Well today started off with a horrible start. I woke up and got ready, went to look for my camera and realized that I LOST my camera. I told myself to calm down and make sure to check downstairs before I completely freak out; however, those who know me know that I don't often lose things and when I do I can usually tell you where it is or where to find it. I looked and I couldn't find it so of course tears came. I was freaking out, I had so many great pictures on the camera that I had wrote about. I hadn't uploaded any of the pictures to my camera yet because I planned on doing it this weekend. Dumb on my part clearly! Well I talked to several classmates and they agreed to send me their pictures and use them.
Once we got to Parliament, we were early so I talked to my professor and asked if he had the number to the coach tour place that took us to Cambridge the day before. Phil is a very organized guy and has to be responsible for 21 students so of course he had the number. He is such a nice guy that he let me use his personal phone to call the coach company and ask if they had found it. After thinking to myself I knew that this was the only possible option of finding my camera, if it wasn't left on the bus someone had stole it. I talked to someone at the coach company and luckily they had found a camera that matches my camera. I won't know until Thursday if it truly is my camera, but I am holding out hope! I definitely said a prayer for it at the church we went to! Anyways, if I don't get it back I know my fellow classmates have amazing pictures that I will share with everyone and I will go buy a new camera for the rest of my trip. Sorry G-baby I really liked that camera! I do have my old camera with on the trip so today and tomorrow I will be using it to take pictures of the sights I see. I do not have the computer hook-up to upload on that camera so I won't be able to put the pictures on until after my vacation is over.
As the saying goes, the day MUST go on; so the tour of Parliament was next on the list of tours! What can I say about Parliament?! Breathtaking sounds good! Parliament is made up of the House of Commons, their chambers, the House of Lords and their chamber, the voting of laws for each side, Westminster Hall, St. Stephens Hall, and the Central Lobby. There are a lot of other rooms that are not open to the public so I cannot talk about those. We were not allowed to take any pictures besides in Westminster Hall, so I do have those to eventually share with everyone!
Walking into Parliament was an experience alone. I have never been to Washington D.C. so I never really thought about what I should expect. Those of you who have been to DC probably have to do the same things that we did, I'm not sure but I'd be interested in finding out! We had to have a private booked tour ahead of time and we went in as a group. We could only enter in groups of about 10 for the security entrance. Here is where we got a picture taken and had to wear around our necks the whole time we were inside Westminster. After receiving that we had to go through security where they used the x-ray scans on our bags (like in an airport) and pass through a metal detector machine. It was very intimidating with about 40 armed officers manning the small room we were in. After that we started our tour.
We got some facts about Westminster Hall and then headed to the main parts of Parliament. We stopped on the steps where I ended up standing in the exact spot where President Obama had given his speech 2 weeks before. That was pretty cool! Parliament is made up of 4 1/2 miles of corridors, 10,000 employees, and a ton of other things like rooms and clocks! We weren’t able to write facts down so I can’t remember the minor details. Parliament has three elements: House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Crown. The crown that the Queen wears whenever she opens a session is 21 pounds! She has to wear this crown for almost three hours, I don’t know about you guys but I’d have one raging headache after that!!! The House of Commons is made up of 600 members that are elected by the people. We learned that the actual chambers where the members debate only fits around 467. That doesn’t make sense since there are 600 members, but when it burnt down back in the 1800’s, Winston Churchill wanted it to be modeled after the original so they only did the 467 capacity. They told us that usually it doesn’t matter because not all of the members are there at one time. Also the general public can go and watch a session in progress. Before leaving for this trip we watched a session of the House of Commons and it was quite hilarious and chaotic. They just stand up and can talk/debate with each other. They give each side grief and it is very normal.
The House of Lords is another section of Parliament. This is a place where members are life peers, they are going to be there because the Queen, or King, places them there and they advice the Prime Minister. The House of Lords is in charge of detailing the laws that come from the House of Commons and making sure everything is in check and balance.
We learned that each of the House of Lords and the House of Commons go into certain chambers where they will vote yes or no. It is just a crazy seeing how everything works here. We could have gone and watched the House of Lords debate today however I did not want to be squeezed into the small viewing chambers for the public.
The Westminster Hall was completed in 1099. It is the largest surviving single span mediaeval timber roof in Northern Europe. I could really tell it was old! The Great fire destroyed a lot of the buildings in this area; however, Westminster Hall and the Jewel tower were the only ones that survived. The hall has been used for coronation banquets and famous trials; it has been bombed and caught fire and yet is still here! I feel honored to have set foot in this building! There are many people who have their memorials here in Westminster Hall!
After Parliament we were able to do whatever we wanted. I went to a noodle place with 6 of my classmates where I enjoyed some Thai noodles. I just tried something random and it was very good! Then I went to Westminster Abbey with Emily, Jay and Mike!
Westminster Abbey is the most gorgeous place I have ever been in respect to a historical figure. It was built in 960 and there was so much history. We were not suppose to take pictures, however I was sneaky and took a few…hehehe!!! For those of you that are wondering….Westminster Abbey IS where Prince William and Kate were married! They had their wedding in photos for viewing in one of the rooms here. It was just amazing. I cannot wait to take my mother here. There are so many people buried here. I believe that I heard a tour guide say that there are over 3,000 royals and important people buried here! I felt weird stepping on dead people but everyone was doing it so I just kept on trucking along. The stain glass windows, the carvings, the smell, EVERYTHING was immaculate! There was a door there that was so old it stunk! Haha We went around the whole place and we ended the tour at the goodbye. This is where I lit a candle and wrote a prayer to be said later that day in the Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor.
After Westminster Abbey we made our way over to Camden town. WOW. What a difference in scenery. I don’t think things could have been any different. Camden town is the alternative counter culture of London. It was a lot of Rock and Roll/punk people who were VERY different looking. I mean Mohawks, leather, tattoos, piercings, and smoking. I did not enjoy this area but I knew I needed to experience it so I went around on my own to get it done fast and efficient. There were several places in the stretch of mayhem of people where I actually was a bit scared! However I clearly made it out alive! J I also ended up finding a very cute purse so I am glad that I went!!!
Tonight will be me working on a group project with the 4 other people in my group. Then I am calling it an early night as tomorrow is going to be lecture, class and Jersey Boys! I hope everyone back home is surviving the heat. I’d have to say it is around 60 degrees today. Warm enough for short sleeves yet cool enough for jeans! Perfect weather for sightseeing!
