Palace of Westminster...aka Parliament

If you say "bless you" to someone who sneezes on the tube, you will be looked at like you have 5 heads, just so you are aware.

After my first class (my film class, in which we watched Hitchcock's Shadow of A Doubt) we were told to meet at Big Ben at 3:30pm. Ryan, Erika and I navigated the tube system and found our group just as they were handing out tickets and admitting people into Parliament.

(The statue is of Oliver Cromwell, who got rid of the monarchy, called England a Republic, and people were so pissed off about it that after he died they dug up his body, cut off his head, and stuck his head on a pike outside of Westminster for a few years...some of the British people today who mention him, still seem angry at him, it is fascinating).

While in line, I played this "pickpocket" game that Matt started. He basically tries to unzip our bags without us noticing, but he usually ends up saying "pickpocket!" so we catch him. The first time I played, I found Cadbury chocolate of which Erika and I each had a piece (though he noticed this attempt). I then tried again, when he wasn't paying attention, to grab a pack of cards he had in his backpack. The line started moving and we were ushered into a security building with metal detectors.

We were given our own visitor badges.

Erika and I made it outside and waited for the boys. We couldn't figure out why they were taking so long to get through security. When they finally appeared, Ryan told me that because I had unzipped Matt's backpack, his pack of cards fell out and security had a minor freak out about it. Oops.

Once inside, we were told that past this building we could no longer take pictures.

The tour lasted over an hour, we walked the path the Queen takes when she makes her way through the palace to give the Queen's speech. The House of Lords was gorgeous, very richly decorated, complete with a massive throne for Her Majesty. Across the way was the House of Commons, which was like a Protestant church compared to the Lord's Catholic church-it was very plain.

We got more insight into the history of the palace, how it transformed from an actual lived in, royal palace, to the House of Parliament it is today (though it is still considered a Royal Palace, despite the fact that the Queen and her family no longer reside there).

After the tour we wandered back and forth over the Westminster bridge (which is probably the second most famous bridge in London...visually at least). The bridge reminds me of movies like Bridget Jones (where she walks back and forth over it throughout the film) and 28 Days Later (were Cillian Murphey stumbles over it during his tour of deserted London). It allows for some great pictures, but you have to fight your way through the tourists and the street magicians.

I am not quite sure what happened in this pic, but I will fully blame Matt for ruining it in terms of the lack of 4 smiling faces.

We then took some pictures by the river Thames (sitting up there freaked us out, but I enjoyed the butterflies I got when I would peer over the edge).

Stonehenge is next!