Houses of Parliament

I was able to access Parliament during a Monday night session as part of a "London Walks" tour of the surrounding area. Our small group sat in on a session of the House of Lords while they debated an obscure welfare bill. (Everyone fell asleep just like in American politics;) We were allowed to stay as long as we wanted and politely ushered in and out at our request.

I would strongly suggest access via this evening tour for anyone interested in politics or world events. We were also given an explanation of the buliding of the Houses of Parliament in full view from across the river; an iconic London sight if there ever was one.

I didn't plan on taking a tour of the Houses of Parliament, and it was a sort of spur-of-the-moment decision that I made upon actually seeing the beautiful facade of the building, and I am extremely glad that I took the tour! I can't say my tour guide was very informative - I managed to pick up a few scrambled facts about the building and the parliament - but I might chalk that up to the fact that it was a large tour and it was hard to hear with a few screaming toddlers in our herd. It might also have been the whole British accent thing. It was still very cool to be able to an important governmental building and be able to sit in the same chairs that representatives sit in, etc. The building itself is absolutely grand. I honestly thought it was much older than 19th century, perhaps medieval, but that just shows what I know about London history I guess! :)

I grew up in St. Petersburg, which has a lot of impressive palaces with gilded walls and tons of sparkliness, but I honestly loved the Parliament house more. It has a very refined interior - Victoria's husband sure did know how to decorate.

The food in their cafeteria isn't half bad either!

The guides are enthusiastic and interesting. There are a lot of tours all going at the same time however this was not a issue. Be prepared to be on your feet for 2 to 3 hours to take in the interesting history these awesome buildings hold. Security is high,however this is only to be expected. You will take a journey through the history of monarchs and politicians, the tour at times is extremely amusing of stories of pomp and ceremony of centuries past!!! I could not help but touch the stone walls as you can feel the history within them.

The gift shop at the end of the tour (the English do this so well!!!!!) has some interesting items to purchase , well worth a nose around.

I would not recommend this attraction for children under the age of 12. They would just not get the history.