For example…

Thomas More was the main character in “The Man for All Seasons” 

William Wallace of Braveheart fame was also convicted in this hall.

The beginnings of British government happened here.  Many early kings were crowned here and ruled here. 

This room was the first place parliament ever met.

I didn’t take these, but here is what the modern day parliament rooms look like.

The Court of Lords

The Queen always comes in and sits in that gold throne to give a fancy speech at the start of a new session of parliament.

House of Commons

The English have some pretty fun traditions that they still follow.  When a long ago king tried to arrest some members of parliament, they slammed the door in his face.  So now they go through the same motions of that event.  An envoy from the king walks down the halls and up to the doors of parliament and they slam the door in his face!  He has to use a fancy stick to knock on the door before they will let him in.  We found out that they are just about to vote on whether to leave the EU in a few weeks.  Big stuff happening in England!

After our Parliament tour we went over to Buckingham Place to watch the changing of the guard. 

Buckingham Palace when it’s not crowded with tons of people.

Buckingham Palace is the official home of Queen Elizabeth of England, though she only lives there part of the year.  A Queen and her palace need guards and so every day at 11:30 the old guard switches over to the new guard.  It’s all very official and steeped in tradition.  The guards wear big fluffy black hats and bright red coats and march in time to music. Here is a video of the new guard marching into the gates.  There were too many people for us to get close, but this is pretty fun to watch.

Here are some other pictures of the grounds around the Palace.

On our way out of London we stopped by Baker St. 221B to see where Sherlock Holmes “lived”.

Tiles on the wall of the subway under Baker Street.

We left London the way every good Hogwarts student does; at Kings Cross Station on Platform 9 3/4.

I so wanted to pose for a picture at this spot so bad.  But, the line was too long and we would have missed our real train if I had.  

And thus we bid England farewell.  Now that I have France to compare it too, I can see now that the two are very different.  The English are more reserved, more proper.  Things are orderly, official, traditional.  I felt very comfortable there.  Like I was visiting my cousins far away.  Everything was in English even if it was called something a little different.  “Way Out” instead of Exit or Loo instead of bathroom.  Not too different from the way we do things in America.  France, as you will soon see, is very different and quite a bit more intimidating.

Before we move on to our trip to France, though, I have to share some of the beautiful and distinctly English buildings we saw throughout London.  They range from imposing ones to quite quaint ones. I took these at random whenever I saw something that said, “English!”  

Now off to France!