Europe 2010: A day of Illusion 21/09/10

Madame Tussauds

On Tuesday the 22nd Dad and I went to Madam Tussauds which is a huge building with many wax statues. It can be found in Baker Street, London or on its website of http://www.madametussauds.com . Many famous actors, sports people and politicians both good and bad can be found here.

Dad feeling sorry!

Dad had a good time, I did too but Dad knew a lot of the people before I even read the signs. Dad told me that what happens on tour stays on tour. I didnt't respond so I guess I am not bound by it, which is just as well as I caught him flirting and have evidence. As the Pope was visiting England I made Dad go to confession.

A lady asked Dad how much he thought each staue would cost to meke - his guess of $20, 000 pound was only $130,000 pound short of the real figure. So this means $150,000 British Pounds per statue or in NZ money $318,149.

Each statue has a team of 60 people involved in its making which takes a few months to complete. Every night people go right round the building to redo the hair on the statues and ensure they are still in beautiful quality.

If you look closely at them like I was able to do you will see that their skin looks very real even with little blemishes if teh person had tehm in real life. Each famous person that gets a statue made donates some of their own clothes for the statue to wear.

Talking about illusions (or may be Ripleys believe it or not) I am told by the staff at Madame Tussauds that one statue in this building has hair on it and for no reason it grows like real hair so every night they have to keep trimming it.

Millions and millions of people have visited Madame Tussauds since they first opened over 200 years ago and it remains just as popular as it ever was. There are many reasons for this but I believe one of the reasons will be curiosity.

The attraction’s history goes back to the Paris, 1770. It was here that Madame Tussaud learnt to model wax likenesses under the tutelage of her mentor, Dr Philippe Curtius. At the age of 17, she became an art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister at the Palace Of Versailles and then, during the French Revolution, was hastily forced to prove her allegiance to the feudalistic nobles by making the death masks of executed aristocrats. Madame Tussaud came to Britain in the early 19th century alongside a travelling exhibition of revolutionary relics and effigies of public heroes and rogues. (Thanks to Madam Tussauds website for this info)
Some facts about Madame Tussaud are:
1761: Madame Tussaud is born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg.
1777: Marie models the famous author and philosopher, Francois Voltaire.
1780: Marie becomes art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister and goes to live at the Royal Court in Versailles
1789: On the eve of The French Revolution, Marie returns to Paris
1793: Marie is imprisoned with her mother in the notorious Laforce Prison, Paris. On her release she is forced to prove her allegiance to the Revolution by making death masks of executed nobles and her former employers, the King and Queen.
1794: The French Revolution ends and Marie inherits Dr Philippe Curtius’ wax exhibition. 1795: Marie marries Francois Tussaud.

While in London we got to go to an A-List party. See who we rubbed shoulders with:

I'll be back says Arnie

Dad sizes up with Hitler

Move over Will Smith
Mitch is in town

I even got to meet some of my football heroes at the A-List party. Here is me with super star Cristiano Ronaldo on the left and David Beckham on the right.

Albert, my tutor for the day

To my teacher at school Mrs Whitehead, Dad has been taking care of my study. I had to have some private lessons while away to ensure I kept up with my studies. Today I learnt about relativity - you earn money then spend it particularly when you travel abroad. Even my tutor agreed.

On the way to England we had to stop in the United States and Dad said he had work to do. He was lucky enough to be invited into the Oval office at the Whitehouse.Dad even got time to chat with President Obama while we stopped in the United States on our way over to England and because I was with him...how could I say no to meeting the most influential and powerful man in the world.

Later that day Dad let me go out for dinner with a girl I met. Her name is Miley and we had a great time. She taught me some stuff...but thats enough about that. Some things on tour stay on tour.

I got home late that night!

Me & Miley

London Eye

After Madam Tussauds Dad and I headed to the London Eye. We took a taxi to it because my foot is still broken and was hurting. At the London Eye it took us about 5 minutes to get on to the egg shaped capsules. The London Eye is a large ferris wheel and has 32 capsules and is the most popular attraction in London. The ride overlooks London and takes 30 minutes to go right round. Each capsule only travels 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour. This speed mans people can get on and off the wheel without it stopping.

After visitors get off each capsule a team of 3 or 4 staff enter to clean but also check for dangerous items that may have been left behind. I saw them look under the seats in teh capsule with mirrors on a long pole.

On the London Eye we could see Big Ben clock tower, Wembly Football stadium arch, Buckingham Palace and loads more. Dad took quite a few pictures as it was such a nice day.