Two of London's most well-known tourist attractions -- Madame Tussauds and the London Eye -- are now in the back pockets of New World colonists. 

The American investment group Blackstone paid $2 billion for the chain of wax museums and the giant London ferris wheel.  Blackstone already owns Sea Life aquariums and the Danish theme park chain Legoland. Americans also get Alton Towers, the largest amusement park in the UK located just outside London, and the chain of cheesy Dungeon attractions found in just about every major European city, like the London Dungeon.  This new deal makes Blackstone the second-largest theme park operator in the world, after Disney. 

Besides London, Madame Tussauds already has locations in New York, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Amsterdam. Two new ones will open soon in Hollywood and Washington, D.C.

Since living in London, we've been to the London Eye about 6 or 7 times, because every tourist who comes into town wants to ride the wheel!  We should get some sort of locals discount for all the pounds we've forked over to them.  Mr. Crab has been Madame Tussauds once. I was pleasantly surprised; it wasn't as cheezy as I thought it would be. Some of it was downright cool, like being able to touch the statues. Every girl was posing for pictures kissing the Brad Pitt wax figure, and every guy was posing with their hands on Jennifer Lopez's bum (above).