Back In Budapest - A Day At The Parliament

I've been wanting to do a tour of the Parliament for the past few years but I've never been able to get in as the line had always been too long. This time, I actually made a reservation so that we didn't even have to wait, we just got our tickets and strolled on in.

This is the largest legislative building in Europe.A replica of the Parliament building.

There are a lot of stained glass windows in the Parliament that have been there since the late 1800s. During the war, they removed all the stained glass windows and stored them in the basement so the ones that are up are all original.

This chandeleir has something like 1,000 lights in it or something like that. It wasn't that bright but you could see all these little lights all over.

A Hungarian military guard who is guarding the crown jewels.

The crown jewels.

There were these carvings in one of the "sitting" rooms. They were made of wood and represented different "jobs" that people did from various points in the history of Hungary.

This window is right outside the actual Parliament conference assembly area. There are these metal grooves on the ledge that are meants to hold cigars. All the politicians would go in and meet and then come out for a cigar break but would smoke a little and then go back in so, between smoke and legislation, they would put their cigars in the holders on the ledge.

The conference assemble room.