Have you ever wanted to get up close and personal with one of your favorite presidents or superstars? If so, plan a trip to the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum on 1001 F Street in NW DC. This “face to face” with your heroes may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it will be one of the most amazing experiences you will ever have.

In the museum, many famous people are recreated in wax. The art form, made popular by Marie Tussaud, is about making wax figures look as life-like as possible. My friends and I were stopped in front of a woman who we assumed was capturing a photograph of Larry King. We waited for at least two minutes, not wanting to disturb her photo, until we discovered that she, too, was a wax figure.

The figures are worked for hundreds of hours until they reach perfection. The most critical features used to make the people seem real are the eyes and the hair. The creators copy the eye color exactly with various paints; the paint is placed on a glassy, shiny eyeball. Also, the creators have a huge selection of hair colors which are compared to the color of the real person they are recreating; each strand is woven individually. Once the hair is attached, it is styled to match the subjects personality. The resulting figures are not only very beautiful, but they are also captivating.

The rooms are separated into six sections: Civil Rights, Behind the Scenes, Media Room, Glamour Room, Sports Zone, and the President’s Gallery, the largest being the the civil rights section. All of the former presidents are placed in this section, along with influential people such as, Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman. The second largest section is the Glamour Room. The room contains wax recreations of famous actors, actresses, singers, and other performers. The other sections had a few prominent sports stars, media specialists, and broadcasters.

The tour takes at least an hour and a half, but most group spend even more time observing each figure closely. It is a great area in which to spend one’s day. I recommend exploring the city, viewing the wax museum, and seeing all other attractions it features. If you want to make a day of it, there are many other interesting things to do and places to visit in the area, such as: the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Ford Theatre, and the National Aquarium.