Houses Of Parliament

Daughter Rachel worked in the US Senate for some years and was sure to see the Houses of Parliament on one of her London visits, and she has since been urging us to visit the Houses too. We did, finally, on August 6, her 10th wedding anniversary as it happened, and have to concur that it's one of the very best things that London has to offer. I'd urge anyone visiting here to do the Houses: much history, much art and architecture, much pomp and ceremony, and civics lessons that we all need to know or be reminded of. For COVID, there were timed tickets and limited numbers, of course, and a simplified route. The tour proceeds using hand-held multimedia devices, with excellent and expandable content, but there are docents in every room, often more than one, quite knowledgeable and quite patient with questions from their American cousins. For the blogger, such as yours truly, there was the minor frustration of not being permitted to take photos beyond the great hall, but then that gave me ever more time to actually look and listen. I'll post my few pix, but then refer the reader to Parliament's fine website and its virtual tour of the Houses, https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/virtualtour/. 

We arrived early enough to stroll around
Parliament Square...my least favorite statue of
Churchill; there's a much better one in one
of the anterooms to the House of Commons,
showing him at his argumentative best

David Lloyd George does not fare much better--
Britain's PM in WWI

"Look, kids, it's Big Ben"--still under wraps, due
to re-emerge later this year

North transept of Westminster Abbey, where we have visited
and attended services

Nearby St. Margaret's, the parish church for locals; also favored

by the Parliamentarians, who were not fond of the high liturgy in

the adjacent building; marriages include Pepys, Milton, Churchill,

Lord Louis, et al.

Parliamentarian #1

Richard the Lion Heart; still don't understand 
what he had to do with Parliament; or scaffolding

Lady Hall of the Abbey

Detail

The stairwell exterior of the British Inter-Military
Group building; caught our eye

Now in the Victoria Tower Gardens, looking at

Burghers of Calais, copy #4,737, wondering what

they had to do with Parliament, or Parliament with 

them, since it was one of the Edwards giving them

trouble; Victoria Tower in the background

Now finally in the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall...this is the
great hall, built by Henry II to impress...largest hammerbeam
roof in the UK, maybe in Europe; site of many historic events

Angelic ceiling ornament

There are plaques all around about who stood where when the

great events took place...my favorite, above, marks the spot

where Charles I stood during his trial for treason in 1649;

he was executed subsequently outside the Banqueting House,

Whitehall

Photography was allowed also in St. Stephens chapel

Not much to picture though

After our tour, a last look and photo; do take the virtual tour!

PS: my favorite, of all the many scenes and scenarios, concerns the Black Rod, appointed by the monarch, head of the House of Lords, who goes to knock on the door of the House of Commons, to announce the presence and call of the Sovereign for her/his annual message and opening of Parliament. The doors are slammed shut, reflecting the reaction to Charles I's invasion of the chamber in 1640, with his bodyguard, to arrest dissident members. No monarch has entered the House of Commons since then. The doors to the House of Commons still proudly bear the marks and scars of the ceremonial knocking over the centuries. One of representative democracy's proudest moments, re-enacted every year.