Wandering round Westminster

After a whirlwind tour of historical London it was time for Mum to head off back to Bristol and for me to start my tour, first however, we had the day to explore a bit more of London. The first stop was the Palaces at Westminster. We took the tube to Westminster Station and walked towards the parliament building. It took us some time to find the ticket office (which was hidden down a set of steps, behind a wall in a building across the road), and took us just as long to get through security. You had to have your photo taken and have the pass around your neck while you’re inside. The queue was long but we got through and wandered up to the gates of the Great Hall, where the tour began from. There we joined another queue and waited for our tour guide to arrive. We climbed the steps from the hall and headed inside. My first impressions of the building was that, compared to Australia’s parliament house, it certainly had more plush setting and a lot more history. We were told about the gun powder plot and how a bomb had hit the parliament during WWII. The House of Commons was directly hit and did a lot of damage. They rebuilt the parliament after the war just the same as it had been. It was interesting to note that if all members of parliament were to attend, there wouldn’t be enough seating for them all. This is because there is something like 350 seats and 450 members of parliament. It was kept this way so it would not look too empty when it was seen on television. We also walked through the House of Lords and all the way to the Queens Chambers. It was also interesting to note that the House of Commons is the one place that the Queen is not able to go. When opening parliament she gives here speech from the House of Lords with the doors open through to the House of Commons so that they are able to hear. It was good to go around the parliament and it certainly was impressive. Once the tour finished we left the parliament and wandered outside and over the Westminster Abbey, which is just across the road.

We queued once again. It cost about £18 to get into the abbey which came with an included audio tour. We wandered around with the speaker to our ear through the abbey. We queued, then entered the tombs of previous kings and queens. They have a café at the abbey. It is in the cloisters area. While this seemed a bit tacky it didn’t stop us from having a cup of hot chocolate there and a muffin. As I walked around the abbey, I kept thinking back to how I’d seen it on the television with the wedding of Charles and Diana, and more recently, Will and Kate. You could picture they walking down the isle, saw where the guests sat and when we left the abbey we did so via the western gate where all the guests, including the queen, entered on that day. It was amazing to think of the history of the place. We just don’t get that in Australia.

Mum was booked on the 5 pm bus so we headed back to Victoria Coach Station and had dinner in a nearby pub. I said goodbye to Mum and the wandered back to train station to collect my bags from the Left Luggage section. I’d planned to spend a little longer in London that night before heading back to the Bus station but an hour later I’d looked in all the shops I’d wanted to and lingered on as many benches as necessary so decided to head to the airport early. My flight was leaving ridiculously early the next day so I decided that I would just spend the night there (rather than paying for a nights accommodation and having to leave super early anyway. It was just getting dark when I arrived at Stanstead after a bus ride that seemed to take forever. With my backpack on my back and another in my hand, I entered the airport. After making three circuits of the check in area I chose the spot where I would spend the night. It was a row of benches near one of the large windows overlooking a car park. I sat down and took out my book. Five minutes later I decided that the book wasn’t exciting enough and went off to find a W H Smith store. Half and hour later I had a new book (and a multi adapter for my camera) and wandered back over to my spot. It was a long night. I slept for about two hours all up. That was pretty good considering how busy the airport was. Even at two in the morning the cleaning staff were still driving round on their little floor sweeper buggies past sleeping passengers without a second glance. I know this as I saw several of coming round and random intervals throughout the night. At around four in the morning I changed my spot, fearful that if I fell asleep again (a slim chance but a chance none the less) then I would not have my phone alarm to wake me as the battery had run out. I relocated to a dirty bit of floor near a wall plug and after plugging in my phone, lay down again. An hour and a half later and it was time to line up for my flight check in. I wasn’t the first one there, which surprised me, I did notice however a few tired faces in the crowd and recognised them from various places around the airport. They’d obviously spend the night there too.