221-B Baker Street...Crime?

I have been a die hard fan of Holmes stories, since I was a kid, both as a reader who reads only for the plot of the story & as a scholar who wants to learn how to write better. One of the biggest reasons for the success of Holmes stories, besides the impressive writing style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was the attention to the details he paid when writing.

"221b Baker Street. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and his colleague John H. Watson, M.D., spent many years at this address in London, England, under the rent of Mrs. Hudson. Characters of every type have frequented the rooms of this place, calling on Mr. Holmes for help and assistance on mysteries only the finest criminal detective could unravel."
- 221 Baker Street Museum

Well, as luck would have it, I was in London last week. And by the virtue of careful, thoughtful & meticulous planning of my friend, I was able to fulfill my dream of visiting one of the most famous addresses of the world - "221b Baker Street"

These are some of the pictures I took at 212-B Baker Street in London:-

The famous address "221B Baker Street", named as Sherlock Holmes Museum.

I swear to God, that I didn't posed like this willingly. Pooh & Harsh made me do it. Being the Simple & shy soul I am, it was too embarrassing, But then at the end I did enjoy it.

"The new Holmes" with Dr Watson.

Apparently, The new Holmes was also the manager for my entire London Trip, and I can say without any hesitation, that the trip wouldn't have been the same without her.

Some Nincompoop's have no respect for art & literature.

Harsh, bullying the bust of Sherlock Holmes. He was the stand-up comedian & non-stop chatterbox of the trip.

A letter from Holmes to Dr. Watson

"While there really is a Baker Street, there was no 221 Baker Street during the years of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Baker Street was very short, less than a mile long. The street ran north to south with numbered addresses ranging from 1 to 85.

In 1930 some of the surrounding streets were renamed, buildings were renumbered and Baker Street became much longer. At that point 221 Baker Street was a real address. Soon after this the building at 221 Baker Street was demolished. A new structure, Abbey House, took its place. Abbey House served as the head office for the Abbey Road Building Society from 1932 until 2002. Today the building is still one of the London offices of Abbey.

Because of the unique relationship between the company and Sherlock Holmes, Abbey commissioned a statue of Holmes. That statue now stands at the entrance of the Baker Street Tube Station. Abbey also has a person who deals with the cards and letters, as many as 30 a month, that come addressed to Sherlock Holmes."

- Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I did get a chance to see the mentioned statue of Sherlock Holmes near the entrance of Baker Street Tube Station & I must say it is lovely. It is pretty well maintained, too. Well, much as I would have liked it, I could not get a picture of the statue, because of those shouting football hooligans!

This is an example of the kind of letters which the museum gets.

I chose this one, since it shows the light side of childhood, depicts the enthusiasm & the willingness to chase a dream. There were many more, some of them pretty serious, scholarly & even weird, but this one was among the best.

Overall, it was a nice experience.
The whole Museum has got a artistic feel. Artifacts like Holmes's Pipe, his violin, Dr. Watson's Pocket watch, the famous Poker bent by Dr. Grimesby Roylott, are all around. There are even some dummies depicting the original illustrations from the stories.

Besides, the museum, the central London based on either side of Thames is beautiful. I shot a couple of pictures over there too. I especially loved the Thames walk. It is very well managed, and is extremely beautiful. The Captain of the Ferry told me that Thames is the cleanest river in the whole Europe & no garbage is dumped in the river.

The Famous Big Ben!

Popularly known as "The Big Ben", most people don't know that "Big Ben" is actually not the name of the tower or the clock. The Tower is called "St. Stephan's Tower", and the clock is "Parliament clock". The name Big Ben is for the 13.8 ton bell which tongs hourly. There is a lantern at the top of the tower, known as "Aryton Light", named after Thomas Aryton.

A street sign near the Thames Walk.

You can, see the Street signs for Westminster Abbey, Embankment, White Hall, London Aquarium, Imperial War Museum & Thames Walk.

London Eye, also known as Millennium Wheel, is tallest (443 ft) Ferris wheel in Europe.

Richard Rogers said “ The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London."

The Captain of my ferry told me that "The giant wheel" rotates throughout the year, except on Christmas eve & on maintenance days. He even joked, that considering the profits earned, British Airways was thinking of closing its air line business and planning to open more of "The eyes" throughout the world. In 2006, Tussauds Group bought out the other two joint owners, British Airways and the Marks Barfield family (the lead architects) & now owns the 100 % of the wheel.

The downside of London is that its very huge, too crowded, & everything is in rush. It's a nice place to see & visit, but not a very soothing place to live.