houses of parliament Archives

This was only my third visit to Parliament. I was there for a breakfast briefing on the terrace. I had been inside in the Houses of Parliament only twice before. Once back in the 1970s when my primary school was threatened by closure and a group of us, pupils, parents, and teachers went to discuss this in parliament. My second visit was in the early 2000s when I worked at at-Bristol (now called We The Curious) and we were meeting some parliamentarians. I actually drove to the Houses of Parliament through the building, and parked underneath.

I went through the visitor entrance and on the way to security is a statue of Oliver Cromwell.

I was a little surprised, as though Cromwell championed Parliament against the monarchy, I did wonder if his legacy was a little toxic.

It was then into security before walking through Westminster Hall. Westminster Hall is a medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster. It was constructed in 1097 for William II, at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. It is an impressive space.

I then made my way to the Central Lobby (photography not allowed). I joined the queue and made my way to the terrace for a breakfast briefing.

After the event I walked back the way I came in. I had enjoyed the visit to Parliament.

Back in the summer we were visiting relatives in London. We went on a sightseeing walk around London. We were staying in Kingston so caught the train into London. We changed at Vauxhall and caught the tube to Green Park. The aim was to do something of a quick walk around some central London tourist landmarks.

We first walked through the park to Buckingham Palace. We did wonder why anyone would book a deckchair for the whole day to sit in the park.

We took some photographs of the palace and watched as the Guards standing on duty were inspected.

Military officer was riding around on his horse, quite surreal in some respects.

As we walked to Clarence House, we saw Rod Stewart. It was looking like he was filming a music video.

I stopped to take a photograph or two.

One of the reasons for posting this post, was that the video has now been released.

We then walked around to St James Palace. We missed the entrance as we were on the pavement next to the palace, but it was interesting to see what was originally the home of the royals. Through St James Park, through Whitehall, down to see the Houses of Parliament.