After alighting (as they say here) from the London Eye, I headed across Westminster Bridge to the Parliament building. One of the most famous features of the building is its clock tower, known as Big Ben. As I wandered around the outside of the building, I noticed that people seemed to be entering one of the gates. Normal people, I mean, not politicians. So I joined the line -- er, queue -- and went inside. Security is pretty tight. I got patted down twice, and I couldn't take anything into the viewing gallery of the House of Commons.
The House of Commons is the elected half of parliament. The part of the building accessible to the public is full of murals and statues of people who I assume are famous British statesmen. To enter the viewing gallery, I had to fill out a short form telling them who I was and where I lived. The House of Commons was pretty ceremonious: all of the staff were wearing tuxedos, and some guy down in the room itself appeared to have a powered wig (or a rather odd hairstyle). Some people (the politicians, I assume) read the results of the vote, then handed it to the woman who appeared to be in charge somehow. She read the results again.
After all the voting, there was debate on an education amendment regarding selection criteria for schools and whether schools themselves should apply those criteria or whether a more impartial body should take charge. Really, it was much like the debates I've seen on C-SPAN in the US Congress. It was pretty polite, too. The whole experience wasn't really that interesting, but I did enjoy getting a glimpse of the halls of power in the UK.
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