Henry the VIII and Sons of Guns

The Houses of Parliament were absolutely gorgeous. Every room was very detailed, from the floor tiles up the walls and to the ceiling. Our tour guide was so precious. She even made the history sections very interesting. For example, to remember King Henry VIII's wives, they teach the children the saying: "Divorced, deceased, died, divorced, deceased, survived." I thought this was very clever. Another interesting fact wast he origin of the phrase "son of a gun." The only privacy on ships had been behind the guns. So, when the women gave birth, they called the child "son of a gun" because they never knew who the father was. Also, many people often comment that the men in the House of Lords appear to be sleeping. This is not true. There are speakers built into the seats so they tend to slouch down and close their eyes to listen more carefully to the speaker. It was quite stranger to see the speakers in the benches, the microphones hanging down from the ceiling, and the flat screen TVs on the walls in such an elegantly decorated room. It showed a true mix of old and new, which seems to be what London is all about.
Erica Dawson



Pictured: The group at Westiminster Hall, built 1397-1399. http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Westminster_Hall.html