We arrived in London early in the morning, rested a little bit in the afternoon, and headed to the Big Ben in the evening. We took a couple of pictures of the Big Ben and Westminister Abbey, and walked across the street to the Parliament Buildings. There were police guarding the entrance, and the posted sign says: With Pass Only. We not only did not have pass, but had a carry-on luggage with wheels. Just when we were about to leave, a young police woman approached us and asked if we were interested in going inside the Parliament to have a look. She said that the House of Lords was in session and we could watch and listen quietly. Overjoyed, we took the temporary pass she gave us, proceeded through more police to the reception area. We were photographed and given a visitor's pass. It had our photo, but not our name, for we were not asked to show any ID. We went through the metal detectors, and strode deeper into the big hallway lined with drawings and statues of great statesmen. Upstairs, we came to where the House of Lords were in session. There was another police officer who asked us to leave our luggage and bags inside a small room. Then we were free to go forward and sit in the visitors' section overlooking the chamber. One man in wigs was in charge, and others in ties were debating, and broadcast live on the big TV screens, just like what we sometimes saw on the TV.

We were deeply impressed, not actually by the debate or the buildings, but by the manner the officers of law receive ordinary people. On the one hand, there is law and order. On the other, there is openness and trust. What a great country and great people!

All pictures posted here were taken by us. Those from Google, brochure, and the web were duly noted. Most of my posted photos are still missing captions because I do not have time for them yet.

• Day 2 (6-17-2009): Arriving in London, visited Big Ben and Parliament Buildings
• Day 3 (6-18-2009): city sightseeing, Windsor Castle, & Cruise on the River Thames
• Day 4 (6-19-2009): Taking coach to cross the English Channel, then to Amsterdam
• Day 5 (6-20-2009): sightseeing in Amsterdam, and canals cruising
• Day 6 (6-21-2009): Cruise on the Rhine, and a stop at Rothenburg
• Day 7 (6-22-2009): Passing Austria from Munich, then a stop at Cortina
• Day 8 (6-23-2009): Visiting Venetian glassblowers, then Tuscan (Venice-Florence area), and a Gondola boat-ride
• Day 9 (6-24-2009): Visiting Florence and Pisa the leaning tower
• Day 10 (6-25-2009): entering Switzerland and visited Lugano
• Day 11 (6-26-2009): a Swiss town Lucerne and a cruise on Lake Lucerne；group picture before heading for Paris
• Day 12 (6-27-2009): Visiting Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Palace of Versailles.

Note: Day 1 was flying from PDX (Portland, Oregon) to JFK (Kennedy Airport in New York), then to LHR (London), while Day 13 was flying home from Paris.

Royal Courts of Justice Below from Wikipedia: The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is the building in London which houses the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. Courts within the building are usually open to the public.

diagram of Parliament Square

To take a virual tour of the Houses of Parliament, click to the official site:
www.parliament.uk

Westminster Abbey

(Below from Wikipedia)
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to popularly and informally as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English, later British and later still (and currently) monarchs of the Commonwealth Realms. It briefly held the status of a cathedral from 1546–1556, and is a Royal Peculiar.

Parliament Square

(Below from Wikipedia)
Parliament Square is a square outside the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in London. It features a large open green area in the middle, with a group of trees to its west.

Other buildings looking upon the square include Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret's, Westminster, the Middlesex Guildhall (to become the seat of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom), 100 Parliament Street serving HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs, and Portcullis House (and so Westminster tube station).
Roads coming off the square are St. Margaret Street (becoming Abingdon Street and then Millbank), Broad Sanctuary (becoming Victoria Street), Great George Street (which becomes Birdcage Walk), Parliament Street (becoming Whitehall), and Bridge Street (becoming Westminster Bridge).
Statues in and around the square are mostly of well-known statesmen, and include ones of Winston Churchill (on the North-Eastern edge of the green and turned East, overlooking Parliament), Abraham Lincoln (in front of Middlesex Guildhall), Robert Peel (South-Western edge of the green), Lord Palmerston (North-Western edge of the green), Jan Christian Smuts (Northern edge of the green), Derby, Disraeli and George Canning. On 29 August 2007, a nine-foot high bronze statue of Nelson Mandela was erected in the square, Westminster City Council having objected to its erection in Trafalgar Square, due to space considerations. It was unveiled by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in the presence of Wendy Woods, the widow of Donald Woods, the late anti-apartheid campaigner, and the British actor, director and long-time friend of Woods, Lord Attenborough.

Updated November 18, 2015
网页更新 2015-11-18