Recently, Ross and I managed something that doesn’t happen particularly often:
A weekend away without the kids.
We were in London to see My Chemical Romance, and while we were there we decided to squeeze in a visit to the Paradox Museum London.
Because apparently when we get rare child-free time together, we don’t go for sophisticated cocktails or wander peacefully around an art gallery.
We take photos of me hanging upside down from a Tube station ceiling and serve my own head for lunch.
Romance.
What Is the Paradox Museum?
The Paradox Museum is basically a collection of interactive illusions, perspective tricks and rooms designed to completely confuse your brain.
And, importantly, you’re actually encouraged to take photos.
Lots of them.
This isn’t really the kind of museum where you quietly wander around reading plaques and thoughtfully nodding at things.
You’re part of the exhibits.
Which suited us perfectly.
It Started Fairly Normally…
There are different illusions and interactive exhibits as you make your way through, and some of them take a second to actually work out what you’re supposed to be seeing.
Others are very much designed around getting yourself into ridiculous positions for photographs.
Naturally, we embraced those.
One of my favourites was the Tube-inspired room.
The finished picture makes it look like I’m casually hanging upside down from the ceiling.
I can confirm that I have not secretly developed Spider-Man abilities.
Although I’d quite like to.
The Mirror Areas Were Brilliant
There are mirrors used throughout the museum to create some genuinely bizarre effects.
At one point I found myself walking down what looked like a completely chaotic graffiti-covered corridor with multiple versions of myself appearing alongside me.
It’s also one of those places where you end up taking a photograph, looking at it and immediately going:
“Wait… HOW does that work?”
Even when you’ve literally just stood inside the room responsible for creating it.
Apparently I Was Lunch
Then we reached an exhibit that allowed Ross to photograph my head sitting on a plate surrounded by chips and ice cream.
Obviously we needed that photograph.
I’m not entirely sure why lunch consists of my severed head, chips, two ice creams and a bottle of mustard.
But I don’t make the rules.
Personally, I think I look quite relaxed considering the circumstances.
A Throne? Obviously I Sat On It
There was also a huge red and gold throne.
There are some photo opportunities where you might think:
“Nah, I’ll leave that one.”
This was not one of them.
If you put a massive throne in front of me, I’m sitting on it.
That’s just common sense.
Some of the Rooms Look Incredible
Not everything is purely about funny perspective photos either.
Some of the spaces are genuinely gorgeous to photograph.
One room surrounded us with mirrors and colourful projected patterns, creating this amazing kaleidoscope effect.
I absolutely love how this photo came out.
It’s completely different from the upside-down and head-on-a-plate pictures, and that’s probably what I enjoyed most about the museum.
You don’t quite know what the next room is going to look like.
And Then I Disappeared Into a Wall
Possibly one of the strangest photographs from the whole visit is this one.
Somewhere in there is a human being.
Supposedly me.
At this point, I’d essentially become wallpaper.
I think it suits me.
Is Paradox Museum London Just for Kids?
Definitely not.
We went as two adults with absolutely no children accompanying us and had a brilliant time.
In fact, I think that’s worth mentioning because places like this can sometimes look like they’re primarily aimed at families when you see them online.
You absolutely could visit with children, but you don’t need children as an excuse to go.
We were quite capable of behaving like idiots all by ourselves.
Thank you very much.
It’s a Great Date-Day Activity
I actually think this is a really good option if you’re looking for something a bit different to do together in London.
Dinner is lovely.
Drinks are lovely.
But sometimes it’s much more fun to spend an hour taking increasingly ridiculous photographs of each other.
There’s plenty to interact with, you’re not just walking around looking at things, and you come away with some genuinely brilliant photos.
Although you do need to be prepared to commit to it.
This is not the place for dignity.
Dignity stays at the entrance.
Would We Go Again?
I’d definitely recommend experiencing it once, particularly if you’re visiting London and want something that’s a little different from the usual attractions.
We laughed.
We took far too many photographs.
I apparently lost my body at least twice.
And it added something completely different to a weekend that was already pretty bloody good thanks to seeing My Chemical Romance.
Turns out we can have a weekend away without four children.
We just apparently can’t behave like sensible adults while we’re doing it.
And I’m perfectly happy with that.
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