Westminster and Parliament

It seems like we're all starting to feel a little bit under the weather. I don't know if it's because we've been doing a lot or if it's just a climate change, either way Sammi got us medicine today and I just hope we get better soon. Meg and Fei seem to be fine, so hopefully they don't get whatever we have. It's not the swine though haha, don't worry. I think the last time I posted I stopped before explaining the tour of Parliament and Westminster...so I'll start there.

Day 9:

It's a bummer we can't take pictures inside of any of the places we are getting tours of because it's really just not the same being told about it when you can get the full experience seeing it. That's been our feeling on things, so even though most of the tours you have to pay, we find them to be completely worth it.


We did Westminster Abbey first which is my favorite thing in London. I came to visit two years ago for a weekend and Westminster was one of the only things I really got to do but I knew it was the best choice. Jon Louey & his girlfriend Suzanne came with us, so did a girl we met at UCL named Laura. So it was a bigger group than the four of us are used to but I'm so glad we're hanging out with other people. Anyway so Westminster Abbey was constructed by Edward the Confessor. He pretty much seems to have gotten England moving on this historical-location stuff because he is responsible for a lot of buildings. Sometimes on these tours I get him confused with William the Conqueror, and seeing as how there are too many people with the same name who are repeated on all of these tours, you really can't blame me if I get them confused. Anyway whoever it was got the Abbey up and running and it is the place of burial for every king and queen of the UK since then. It is also a church and it's beautiful. You really can't walk in and out without feeling a little more religious because it's just so mystifying in there.

At a certain point the Abbey started to welcome the burials of non-royalty as well and this is where Charles Dickens, Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are all buried also. There are plenty of memorials to influential people like Churchill, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare (who refused to be burred in the Abbey) and our very own FDR right at the exit from the Abbey.

Other cool stuff we saw was Britain's oldest door which you COULD take a picture of. I don't know who is in charge of deciding what you can and can't take pictures of but it's always worth a try to snap a picture, even if someone tells you not to do it you can probably still get away with it haha.








We also got to go outside into the gardens which I didn't get to do the last time I went into Westminster Abbey and it was a pretty perfect day which just made it all so much nicer.

After the tour we got our tickets for the tour of Parliament. All I can really say about this is that it is very clear how ridiculous governments are in every country. First of all, the House of Parliament is stunning. It is one of the more appealing buildings we've seen. The Parliament is divided in two, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords used to belong to the English royalty. Anyone with a royal title within the UK had a right to a seat in the House of Lords...all 1300 of them. Most declined the seat but a while ago laws were passed that took that regulation out of effect and now there are a little more than 90 of the 700 seats that belong to royalty. All of the rooms connected with the Lords is adorned in gold and red. It looks like a lot of the more royal rooms in the palaces we've seen. Clearly these are the UK's colors to show class. I say this because the House of Commons is all green and ivory. We actually liked it better because they use a lot of wood to and it feels more welcoming. We were taken into the "No" voting booth and she explained that on the other side is the "Aye" voting booth and depending on how you vote you walk to a different side of the room to place your vote in the division. We got to see both the House of Lords and the House of Commons debate rooms and libraries. It was so amazing, I would love to work or intern there. I know Dom at the Enclave gets to do that, I'm pretty jealous.

So here is what the tour took us through:

First our tour guide, Allison, explained to us that the monarch had power until 1640 when King Charles I was overthrown and executed. Since then, the only role of the monarch to Parliament is to open Parliament for business every year and to read a speech, written by the Prime Minister (House of Commons) that describes the legislation being worked on for that year. The only other role of the monarch is that every member of Parliament must swear an oath to the Queen otherwise they cannot vote.
Then we saw the Royal robbing room, which is literally where the Queen gets dressed for the opening. The theme of the room is King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table which we've noticed more and more plays a remarkably significant role in English history. For us, it's just a movie; here, it's a living legend.
The Royal Gallery was the next room we went into and learned more about King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell (House of Commons) who pretty much held down the fort when the country had no monarch. There was a copy of the death warrant for King Charles I, signed by members of Parliament including Cromwell, in this room.
The Prince's Chamber lobby came next which is really just a waiting place before you go into the Chamber of the Lords. This is where the opening of Parliament happens as well as the place where the Lords meet for session. There is a throne in the middle of the room for the Queen. When Charles I stormed into a session of Parliament, members of the House of Commons revolted against his authority claiming even the King could not just barge in on a meeting of Parliament. This led not only to the end of the monarchy and the death of Charles I it also was the force behind a tradition that happens before the opening of Parliament. Before the Queen can actually start the ceremony she needs to have members of both houses present. Since the Lords and the Commons have different rooms, it is customary for a member of Parliament's staff to walk to the other side of the House of Parliament, knock on the door into the House of Commons and ask permission to enter. This signifies the importance of the monarchy requesting the presence of an audience with the House of Commons as King Charles I never did. From there, the Prime Minister and other members of the House of Commons walk to the House of Lords where the ceremony begins.
After that we walked to another room which must not have been that important because I can barely read what I wrote down, including the name of the room. Moving on...
The Corridor of Paintings is literally what you imagine it to be. There are lots of paintings of important historical moments and the very last one on the right was that of King Charles I walking in on a session of Parliament. In the background you can see Oliver Cromwell with a hand on his chin just looking oddly at the king.
Through the corridor you enter the Central Lobby. In this room was just an homage to Ireland, England and Scotland- the nations that make up the United Kingdom. I'm assuming on a normal day hundreds of people use this lobby to run around between sections of Parliament. It was massive.
Since the Central Lobby is really the division point between the Houses of Lords/Commons, we finally moved away from the gold and red of the Lords to the green and ivory of the Commons-- which we really liked better anyway. The Members Lobby came right after the Central Lobby. It had brown wood ceilings, tan walls and statues of the more famous Prime Ministers like Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.
I already mentioned the Voting Lobbies. The Parliament votes by divisions which means they physically split between voting yes or voting no and depending on which way you vote means you go to a different room with the rest of the people voting the same way as you.
Then we went to the division of the House in which the speaker's chair is in the same position in the room as the Queen's throne is in the House of Lords. And because the House of Parliament is built like a rectangular, if the space is cleared of people and the doors to the two rooms are left open the Prime Minister and the Queen could actually be able to see each other from opposite ends of the building...which is HUGE.
So the tour was amazing and I wish I would have thought to take notes on rooms and stuff when we did Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mews to give you the same info. Anyway if you read this, I'm proud of you...if you didn't, I don't blame you because this is always so much more interesting when you're standing there looking at it yourself!