[Note: I originally published this as a Page and not as a Post. Where is my brain these days? Anyway, fixed it!]

Even though Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, you can’t stop us from admiring his vast powers of deduction.  Or creating a museum/gift shop in the spot where he ‘lived’.

The location is 221B Baker St.  Obviously.  It’s close to the Baker Street Tube stop, which has Sherlock tiles.

To the right is the entrance to the gift shop and where you can purchase tickets for the museum.  The gift shop is chock full of things from books and games to souvenir magnets and keychains to deerstalkers and pipes. Kristen and I had a good wander through here when we were in London 2 years ago, although we didn’t go into the museum.

I like Sherlock Holmes.  I’ve read most of his short stories and novels (I like the short stories best, although the Valley of Fear has climbed into favourite novel status).  I also like the BBC series Sherlock; I enjoyed the RDJ movie; I thought the first season of Elementary was good; and if you watch House MD after reading some of the original works then it’s fun to watch the parallels between Holmes and House.

I was on the fence about going to the museum (he didn’t actually exist, after all), but Sis wanted to go, so we did.  The tickets to the museum were each 15 pounds, which seemed a bit pricey to me (curse you Weak Canadian Dollar!), especially if you also want to buy expensive souvenirs.  But having a ticket is the only way to get into to the famous 221B.

The first floor of the house (well, the second floor – the ground floor is just the entrance) is set up as it would be for Sherlock.  It includes Sherlock’s room and the living room.  It’s a pretty neat step into the past, and there’s so much to look at.

There were other people in the rooms and since the rooms are so small and full of items it was a bit difficult to manoeuvre at times, but it’s still way better than trying to see that animation T-Rex at the Natural History Museum on a Friday afternoon.  It was crowded, but I didn’t feel like I was missing too much or like I was too much in the way.

There are some neat “Easter eggs” (or whatever you call them in real life).  Also you can take pictures wearing Sherlock and John’s hats near the fireplace, as demonstrated in the first photo.  [Outside the entrance there are more chances to take pictures in hats – you can even get a picture with the guy in costume watching the door.]

The second floor was where John’s bedroom was located, and a room for all us book-nerds out there.  There were displays with props from Sherlock’s adventures.  It was neat to have something visualized in front of you (especially with the mask in “The Yellow Face”).

The third floor was my least favourite.  It was mainly mannequins dressed up and re-creating scenes from the stories, and they were not Tussauds-quality mannequins.  I found the previous floors, with all their trinkets and such, more interesting.

The museum was a bit pricey for what it is, but it’s an interesting enough place to visit if you’re a fan of the short stories and novels, or want to see the parallels between the original character and the modern versions.  Just be prepared to climb some stairs, as there were no lifts back then.