If you like history and government you’ll want to tour Parliament. Maybe I just timed it perfectly, but it was less than five minutes for us from street to sitting in the gallery for the House of Lords. There it was, 100 feet away, the Throne of the Queen of England. The clerk of the House of Lords even still wears the white wig. Everyone else was dressed in street clothes and it seemed like any other legislative body you’ve watched in action. Stuffy people. Big speeches. Really boring work.

The Parliament Castle is enormous, yet we navigated it very quickly. It didn’t seem  enormous…..Washington D.C. like at all.

Warning: nobody in England can explain  their political structure to you. I asked several people. They all start in---particularly explaining knights, peerage, and the House of Lords---and shortly thereafter they throw up their hands and say “Its really complicated.”

Had a fun conversation with a constable outside the doors of the Lord’s Chamber. She pointed out Hutch of Starsky and Hutch as he walked by. Apparently he was visiting an MP that day. Kind of funny when someone who escorts the Queen of England is excited to see Hutch! He look like any other washed up actor. Just a guy. Don’t even know his name.

The constable did tell us that Camilla was a very down to earth lady, and I commented that she was overshadowed by Diana. But she then pointed out that Fergie was doing a good job of making Camilla look downright royale. Touché!

I kind of collect state capitals, and have enjoyed my trips to our capital in D.C., so seeing the Parliament and the House of Lords in action was kind of neat for me. As a little boy cipherin’ at the Abesville Elementary School (where my first day of class in 1968 was in a two-room schoolhouse) I’d never have imagined I’d be sitting in the House of Lords under Big Ben, staring at the throne of the Queen. Kinda cool!