London, Tussauds & The Dungeon

Last Updated on Sunday, 31 May 2009 08:42 Written by The Virtual Runner Sunday, 31 May 2009 08:39

Me and my buddy Jim

A quote from my current facebook status:  The London Dungeon is like visiting some really really boring urine scented basement filled with bad actors in cheesy halloween makeup who try and scare you and educate you at the same time…. If you’ve never been, don’t bother. If you have already been, I’m sorry for your loss. You’ll never get that part of your life back.

We went to London today to visit Madam Tussauds and the London Dungeon with the other hundreds of tourists from around the world.  We also wanted to just wander around and do some people-watching because London is great for that.

Madam Tussauds was really busy and filled with tourists, but it was still really great.  I was pretty cool to see what these famous people look like up close and to get a better idea of their size!  Some people are way shorter or taller than you think they are.  It’s pretty cool really.

The first room was a bit confusing because you walk into a “party” and the manequins are all around the room and it is actually hard to tell who the manequins are from the real people when you’re walking around.  You suddenly realise you’re standing next to Michael Jackson or something.

Me and J-Lo... she liked it.

We had a good wander around Tussauds and afterwards we decided to hop on the underground and make our way to the London Dungeon.  It sucked.

When you first go in a man makes you pose for a picture.  I had to put my head and arms in stocks (which were missing the top part) and my wife had to pretend she was cutting my head off.  That isn’t what stocks were used for.  Anyway, we bought the photo simply because it was so ridiculous.

The first thing you notice about the Dungeons… the strong smell of urine.  My other half actually thought that it was put there on purpose to give the dungeons that authentic piss-smell… she’s hilarious.  Nope, it was good ole fashioned every day real urine. 

The place just seems run-down and the staff/actors who work there are really bad.  The things they say just sound like a monotone of useless historical information because they’ve said it about 100 times already that day to other groups of tourists.

You actually find yourself being corralled from room to room to listen to more and more boring crap until you just can’t wait to escape at the end.  That’s why people want out of this particular dungeon; it’s not because they’re scared.  People are bored stupid and will do anything to get out!  “Let me out of the dungeon please!  I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done to deserve this!”

Tower Bridge

After the torture of The London Dungeon we decided to walk along the Thames to the Tower Bridge because I had never seen it.  Almost 12 years living in the UK and numerous visits to London for work and pleasure and I had never seen the Tower Bridge.  How odd is that? 

When we got to the bridge there was some sort of festival going on with loads of tents set up and different asian foods being sold (Thai, chinese & indian).  We decided to buy some dinner and join the hundreds of other people and do some people watching.  From where we were sitting we had a lovely view of the Tower Bridge and the city across the river.

We walked across the bridge and got on the underground and headed for Covent Garden to have a drink and watch some of the street entertainers.  One of my favourite things about wandering around London is the entertainers at Covent Garden.

We settled in at a pub in the sunken part of the Market side and it wasn’t long before a group of seven musicians set up shop.  The classical music was fantastic and they were also hilarious.  They drew a very large crowd of people above on the balcony and below where we were sitting.  We bought a CD from them (I like to support) and they are called the ZHL String Ensemble.

Covent Garden

After we sat around there for a while we walked to Leicester Square and on to Picadilly Circus to catch the undground back to Paddington and then on to home. 

Good day out and we walked LOADS.  My legs and feet were really sore by the end of the day because I went for a run at 07:00 this morning before we head in to London.  Silly me.

Tomorrow is the first day of June and that means the Juneathon starts.  I got a message from JogBlog and she has added me to the list of participants as well.  I’m in!

If you’re interested in seeing any of our pictures taken today on our visit to London they are on facebook (for friends and family) and Flickr for everyone else who reads this blog (all both of you).

Juneathon III and Birthday

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 May 2009 08:12 Written by The Virtual Runner Saturday, 30 May 2009 07:58

I’ve decided to join in on the Juneathon.  From what I can tell, it was started by someone JoggerBlogger knew and then he continued it on after that.  The rules of Juneathon are as follows (copied from JogBlog running blog):

• Run or exercise every day
• Blog about it (if you don’t have a blog, join the Facebook group and post your efforts there)
• Visit your fellow Juneathoner’s blogs and leave a comment in support (or call them a slacker)

So I first when to JoggerBlogger’s site and commented on his post.  I also joined the facebook group.  However, I was left off the list on JogBlog’s site for some reason.  I’ve decided I’m going to do it anyway and I’ll read the other blogs and comment accordingly as per the rules.  As I was left off the list though, I doubt people will find this one!  Oh well, what can you do.

I probably won’t be running every day during June but I’ll certainly incorporate some sort of exercise.  I’ve decided to give the 100 Push-Up training a go again and I’ve also bought a new book called “The Official British Army Fitness Guide” which as some handy exercises you can do at home.  Also, the one thing the book talks about at the beginning is having a good cardio base and running!  It’s a pretty good book to have I think.

I’ve added a lot more “planned” races and events to my calendar and you can see some of them listed on the right.  I’ve only actually paid for the Dorney Dash which takes place next weekend.  The other races are relatively local and I’ll probably just show up on the day and pay the £10 (or whatever it costs) and just run them.

As for non-running related matters, my lovely wife and I are off to London tomorrow to wander around (dinner etc) and to go to Madam Tussauds.  My wife says she has wanted to visit Madam Tussauds ever since she was a child, so that’s where we’re going.

We’ll be taking some pictures so I’ll stick some on Flickr so you can have a look.

Tomorrow I’m going to head off to Dinton Pastures early in the morning (06:30) so I can get in a run of at least 6 miles before we get ready to go in to London at about 10:00 in the morning.  I’m hoping it will be a long run but we’ll see how things play out!