Our First Tour of Parliament Today

Lulu and I toured the Parliament. As we were leaving the building - big Ben struck 3.

You can see Big Ben and Oliver Cromwell in the background.

Buried in Parliament are King George the 6th - the stuttering king from the movie. You may recall that Jack Robinson met him during the 1948 London Olympics. He was married to Queen Elizabeth's mother - also shown here.

This afternoon Lulu and I toured Parliament - the capitol building of England. For hundreds of years it was the royal palace - but now their government works there.

There are about 600 Members of Parliament in the House of Lords - and a little less in the House of Commons. The United Kingdom is not as Democratic as you might expect. Many people in the House of Lords are born into the position. The MPs of the House of Commons are elected.

Also - they do not have regular elections like we do in America. The majority party decides when there will be an election and they must have one every 5 years. So if things are going good for your party - you call an election. It does not drag on forever - like America - but lasts maybe a month.

To compare to America - right after Obama killed Bin Laden he would call an election. Oh yeah - he did that.

The building had heavy damage during World War II. The first portion of the build was used in the 1000's. 

The inside of the building was much prettier than I expected but protocol is way over the top.