Can’t Win ‘em All
“Anne Shirley was adopted
Annie Warbucks was adopted
Cinderella was fostered.
Dorothy Gale was adopted.
Frodo Baggins was adopted.
Han Solo was orphaned.
Harry Potter was fostered.
Heathcliff was a foundling.
Hercules was adopted.
James Bond was fostered.
Jane Eyre was fostered.
Madeline was orphaned.
Oedipus was a foundling.
Oliver Twist was orphaned.
Princess Leia was adopted.
Rapunzel was fostered.
Scarlett O’Hara was orphaned.
Snow White was fostered.
Spider-Man was adopted.
Superman was a foundling.
Tom Riddle was orphaned.
Tom Sawyer was adopted.
Wolverine was orphaned.
Yuri Zhivago was adopted.”
Friday - January 6
The Foundling Hospital was established in London in 1739 to care for babies at risk of abandonment. Although a global powerhouse of industry and wealth, London was also polluted and disease-ridden. Child mortality rates soared, with some one thousand babies abandoned by parents experiencing extreme poverty or other terrible maladies. For over 200 years, the hospital took in more than 25,000 foundlings—children who were either abandoned and found by others or handed over by parents who could not support them. The Foundling Museum tells their story.
The museum had an exhibit wall listing just some of the characters shown above. If you search the poem, you’ll find the list is considerably more extensive. Which begs the question of why so many of our beloved protagonists are orphaned. Without parents, the character can more easily have epic adventures that lead them into danger. An orphan origin story also makes superheroes outsiders and instills a deeply personal sense of right and wrong, it forces that character to assert themselves in the world at a much earlier age, and it introduces them invariably to an issue of justice in a visceral way.
The most touching part of the museum were the tokens left by the mothers. Each child was given a new name once it arrived at the hospital, so the only way for a mother to return and claim her child was to identify the token left with the child. It was heart-rending to imagine.
Otherwise, we found the museum rather ho-hum. The museum as a foundation actively supports at-risk children, so they are really more philanthropic organization than museum. In fact, one of the hospital’s most famous patrons was George Frideric Handel, who used his Messiah oratorio to raise money for the charity.
Ultimately, knowing all this did not add to the experience of the museum itself. As a visitor experience, I would say skip it.
After the Foundling Museum, we went to the Stranger Things Experience. Amanda had found out about this before we left and we bought tickets while still in the States.
We were batting 1,000 today because we paid more for this than I’m willing to admit (OK…$50 each) and let’s just say we wouldn’t do it again. Upon entering, we were placed into three groups before being led into a laboratory room much like the one Eleven was tested in on the show. In that room you realized each of the three groups had unique powers—admittedly the special effects as we discovered those powers were pretty good.
Then we were led into another room, from which Dustin and Erica helped us escape. We found ourselves in a control room with video monitors where we can see demogorgons in the hallways and then outside our room. The effects of glass cracking as the demogorgons tried to get into the room were pretty cool.
We then managed to open a portal into the Upside Down, where we donned 3D glasses and helped Max fend off demogorgons before Eleven entered and we helped her defeat Vecna.
They put a lot of effort into it but overall it felt slow and didn’t really hold our interests. For the second time in one day—not worth the price of admission!
After the live-action portion, there was a room with lots of photo ops.
Rock on Billy!
This room was pretty cool!
Hey kids, this is called a phone booth. Not that long ago, the only way to call someone while away from home was to put coins into the phone and pay to make a call.
All 80’s vintage VHS video store.
As if they didn't get enough of our money already! 🤬
Surf’s up my dude!
