Photo album Day 3!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PLsf2V7goHt6ViHT8
[[HEY BRIDG REMBER TO ADD THE REST OF THE PHOTOS TO THE ALBUM OKAY]]
It’s end of day three of the London Adventure. I’ll come up with a cuter name later à la Bilbo or something when I’m not nearly asleep.
Today started off with a hard start at 8:50am. We had a 9:00 appointment at Madame Tussauds, the Wax Museum Attraction on Baker St. We hopped the Tube and managed to make it with time to spare. A few of us would meet up afterward for a trip to 221B Baker St, and the rest back at the hotel at 2:30 this afternoon.
I’ve been to the Mme Tussauds in Las Vegas and liked it, so I was excited to see this one and compare the two, at least superficially. The sculptures were all amazingly lifelike, and I’m pleased with the artists’ makeup abilities. I took a selfie with Bumbersnoot Cucumberpatch, but after that it got too crowded, so I just snapped pictures of whoever was with the figure at the moment. There were a few stars I recognized (Audrey Hepburn, Leo DiCaprio, etc), and some I didn’t. I was fascinated by the choices of who was and wasn’t “pictured” in the rooms, and we had a good discussion as a group about the choices made in displaying the pieces. Again, we noticed the higher floors tended to have the “royal”/”best” stars in British esteem, as well as the royals themselves. The lower floors were dedicated to kitschier things like the Marvel Avengers and Sherlock Holmes. There were more people of color than at the NPG, but again, very few compared to the total number of figures – Jimi Hendrix, the Dalai Lama, former President Obama, and Michael Jackson, but few, if any, others.
The museum offered a short movie and a 4D ride, but I opted out of both. I wasn’t in the mood to sit, knowing I’d be moving again before long, and I’ve noticed that, even in the “accessible”/non-moving seats, the 4D theaters throw me off balance too much, they often end painfully. The Marvel and Star Wars exhibits were cool (OMG I missed Chewy!!), but my favorite space was the historical dedication to the Madame herself. The “Authentic History” area housed Mme’s self portrait and her basic life timeline, a few other historical figures I’ve forgotten the names of at the moment, and a “how do we do this” process display featuring Beyonce.
The group ended up breaking up pretty quickly, each of us going at our own pace. I only took about an hour, but some folks took longer, depending on how long they lingered for pictures or studying. The line at 10am was around the corner from the entrance, and by 11 when we broke up to head to 221B, they’d moved another block down the street. I didn’t realize it was quite so popular!
Once at 221B Baker Street, we picked up our 15£ tickets (worth it, honestly) in the gift shop and toured the house. More an interpretation of Victorian life than an actual representation of Holmes and Watson’s described home, the house still paid homage to the characters, and to Doyle himself. The curators tried to use as many authentic/true to era pieces, including furniture and breakfast sets, as they could, and had wax figures to represent some of the more iconic scenes from the stories. Moriarty, true to form, stood creepily in one corner, while Irene Adler defended herself admirably (I suppose? I don’t remember that bit well). There were a few pieces that were clearly fabricated because, well, the men were fictitious, but overall it was a delightful experience seeing a row house inside and out, bedecked in a fairly authentic interpretation of a middle class eccentric. At one point during a mini-lecture about the house, a gentleman mentioned all the pieces in the house were from the Victorian era.
Those were some good looking 200-year-old houseplants, let me tell you.
After 221B, we headed to Nando’s, a local Portuguese chain. They serve mostly chicken in Peri-Peri sauce, and it was delicious. I highly recommend their food in any capacity, and I’ll definitely be going back for lunch again this week. I think my meal – 1/4 chicken (breast or thigh), two sides, and a bottomless Diet Coke was less than 10£, or right at, which is really reasonable for the area.
We finished up lunch – six of us ended up meeting and having a good hour to chat and discuss the day so far – and headed back to the hotel for about a half hour rest. I took the time to get off my feet and install some new insoles. A friend of mine mentioned doubling up on them a while back, so I tried it. They helped! I think I’m going to rearrange the layers tomorrow, but overall I’m not nearly as fatigued as I was yesterday, and my feet aren’t sliding in my shoes so much.
The rest of the day we spent finding and exploring Brick Lane. We read the novel by Monica Ali before the trip, and were looking forward to placing some of the sites, as well as discovering for ourselves how immigrant-focused the community was. On the way there (once we turned ourselves around), I spotted a cute, flower-drenched pub by the name of The White Hart. My dad had mentioned wanting a coaster from a pub of that name (something something Arthur C Clarke?), and since neither of us could figure out which one, I decided spur-of-the-moment to dash in and grab one on the off-chance. The alley? road? also had a Jack the Ripper sign, and so much in the way of street art.
Brick Lane itself was a cobbled road covered in tourists and immigrants alike. Bangladeshi restaurants had staked out every corner, and their proprietors tended to poach people off the streets to lure them inside. We managed to find a place with good prices and a guaranteed table for 12, so we made a reservation and then split up to explore.
Sunday is Market Day on Brick Lane. Most of the markets seemed to be in indoor warehouse-type places (although with lower ceilings – think more US antique marts, but less crowded with stalls, and sellers minding their spaces. There was a huge brewery that’s probably 400 years old and still brewing beer (though I missed out on the tasting for the day). Shops lined both sides of the street, and a few vendors had braved the sleet to set up covered tables on the roadways. We spent an hour sightseeing and shopping, then headed back to the restaurant for food and conversation.
Tonight’s talk wandered around Brick Lane, its people, the novel’s representations, and the trans-national theories we could apply to the analysis of all. Things were quick and spirited, but thorough, with my classmates bringing so many different and delightful perspectives to the table. The food, too, was delicious, and relatively inexpensive for supper, too! For 13£, we each got a small starter (tandoori chicken for me), a [huge] main course (a flavorful rice dish with lamb tikka), naan or rice (garlic naan, actually), and a drink.
A quick stop by the drug store post-noms for some ear plugs (noisy neighbors and thin walls here, unfortunately) and other necessities, and we headed back to our hotel.
Tomorrow, we’re checking out of here for a Globe Tour in the morning, then it’s back to grab our bags and hop the trains to Stratford-upon-Avon for the night, where we’ll see a production of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Taming of the Shrew.
The Crafty Medievalist 