Kev n Jo's Blog: Hello Again, London (Pt 2)

Five times in London and we have never visited Big Ben (or I should say, Elizabeth Tower). So we decided to play tourists this time and go and have a look. It was only a 5 minutes walk from our hotel, couldn't be easier.

Big Ben was, well, big!

Here is our obligatory photo with Big Ben, taken on the Westminster Bridge.

Beautiful courtyard near Big Ben, part of the Palace of Westminster.

Cromwell Green outside the Palace of Westminster aka The Houses of Parliament.

Oliver Cromwell seems to be much hated in Ireland as he appears to have been involved
in the ethnic cleansing of Catholics in the mid 1600's. So then why is his statue here?

The Houses of Parliament - not crowded, and not open.

The entire complex is huge, and the neo-gothic facade is stunning.
It is not the original building, though, having been rebuilt in 1840-1870.

As usual, he was clueless about his historic surroundings.

Obligatory photo outside the Palace of Westminster :)

It was just too big to capture in one shot, despite our fish-eye lens.

Another historic landmark - Westminster Abbey - just across the street.

We stumbled upon a quiet little corner to rest our legs - Jewel Tower. This is one of the few surviving parts of the original Palace of Westminster, built in 1365.

Someone preferred to stretch his legs instead.

Exploring the dry moat with daddy.

A friendly caretaker told us how to visit Westminster Abbey without having to pay the entrance fees. So we went round the back and walked past Westminster School.

View of the 11th century school.

According to Wikipedia, it is one of Britain's leading independent schools,

with the highest Oxbridge acceptance rate of any British school.

And it has produced seven Prime Ministers. Wow.

The serene corridors of Westminster Abbey.

There were all kinds of wall plates along the corridors. I am not sure why they were put up there. This one is about Francis Drake and James Cook's sea travels, and the one below, strangely, is about the discoverer of Halley's comet.

Surrounded by centuries of history and he was only interested in his raisin bread, lol.

Trying to look fashionable at the Abbey (some accessories come with strings attached).

I found this interesting excerpt from Wikipedia about Oliver Cromwell:
"Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there (in Westminster Abbey) in 1658, only to be disinterred (exhumed) in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a nearby gibbet."

So Mr. Cromwell is immortalised in a statue just across the street, and here he was hanged. Talk about a controversial figure.

Now on to more pleasant things. There was a lovely photo exhibition at the Abbey to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Here are some lovely photos of significant events in the Queen's life that took place at the Abbey:

Her father's coronation, and her wedding.

Her own coronation at 26 years old.

Princess Diana's funeral.

William and Kate's wedding.

Oh, and here is Prince Charles again with his moustache.

Some shots of the splendid Westminster Abbey:

View of Big Ben from Parliament Square.

It is a nice bit of green surrounded by the UK Supreme Court, the Treasury and Revenue offices and Portcullis House where the MPs work. It is also where most demonstrations in London are held. How convenient :)

Churchill not looking too happy at Parliament Square.

Portcullis House, named after the chained portcullis used to symbolise the Houses of Parliament on letterheads and official documents. Opened in 2001, it overran its budget by £70m, and the parliamentary report on the over-spend was never published. Costs include £32,500 a year to rent 12 decorative fig trees. No wonder tax-paying Britons are unhappy.