A Walk Through Madame Tussauds San Francisco
As everyone who knows me will tell you, I love to travel. Not just because I love to experience the sights, unfamiliar history, music, food and energy of a new world I'm exploring, but also because it gives me a chance to live as another person for just a moment. It's similar to acting in that while you are living out an adventure in a new place, you have no choice but to let go of your baggage and let yourself become a part of story that's being told. Live your own adventure, which can be harder than it sounds.As a person who suffers from shyness this can be a trial, but I've discovered that when I am looking through the world through the lens of my camera the wild world looks less intimidating and comes into focus. I know, bad pun. What can I say? I love them. There was a time when puns were considered the height of social wit....granted that was over a hundred years ago but who am I to change a good thing.
As dawn broke over the second day of our adventure, Colleen and I looked at each other and wondered how it could be possible that we could be even the slightest bit hungry after the mountain of food we had consumed the night before. But it seems like the sea air was doing us some good, and we decided that we would walk from our hotel to the Buena Vista Café which Colleen assured me could not be missed. The café is a comfortable walk from the piers and when we first made our way up to the building I was a little startled because it wasn't what I expected from a café. It seemed to me that we were walking into a bar and not so much of a restaurant, for good reason I discovered. The long bar had stools all down the length of it and several tables where the culture of the shop demanded if a seat is empty it can be utilized by anyone. The seats were full on this Saturday morning and the atmosphere was electric and busy. Colleen and I commandeered a couple of the stools at the bar and set about testing out their finest cuisine.
I discovered that the Buena Vista Café is home to the first Irish Coffee in the United States. Jack Koeppler, an owner of the café back in the early fifties, had become obsessed with the beverage after drinking it at an airport in Shannon Ireland. Returning to San Francisco he worked tirelessly to replicate the beverage to no avail. It took many replications and a trip back to the airport in Shannon before the now infamous beverage had been recreated to his satisfaction. Besides the fabulous coffee you can also find some of the best Corned Beef Hash I have ever had in my entire life on the menu. Colleen and I shared an order and I wished very quickly that I had been a glutton and ordered a whole plate for myself.Once we were finished we continued with our walk towards Ghirardelli square, a place I have never been but have dreamed of at times in my life. It's no secret that I dream in food and a picture of one of their chocolate sundaes has haunted for me years. Although I didn't end up purchasing one on this trip, I did get to look at it being made and fulfilling my need for good chocolate by filling up a bag with their indulgent chocolate squares. I discovered that their chocolate mint square now has a lot of competition if it wants to continue to be my favorite. From there we walked across the way to discover a store full of eclectic things with a name that delighted us. The store is called Lola of North Beach, and if anyone from my little circle is reading this then they know why we loved it so much.
We left the store carrying a couple of bags of odds and ends and made our way back to Pier 39. We had put a dent in our gift list but we still needed to do a little more shopping and also to attempt something that Colleen thought would be awfully amusing. A fact about me: I have a horrible phobia of zombies. I know that's kind of funny considering that my reviewing niche seems to lay on the spooky side of life, but there it is. They were never scary to me until I saw the Dawn of the Dead remake on a first date. For some reason that movie tripped some unknown button inside of me, and at the age of twenty five I found myself having terrible nightmares and experiencing some pretty awful anxiety. I would get off of one of my graveyard shifts having to tell myself to stop looking for zombies hiding in the shadows as I got out of my car to walk in the dark to my front door. It's been better since I binge watched the Walking Dead but they still give me the heebie jeebies. That being said what my dear sister in law wanted us to do was the 7D Experience, on the Zombie portion of the ride. Gulp.
What is the 7D Experience? It's an interactive ride that combines the ideals of a shooting gallery, roller coaster, and a 3D movie all into one package. They have several different scenarios that you can play through, as well as a laser maze that you can attempt if you deem yourself flexible enough to play our your Mission Impossible fantasy. If this sounds like something you would love then you should really check out their website.
Once inside the game of your choice, you strap into the special chair, put on your 3D glasses and take aim with your laser gun at the introductory targets on the screen preparing for the scenario you've decided to put yourself through. I did really well in this portion of the game, it kind of reminded me of an old SNES game I played as a kid called Tin Star. It was about an robot Sheriff in the old west. I loved that game and got to be really good at hitting the targets. Ah if only we had stopped there, I promised myself I wasn't going to freak out the moment the zombies came onto the screen. Sigh, best laid plans....
Literally the moment the first zombie came onto the screen and launched itself at my face I began to scream. I released a mixed stream of curse words and wordless shrieks into the atmosphere. The screaming wreaked havoc on my shooting ability and I found myself taking shots wildly at the screen instead of aiming. I also invariably shrieked "DIE DAMN YOU DIE!" as loud as I possibly could. So much for being cool. Wait, I'm never cool so forget that. What I really wanted to do was to leave the theater with at least a modicum of dignity. When the game came to an end I realized that I had scored next to last. Not my proudest video game achievement. As I holstered my gun and got up to hand the waiting attendant my glasses, I realized that he couldn't look at me without giggling. That is when I remembered that at the front of the attraction there had been a gigantic television screen that showed everyone waiting all of the people who were on the ride. Which meant that everyone had seen me losing my mind like a lunatic. Sure enough as I ventured to look the man in the eyes he couldn't hold my gaze for more than a few seconds without beginning to chuckle. Crud. How bad was it? As I walked into the lobby I looked up at the display where they show your souvenir picture....and was promptly horrified. I was screaming like a lunatic alright.....and somehow vaguely looked like Eric Cartman. *Facepalm.
We continued walking around Pier 39 where I continued looking for presents. I was having a hard time finding a gift for a tricky subject when it finally dawned on me. He has a sweet tooth and there was a candy store right in front of me. So what do you buy for the person who has everything except something to satisfy that craving? Simple. Eight pounds of salt water taffy. Never spent so much on sugar in my life.Hauling our goods and our goodies back to my car, we dropped off everything we didn't need and finally made our way to the attraction that had alluded us the night before, Madame Tussauds San Francisco. I have been to several other wax museums in my lifetime, and it always seems like instead of being very realistic that they are a big sort of scary doll. It's probably one of the reasons that it made Vincent Price think that it would make a good location for a scary movie. I'll be honest, when we decided that we were going to go through the museum I wasn't expecting much, but what I saw during my tour was extremely impressive.
As most of you may know, I love history. I'm an avid reader and have spent many hours of my life
Madame Tussauds has twenty galleries across the world, everywhere from San Francisco, Singapore, to the original in London. They all use the methods that were created by the talented sculptor Marie Tussaud who perfected her craft in 1777. Lore has it that she practiced her art by making death masks of the victims of Madame Guillotine, but no matter where she learned it her techniques are still very effective.
As a general rule, I am not a star struck person. I'm a big believer that a persons job does not tell you who they are, but rather what they do. That doesn't mean that I don't respect the person or their craft, but I'm not a gusher. I might shake the persons hand if the moment presented itself and tell them I enjoyed their work but you won't find me screaming and tearing my clothes. That being said, there were several scenarios that delighted me greatly through out the experience. The first I found just as we entered into the Hollywood-esque portion. I had just finished giggling over watching Colleen get friendly with Elvis when I recognized a familiar bathtub and standing next it an even more familiar bald man. Alfred Hitchcock!!! I found myself hopping up and down and clapping my hands in delight like an enamored teen.
fascinating. He was supposed to be a very shy person, although it is said that he had a devilish sense of humor. That being said he knew exactly what he wanted out of a scene and never hesitated to get it. He was a person I would have dearly loved to shake hands with. I thought perhaps my goofiness had passed until I turned around and saw the ever beautiful Audrey Hepburn sitting at a table just waiting for breakfast. Again I felt like I just couldn't resist.I was having a blast and was delighted to see that Colleen was as well. She is better versed in the more modern actors and was soon jumping at the chance to mug with her favorites. Soon she had collected everyone from Christian Bale to George Clooney, and what a lovely addition she made on their arms. Lucky gents.
That name came about when my niece Angelina was a baby and she crawled into my room. She was met by a life sized E.T statue and was scared out of her mind. After that she would point to my room and say E.T, in a hushed terrified voice, E.T in there. I ended up selling the figurine but it wasn't long before she began to call me Auntie E.T and ten years later all of the kids do it. It's my kind of awesome.
Colleen and I were nearing the end of the attraction and we both
agreed that although it was touristy, it had been too much fun to pass up. Sometimes it the completely in your face, obvious, tourist trap that turns out to be a great adventure. It doesn't hurt when said attraction does its very best to pull you into the fun so that you feel like you too are a star.
On to the next Adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment