Last Month Carola and I visited Amsterdam together. I had won tickets to be the audience during the recording of two episodes of a Dutch Quiz show (The Quickest Quiz). We will write about this another time. The recordings would be in the late afternoon, so we had some time to spare and we decided to bring a visit to Madame Tussauds. For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of Madame Tussauds; let us enlighten you.
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum, that displays the wax sculptures of famous people. The museum is named after a real "Madame". She was born as Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg (France) in 1761.Her father was killed in war just two months before Marie was born. Her mother (Anne-Marie Walder) took her to Bern (in Switzerland), when she was six years old. Anne-Marie (and Marie) moved into the house of Dr. Phillipe Curtius , where she went to work as the housekeeper. Curtius was specialized in making wax models (initially he used them as an illustration for anatomy. He started teaching Marie the art of wax modelling and when Curtius moved to Paris to establish a cabinet of wax portraits, he took Marie with him. In 1777 Marie created her first wax sculpture of Voltaire. Later she also created sculptures of other influential persons like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Curtius died in 1794 and left his collection to Marie. She decided to start travelling through Europe and when she married Francois Tussaud in 1795, the show was renamed: Madame Tussauds. Eventually she moved to Great Britain and settled in London...the rest is history.
As I already mentioned the mainlocation of the museum is in London, but there are a lot of smaller museums all over the world. You can find them in cities like: New York, Los Angeles, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Berlin and like I said Amsterdam. Of course we are gonna focus on the movie related part of the museum, but we wouldn't want to deprive you of some of the other celebrities we "met"...
Wax figures: World leaders
The first area we walked into was the area with the world leaders. I did a speech with Angela Merkel (the current Chancellor of Germany) and took a selfie with one of my heroes, Nelson Mandela (former President of South Africa, anti-apartheid revolutionary and philanthropist). We both had to take a picture with Barack Obama (former President of the United States of America). At the moment we took this picture Obama was still in office and we weren't ready to let him go yet.
Wax figures: Royalty
The Royalty area of Madame Tussauds in Amsterdam concentrates mostly on the Dutch Royals, but we also spotted Lady Diana Spencer (also known as Lady Di, the first wife of Prince Charles of Great Britain). And while Carola took a selfie with our former Queen (now Princess Beatrix), I hung out with the current King and Queen of The Netherlands (King Willem-Alexander & Queen Maxima).
Wax figures: Music
In the music section Carola had an encounter with two of the biggest voices of this moment: she gave Adele some singing lessons and had a staring contest with Beyonce. I on the other hand did my best "King of Pop" move and got into a fight with an annoying little boy (lol). We both snuggled up to Robbie Williams and he made us "Feel Real Love" again.
Wax figures: Art
In the art section Carola and I walked into the some of the greatest painters of all time. First I struck a pose with Pablo Picasso and while Carola and Dutch (graffiti) artist Herman Brood formed a critical jury for my Conmose graffiti art. At one point Carola walked into a famous Da Vinci painting and she tried to hypnotize Rembrandt into letting her do the same with the "Nachtwacht", but he didn't give in. Vincent van Gogh was more willing to help Carola and after I took a selfie with him, he started to paint Carola in his distinctive style. This took a while and I got bored, so I stole Salvador Dali's mustache and did a 19th century version of a photo bomb. Carola was not amused by this, as you can see...
Wax figures: Sports
Wax figures: Movies and Marvel
Of course our favorite area was the movie area, we had a lot of fun there. I particularly loved the special Marvel section. We got in the cell with Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), brought E.T. home, had fun with The Avengers, hung around with the first and the last Bond (Sean Connery and Daniel Craig) and a lot more just take a look at the pictures...
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Stella the Travelerette (Monday, 27 February 2017 02:10)
That was so interesting! I knew that the main Madame Tussaud's was in London but I didn't know her history. Nor did I know that she lived such a long time ago. You guys took really funny selfies in the museum. I am an American and I'm not ready to let President Obama go either!
ROBERT LEE | Amazing Life Daily (Monday, 27 February 2017 02:47)
I love the story you told behind the wax museum. I thought the story of Marie, her humble beginning was fascinating. Even more so was the unselfishness of the doctor who taught her everything. Because of that, I now see the wax museum with a new perspective and better appreciation.
Alyssa tuangco (Monday, 27 February 2017 07:59)
Madam Tussauds! I remember visiting their place at Hong Kong and there were a lot of Chinese celebrities and personalities I don't know haha but also some I know. The wax figures look amazing and realistic that's a bit freaky! I love the Iron man photos :)
Iza Abao, Two Monkeys Travel Group Writer (Monday, 27 February 2017)
I visited the Madam Tussaud's museum in Hongkong. The first wax figure that I saw was Cristiano Ronaldo. Then, Bruce Lee. I had fun when we took pics with the cartoon characters like Hello Kitty. There were a lot of Asian celebrities wax figures too but I'm not familiar with their names. My nephews enjoyed taking pics with Iron Man and the Hulk.
Maria (Monday, 27 February 2017 09:21)
Was that Messi wearing the Argentina jersey? You guys look fun to be with! I haven't visited Madam Tussaud's museum when we were in HK or in Singapore. Maybe next time, I really look for it when we go there soon. Maybe, if I were in your place, I'd squeal a little bit. They all look so real! I just wonder how often do they retouch it or fix it.
KT Nielsen (Monday, 27 February 2017 16:56)
Visiting a Madam Tussaud's museum is so much fun! It was an unforgettable time spent when I visited the very first MT museum in my list. This particular museum you visited looks more interesting though because there are more wax figures. I love your picture with ET. Hahaha! That caught my eye. I wish I can visit another MT museum again pretty soon.
Jill (Monday, 27 February 2017 17:08)
I have always wanted to visit one of Madame Tussauds' museums around the world. I wonder what's it like when you're next to a statue that looks the next thing to your idols. You look so happy. I envy you. <3
Rain | Words and Wanderlust (Tuesday, 28 February 2017 11:54)
Firstly, congratulations on the win! :) Fun photos of the wax wonders at MT you got there! I've only been to their Sydney museum, and loved the experience! It's best for friends/families, I guess. You see, fun is only real when shared!
Bhusha (Tuesday, 28 February 2017 15:54)
Totally love your quirky poses beside those sculptures!!! I agree, the Movies section was my fav too! But I went to the one in London and gave the Amsterdam one a miss! ET looks super cute and I love your poses with Hulk!
Helen (Tuesday, 28 February 2017 21:15)
I've never actually been inside a Madame Tussauds but have always been curious. When I was younger I went to Warwick Castle and got really creeped out at the wax works there. Hopefully I'm going to Holland this year again so will maybe make a visit.
blair villanueva (Wednesday, 01 March 2017 04:54)
OMFG I looove you trolling photos! I would do the same with these figures.
Kidding aside, its so uncanny of these images, i felt goosebumps just viewing your photos. And I'm thinking the hardwork and time they spend to create one. Brilliant tour!
Chessica Mirasol (Thursday, 02 March 2017 07:31)
You are so funny!! Haha. I enjoyed reading and browsing through your photos trolling those wax figures. Hahaha! I haven't been there, but your photos put me in awe. I can only imagine the hardwork they put to create figures like that!
ASKSonnie (Saturday, 04 March 2017 16:32)
The photos w/ Ironman is so funny, but I liked the most is the photo w/ E.T., that movie is kinda memorable since it's the first movie I watched inside a fancy cinema :)