England trip #3

Yesterday we’ve been to the London Dungeon(s) and in the Zoo.

As I did not have a camera with me and my sister’s battery has gone empty I cannot provide you with any pictures unfortunately. You can look them up on youtube and google though.

The London Dungeon 

This place is about London’s history. About the great fire in 1666, Jack the ripper, old housings, prostitutes, and so on. The focus is on the bad moments especially. It’s intended to be a scary place - and it manages to be at times. Situated near the London Bridge there are people dressed as vampires and frankensteins outside the door inviting the dear tourists in. You need to go in a few meters (along which sometimes people try to scare you by shouting in your face jumping out from behind a wall) to be able to buy a ticket.

Once you’re in usually there’s a few minutes waiting period (so as that groups do not interfere with each other) before you can get in. This time there were lots of school children there shouting and talking loud all along the way. Most of them girls (they especially like to shout). So we were prepared for a good ‘ride’.

It all started with a mirror-labyrinth. As it was quite dark and foggy we really just went around in circles (I noted that after the second round). Nobody seemed to find a way out - and later on it dawned upon me that the reason was that the only exit was hidden behind… a mirror! After a few minutes of going around the guy behind the mirror moved the door and we were out. Funny You had no chance.

There are stops along the way where employees of the dungeon - dressed in old ragged clothes - tell you stories and also try to get some of the visitors involved in a short play. So if you’re not into these plays - try to stay in the back rows. They talk old English so - even if you speak and understand it at a high level - be prepared not to understand every word. As we walked sometimes automatic machines spitted water on us. You cannot easily predict where this happens - and it shocks you a bit.

One of the first stops was an old doctor’s room. She was dressed in bloody clothes and was working on a patient. Intestines were pulled out of the ‘patient’ and thrown around If you are into horror movies you gonna dig it.

Then there was a place where we were scorned and needed to go in front of a judge. Some persons were picked from the crowd and they needed to plead guilty. In the end everyone was found guilty. Then there was a smaller zone where - like in a theme park - you could enjoy how a hanging would feel like - from the point of view of the person being hanged. No ropes, just seats and some free fall.

A large part of the dungeon was devoted to the Great London fire of 1666. It was revealed that a baker was responsible for it as he forgot to put out the fire in his fireplace. In a few days most of London was burnt down. Some videos were played and the surroundings were made to reflect in great detail what it looked like back then.

An other large part was devoted to Jack the ripper. Stories were told but nothing special in my opinion. He liked to kill prostitutes that’s all.

All in all paying a visit to the Dungeon worths the time and price.

The London Zoo

It’s located in the north western corner of Regent’s Park. Let me show you my favorite animal first (the serval - a feline):

These african cats are amazing!
Anyway - the ZSL is very nice. It’s quite relaxing to hang out there. There’s one special thing here, the huge aviatory. I have not paid much attention to it - and I guess you need to have some kind of binoculars or very sharp eyes to perceive the different kind of birds in there. But the relatively big closed area they have here looks very nice. At least they try to provide a good place for these animals.

Otherwise there’s a part in the zoo called ‘BUGS’ where you can check out scorpions, tarantella spiders, fly larvae,  cockroaches - all right in front of your face only a thin glass panel between you and them. All alive of course I think they are all interesting and there’s nothing disgusting about them. It’s all stupid social programming why some of us fear of them. I’m not saying I’d be glad to put a cockroach onto my palm - but seeing lots of them this close - I did not have any disgust.

I have also noted the anteaters - a special kind of animal bigger than I thought, having a 60cm long tongue which he can move in and out 150 times in a minute. Impressive. I guess the termites just love him

The african hunting dogs (hiéna in hungarian) also looked lovely when they played with each other. There were 4 or 5 of them - one of them is a puppy. They all looked a bit ragged (due to their color) but also like an ordinary dog. I guess the english name is more appropriate than the one we have. Our word has a big negative connotation with it. Most people dislike them although there’s nothing to dislike about.

And also an interesting animal is the Komodo Dragon. It just sit tight, motionless amongst a few bushes and trees. It is said that its skin is poisonous. Well, we could not have tested it Also the reason I’m using it is that it seems that - at least in the zoo - it’s neither a she nor a he. There’s a few smaller dragons in there which were born from one ma/pa dragon without an other one. They are reptiles so they lay eggs, and usually the egg needs to be fertilized. In this case it self-fertilized. Interesting. I can just hope this moment never comes for humans. ‘Fertilizing’ is one of the best part in this game called ‘life’.