A Sunday well spent

Yesterday I and Z made the best of weekend with us both off and without other commitments.

So we made the most of it, we went to the London dungeon and to the Tate modern and they are fairly close to each other as well. We wanted to do the slides at the Tate modern, which meant having to get up early and queue from around 10am; the queue when we got there was already 30 minutes long. Thankfully we did get tickets for the slides in the afternoon, as we felt we would be finished with the London dungeon by then.

So off we trekked to London dungeon, waiting for an hour outside, as it was already packed at that point. Sadly it started raining and me being me said we wouldn’t need umbrellas, and Z’s words came back to haunt, so we got suitably wet of course.

Once we were inside, we dried off fairly fast, and proceeded to enjoy the London dungeon. It costs £17 per person, was that good value, honestly, no. A little cheaper would have made it better value. You have about 1hr 30 minutes at most in there.

I got picked as a volunteer for the torture section, for some reason the lady running that part, thought I was hiding behind my girlfriend so got me up, had me in the chair, whilst demonstrating the torture items….

First the tongue remover, which I didn’t think would be that, thought something far worse. Apparently usually it was used red hot to pull the tongue out.

Next up was a hook, the lady asked me to stand up, and touch my toes, at which point she showed the manoeuvre used to hold the person up, the hook up the back passage and explained that was one way to make the prisoner talk, lovely!!! Got laughter when she got me to bend over, can’t imagine why.

The last item was the worst and aimed at us men solely. Lets just say you would lose you little friend down there. A john Bobbitt job with a blunt cutter, so they would need to do 3 or 4 times to remove it. I think at that point, no man alive would want to be alive, though they probably wouldn’t have been for much longer.

Thankfully none of the items was used in anger, but it makes you shudder at what was done then, in the 17th century

It wasn’t a bad place to visit, but a word of warning, those with children, don’t take them unless you are sure you little child can handle it. At least one member of the group we were going around with, as you go in groups, had a little girl and she basically spent the whole time crying. It is going to be a scary place for a small child, so why bring them, you will make them upset and frighten the poor child.

Afterwards we made our way back to the Tate Modern to do the slides (Carsten Höller), this time it was chucking it down with rain. Got completely wet, my smart idea of not needing an umbrella looked less and less smart as the day went on.

Carsten Holler at the Tate Modern

The slides didn’t look like they would be fast, but they were. You had to wear a special cap, with protective padding in it, though many were losing their caps on the way down.

It is a bumpy ride, and when they say it is physical, you better believe it. You do feel it, really feel, for a little while after.

Video of the slides

Here is a very good video showing what it can be like, and it really is a lot of fun.

If you can handle having to queue for a while just to get tickets and come back later to use the tickets, then do it. It is worth it and if you like slides, and ones that have a bit of speed and bump, go for it, you will thank yourself for it.