Gothic adventure

Today was the last day of the summer opening of the Houses of Parliament, and of course the tourist me went along for a tour. I've popped in and out of Parliament (that gorgeous, high Victorian gothic work of art by Pugin - gaudy, ostentatious and full of gold leaf, marble and solid oak) for work a good many times over the years, but have not taken a proper guided tour since I was a child with my politics-loving father. Enid, our tour guide, taught me a few things I didn't know before:

• In the UK there are 664 MPs for a population of 60 million, compared to just 435 House of Representatives in the US for a population of 300 million.
  
  
• Parliament houses 8 bars, none of which are open to the public and none of which are subject to UK licensing laws.
  
  
• Parliament is also called the Palace of Westminster because it was the principal residence of the monarchs of England from the 1100s until the mid-1500s. Henry VIII was the last king to reside there.
  
  
• The oldest part of the Palace of Westminster still standing is Westminster Hall which dates back to the 1100s, although Parliament's history there dates back to the late 1090s. The remaining Palace was burned down in 1834 and rebuilt in the high gothic style in the 1840s.
  
  
• Those MPs, Ladies and Lords may not be falling asleep on the job after all. Each leather bench has 4 or 5 amplified speakers embedded in its back. Some lean back into their seat to catch what everyone is saying. I prefer to believe most are catching 40 winks, though.

View photographs.