Lords and Commons

Another amazing day planned by Matt and Kelly began with a delicious gourmet brunch prepared by Matt of scrambled egg with smoked salmon on a bagel.  Absolutely devine and just the right start to another busy day.  We headed off to the Houses of Parliament on a tour.  This was another thing that even Matt and Kelly hadn’t done since they were at school so interesting for us all. As you are all probably aware, and as the song tells us, this is the building that includes Big Ben which is in fact Elizabeth Tower.  The oldest part of the structure is Westminster Hall built in 1037, can you believe how old that is.  The rest of the building has been added over the centuries, burnt down and rebuilt again.  The House of Lords is elaborately decorated with extraordinary detail and is just beautiful.  Very interesting to hear of all the pomp and ceremony involved and about all the works of art including magnificent murals, oil paintings, sculptures and particularly amazing stained glass windows and the architecture and its designers.  In contrast the House of Commons is quite simple and plane and functional.  A really well worth doing tour that we all enjoyed.  Having made our way home we were treated to our usual magnificent view of London from the flat.  Another amazing day comes to an end.