant.  We hoped the results would be better GymKhana in Mayfair, our disappointing first attempt lunching at a Michelin 1-star Indian restaurant.  We concluded that we should not have selected from the limited pre-set lunch menu at GymKhana, so at Trishna, we decided we would pick the dishes that sounded the best from the a la carte menu.  I’m not sure if it was our new strategy that did the trick, or if the food was simply superior, but we thoroughly enjoyed all the courses at Trishna, although as usual, we particularly liked our three appetizers, which we found more interesting than the mains.  We started with the Tawa Subz Salad which consisted of asparagus, beetroot, broccolini, artichokes, pea shoot and crunchy lotus root with a wild garlic dressing, which turned out to be one of the most unique and delicious salads I’ve ever had.  We also picked the Hariyali Tandoori bream, a white fish covered with green chili, coriander and smoked kachumber salad (tomato, cucumbers, onions) and Nandu Varuval, another version of soft shell crab with green chili and tomato chutney.  We were lucky to be in London during soft shell crab season and actually had it three times during our stay.  For our mains, we chose the Dorset Brown Crab made with coconut oil, pepper, garlic, and curry leaf, as well as the Gongura lamb curry with pickled sorrel leaves, poppy seeds and chili.  All of the courses were tasty and different from the Indian fare we could get back home.  The only disappointment was the Naan bread, which was limp and dry.  Otherwise, Trishna lived up to its Michelin star and redeemed our faith in this rating system.

We had a bit of time to kill between Madame Tussauds and our Trishna lunch reservation, so we took a walk to see Queen Mary's Rose Garden in Regent Park, a 410 acres "Royal Park" that used to be the hunting grounds for King Henry VIII.  Named after the wife of King George V, the garden opened in 1934 and boasts London’s largest collection of about 12,000 roses of all different varieties and colours.  Unfortunately we were a bit too early for the roses to be in full bloom, but we did get a taste of what it would be like later in the year.  In addition to the rose beds, the garden is beautifully landscaped with a large pond, marshes, a small waterfall, trees, shrubbery and wildflowers.  There are birds wandering around including a heron and some black birds with white or red beaks. It was so peaceful and rejuvenating to sit on a bench by the pond, admiring the scenery and resting our feet after a long morning of walking.  I may or may not have taken a brief nap in the sunshine as well.

There are also public tennis courts in the park where you can book a court and play for between £10.5 to £14.5 per hour, with a £6 surcharge if you want to play at night under floodlights.  The courts are run by Will to Win Sports Centres, which also supports sites in Hyde Park, Greenwich Park, Chiswick House Gardens and more.  You could also book a lesson, join a group course or drop-in session.  I have never heard of public courts offering lessons before.  This is a great concept!  From afar, the green coloured courts led me to believe that they were covered with grass like Wimbledon.  Upon closer inspection, it turns out that the surface was actually pebbled concrete painted green.  There are also mini-tennis, paddleball or whiffleball courts available for booking.  I wish we had more time so that we could have explored the rest of the gardens in Regent Park.  Maybe in a future visit.