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Tuesday, August 16Sightseeing in LondonStart
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Day 3 Handel's
Water Musik Suite Midi |
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Madame Tussaud, née Marie Grosholtz, was born in Strasbourg, France in 1761. Her mother worked as house keeper to Philippe Curtius, a doctor and wax modeller who took on the child Marie as trainee. At the tender age of nineteen she was appointed art tutor to the sister of King Louis XVI and stayed at the Palace of Versailles until she was twenty-eight years old. During the French Revolution, Marie was made to take death masks from the heads of prisoners who had been guillotined. In 1794, Doctor Curtius died and left his wax model exhibition to Marie. Eight years later she moved to England, finally settling in London with her collection in 1835. The models were bequeathed to her two sons, and in 1884, the exhibition was moved to its present location on Marylebone Road.
Waxwork displayed in Madame Tussaud's Waxwork Museum.
The theme ride, which cost ten million
pounds to complete, uses robotics to bring characters to life, recreating
the sights, sounds, and even smells of over 400 years of London's history.
Visitors climb into a "Time Taxi" and are transported on a historical
journey to join Shakespeare working on a play, Queen Elizabeth in her
court, and even craftsmen working on St Paul's Cathedral. The atmosphere
of the Blitz, the Swinging Sixties, and present-day London are all portrayed
during this exciting ride.
The Chamber of Horrors - Before Madame Tussaud's exhibition settled in London, she toured the country with the models for many years. Alongside her portraits of villains and murderers she exhibited her collection of relics from the French Revolution, which proved popular with the public. These included the death masks of French nobility and the Guillotine blade that was used to behead Marie Antoinette. |
(If truth be told, only wishing it had been the Concorde.)
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