21 April 2010
From Tower Hill, we took the subway to the Madam Tussauds Museum. On the way to the wax museum, we spotted the statue of Sherlock Holmes, near Baker Street where he was supposed to have lived.
We bought a discounted combined ticket to visit both the Madam Tussauds and London Eye.
Madam Tussauds was fun to visit. We were greeted by the wax figure of Napoleon at the entrance. Then it was stars galore.
Photos sessions with our favourite and not so favourite characters included the Beckhams, Jose Mourinho, Steven Gerald, James Bond(s), Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Brad and Angelina Jolie etc. I never knew Nicole Kidman was so tall until I stood beside her, and Tom Cruise is not taller than me!
US President Obama and First Lady at the White House.
There is a section with the political figures. You get to pose with Obama and sit on his desk in the White House!
It was kind of sad to see Princess Diana standing alone, while her sons were displayed with the Royal Family. Posing for photos with the baddies like Saddam, Hitler were also fun.
Adolf Hitler.
And of course, the characters from the music scene – Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson and Jimmy Hendrix.
Elvis Presley.
There is even a section to compete with the London Dungeon. Wax figures of Vlad the Impaler, plus medieval torture scenes were depicted.
Medieval torture.
Vlad the Impaler - inspiration for Count Dracula.
The Rack – a form of torture.
All in all, we spent close to 2 hours in here before heading to the London Eye. En-route, we saw the Parliament House located across the Thames from the London Eye.
Crossing the bridge to get to the London Eye.
The London Eye is a large ferries wheel that is suspended over the Thames. Since the wheel is over water, the designer has to provide two supports on one side of the wheel on land and used cables to “pull” it in. I find the design more interesting than the Singapore Flyer (also a Ferries Wheel) which is designed like a bicycle wheel with two supports on both sides of the wheel.
Singapore Flyer – designed like a upside-down bicycle wheel.
Bubble cabins of the London Eye.
Design aside, the experience of being in the London Eye was pretty much similar to that of taking the Singapore Flyer. We get a bird’s eye view of the city.
After the ride, there were cherry trees to see at the park next the London Eye.
Cherry trees with cherry blossoms.
Plus entertainment too. This guy was offering passers-by money if they could ride his bicycle. Not easy as the front wheels had been specially configured to make the bicycle unstable.
For stability, the placement of the bicycle's steering axis should be such that the axis intersects the ground ahead of the point where the front wheel meets the ground. In this case, it was not. Hence for any person used to riding the normal bike, it was difficult to ride on this bike. But he showed that he can do it easily.
Silhouette of Hungerfold Bridge against the setting sun.
Then we across the Hungerfold Bridge and walked to Trafalgar Square where the National Gallery is located.
It was too late to visit the Gallery, so I just took some photos at Trafalgar Square before going for dinner at a nearby street.
Long exposure photo of the fountain at Trafalgar Square.
We will be backed.
No comments:
Post a Comment