221 B. Baker Street

badges for my walking stick, I couldn’t resist buying this as my souvenir from 221b Baker Street!

I’ve been a fan of Sherlock Holmes for a long time. I’ve read the books and seen the PBS Mystery! series about him on television. Being a somewhat analytical sort of person myself, I’ve always admired his methods of detection.

What could be more natural during my first visit to London with Mrs. viii than to stop by the museum?

When we stopped at the museum at first I was eager to go upstairs and have a look around. Then I started to think it through…Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character. This wasn’t really his house. None of the artifacts in the house could really be his. Using this logic we decided to just wander around in the gift shop and then leave. Of course I later came to regret that decision.

A few years later I found myself in London again, this time with a good friend of mine. He had lost an item on the Underground, so we stopped by the Lost Property Office near the Baker Street Underground Station. While we were there, the subject of Sherlock Holmes naturally came up. We went around the corner to the museum. I remembered the bit about him being a fictional character and all, but my friend talked me into going in anyway. I’m glad that he did.

It was interesting to see the interior of the house, to get a better feel for what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was describing as he wrote about “the rooms in Baker Street.” I liked looking out the window to the street below and trying to imagine what the scene would have been like about a hundred years earlier.

Also inside the museum were period artifacts such as a genuine deerstalker hat, magnifying glass, pipe, and other items which would have been used at the time.

There was also a room with wax figures of Dr. Moriarty, as well as other noted figures from some Sherlock’s adventures such as The Red Headed League and the Speckled Band.

Overall it was worth the visit for a fairly well-read Sherlock Holmes fan. The museum’s appeal may diminish somewhat to the more casual or apathetic Sherlock Holmes fan. For me, I was glad to have made the visit.

I was so tickled by the museum, and the sillouettes in the underground. Just the place for a Holmes Addict!

A cool blue signboard

Visiting 221 b Baker Street was lots of fun, but probably only to a fan of Sherlock Holmes. The entire house is set up like when he “lived” there although with great displays featuring things like the book with the gun in it and the cut off ears in a box of salts. There is also a wonderful shop with paraphanelia (sp?). Next door there is also a Beatles store for those so inclined, that has tons of records and other things.