I hadn't been to Madame Tussauds for years. How can anyone (who actually lives in Britain) ever go to Madame Tussauds? I mean, joining an interminable queue of Overseas Tourists in order to be able to gawk at wax effigies of the famous and the infamous... Preposterous!
Out of the question!
However, when one happens to be an Overseas Tourist in Holland and one happens to have a coupon for €3 off the admission price to Madame T's place in Amsterdam and (best of all) there happens not to be an interminable queue, then why not stop by for a quick gawk...
So that's what we decided to do.
There was, I admit, some trepidation amongst our party that it might turn out to be full of waxwork likenesses of newsmen and weather girls from Dutch TV (and I think there may have been one or two) or - a personal fear - that we'd be staring at rather too many footballers, golfers and tennis players, but not so!
By and large, it proved reasonable easy to spot Who's Who --- or, for those who have seen better days (or have gone in for a little too much cosmetic surgery), Who Used To Be Who...
Mind you, one would have thought that, theoretically, it ought to be relatively easy (and certainly painless) for a waxworks to have plastic surgery! But I digress...
There were a couple of mild shocks to the old British Ego when we discovered that not only was our Own Dear Queen nowhere to be found within the hall of International Leaders but that the House of Windsor was solely represented by Diana, the late and former Princess of Wales.
Also, while a whole slew of European leaders were busily jostling with one another for preeminence, the most recent British politician on duty was this one...
Anyway, enough carps and cavils. There were two things which made Mme Tussauds' Amsterdam salon especially worth a visit: firstly it was a lot smaller and more intimate than the vast, exhausting mausoleum on London's Baker Street; and, secondly, it was possible to get very Up Close and Personal with the stars and celebrities - in fact many of them were posed to be posed with. So, once you get the hang of that and realise that Everyone is Doing It, you just join in...
And we did!
Since contemporary singers habitually seem to record duets with deceased singing legends, I decided to sing-along with Pavarotti...
(Notice how my hand looks rather more waxy than Luciano's... Strange!)
And I also took the Mona Lisa Smile Test...
David spent most of his time being our personal paparazzi, so didn't get photographed as much as some other people, but he did have a stare-out contest with Tom Hanks...
...and reacquainted himself with Kylie...
(And here's where to look if you happened to miss their first *magical* meeting.)
But, without doubt, it was BUTTONS who had the best time of all, seen here meeting another larger-than-life personality...
Buttons posed with (nearly) everyone and his personal blog is simply stuffed with More Photos of his time with the stars! So, check it out!
Images: © David Weeks & Brian Sibley, 2007
5 comments:
As all the models were made in London, maybe there were restrictions made on which UK persons could be represented in Amsterdam. Maybe our queen and her immediate (and present) family were not on the list. Maybe Tony Blair was in the process of being melted down and reformed in the image of Gordon Brown.
Anyway, it was a pleasing visit and I particularly 'enjoyed' the scary tour at the beginning which mixed waxwork models with actors to great effect.
Rob
Well, thank heavens you didn't put sound to your pic with Pavarotti! And isn't MJ scary!?
Some very lifelike waxworks there. The one of David was particularly real but who was that girl next to him ? Liked the one of you in the dicky bow as well although you looked a bit like an opera singer !
It seems that mister Pavarotti let mister Sibley sing the last bar, "Vinceeeeroooooooooooo", but, why mister Pavarotti is smiling?
ROB - I must say, you and David were terribly brave! I was TERRIFIED -- especially when I realised I should have taken the kiddies-and-weak-heart-by-pass route to avoid the scares! Still even though it was 'themed' to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, it was at least shorter than those interminable pieces of nonsense!
SUZANNE - So, you've heard me sing, then...? ;-)
BOLL WEAVIL - Hmmmm! When was your last eye-test?
EUDORA - Signor P is smiling because Suzanne had told him I was a rubbish singer and he was, in the event, pleasantly surprised!! :-))
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