Week of March 7th 2011: Sherlock Holmes Museum & Regent's Park (London)

I don't think a lot of people know this but I really love mystery and suspense stories. I love solving problems and I've often found that I can guess how a story is going to end so I love finding ones with a twist, unexpected turn, or more complicated solution. A couple of years ago I started getting really into Hitchcock movies and the original Sherlock Holmes stories - it was great to find more complicated, intellectual mysteries. So when I was looking for things to do around London and saw that there was a Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221B Baker St., I knew I had to visit.

Luckily for me, my host was also a big Holmes fan and he was just as excited to go as I was so we decided to make it one of my first stops. We got on the circle line and soon were at the Baker St. stop. Honestly, this was one of the best parts of going to the museum. The Baker St. stop is one of the oldest tube stops in London and it was just really cool to see it. I wish I could have taken a picture, but as there was significant construction (to prepare for the Olympics) during my time there, I was swiftly moved along.

At the entrance to the museum, there was a man dressed as an old London police officer. You could take a picture with him while wearing a Sherlock Holmes style cap. Then, he took your tickets and let you into the museum. The interior of the museum was more or less what you would expect from a museum based on a fictional series. The first two floors were set up to look like Holmes and Watson's apartment based on how they are described in the books. The top floor had several wax figures and props from the books.

I think the most surprising thing about the museum was how small the rooms are. Obviously, London is a big city and flat space is at a premium, but I just always got the impression that the sitting room was larger than it was (or maybe I watch too many Robert Downy Jr. movies...). Then again, I suppose the smaller size better explains how some of the visitors "filled the room with their presence."

Even though it was a little cheesy, it was still fun to look at all of the wax figures and props in the other rooms as well. Having read most of the stories, I really enjoyed trying to figure out which story each one was from. Here's an easy one:

After the museum, we decided to walk around Regent's Park since it was at the end of the block. Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London and it's huge. In it there are several gardens, sports fields and a zoo. Since it was such a large park, we didn't walk through the whole thing. We mostly checked out the Queen's Garden. While very beautiful, the garden was a bit of a maze and once inside, it was very difficult to find our way out. At least I got some nice pictures first.