Thursday, June 20
After class Thursday, we hopped on the tube to Westminster and visited Parliament! It's a gorgeous building and everything there is architecturally wonderful. You step out of the Tube station and then BAM Big Ben is right there to greet you.
Anyways, went inside the Houses of Parliament and we first get into Westminster Hall.
My picture sucks. This is what it's supposed to look like:
Westminster Hall has been the setting for various events in the history of Britain. At one point it was the largest hall in all of Europe. It has held the impeachment trials of King Charles I and Sir Thomas More. Coronation banquets were held there until 1821, ending with King George IV.
If you find this interesting, check out Wikipedia.
We got to sit in on a session of the House of Commons. As we walked in, they were ending a debate on Health Care and proceeded to begin a talk on the rail system. Exciting stuff. From the visitor's gallery it basically looks like this:
Subtract like 98% of the people though and that's what we were witnessing, haha.
Number one question I've been asked after telling people I've visited Parliament is:
Do they wear the funny wigs? The answer is: Only the clerks do. But yes, they are still funny.
After Parliament, we stopped by Westminster Abbey, but I will cover that more later. Then we made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral! This beautiful building is where Princess Di and Prince Albert were married and also where the funerals for Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher were held.
After St. Paul's, we crossed the Millennium Bridge. It provides beautiful views of the Thames and what's on the riverbank.
(including a view of St. Paul's from behind)
This famous bridge may have made an appearance in a blockbuster movie called Harry Potter or something...
(good thing the Death Eaters aren't in London the same time I am...)
After walking across the bridge, we visited the Tate Modern Museum. It's right on the riverside and a directly across from Millenium Bridge and St. Paul's. It's really interesting looking, and is huge on the inside.
The Tate has a lot of interesting works inside. Some were a little too modern for me, but others were recognizable.
The balcony of the Tate Modern has a gorgeous view of St. Paul's and the other side of the river.
Right next door to the Tate is the famous Globe Theatre. This is where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed and there are still performances of his plays going on to this day. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there.
Afterwards, we got dinner at a random Italian place we stumbled upon and took a walk by the river. The sun doesn't set until really late since London is so far North. So by 9 PM the sun was setting.
The Famous London Eye
Lights along the River
We made it all the way down to Westminster and took some beautiful pictures of Big Ben.
Then we went back after a long day and got some rest.
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