Westminster Palace, Gaby's and 'Phantom in the Opera'

Wet Saturday...

November Rain... that would be last Saturday's theme song... Despite the frog-favoured weather, my friends and I had a great time treading the Royal Route.

Having met by Boadicea's Chariot, we walked past Portcullis Building housing The MPs' offices, continued along Whitehall with its famous landmarks, then did a quick photo-shoot with the  Horse Guards

 and a caught a quick glimpse inside the Great Methodists Hall:

 followed by a walk along Westminster Abbey and Parliament Square enroute to Westminster Palace. There, after being subjected to a detailed search on entering,  we hurriedly explored The Houses of Parliament with a local guide. As told by the guide, I only took pictures at The Great Hall, the oldest part of the Houses. 
This painting faces the staircase from the Great Hall to the next part of the building and I didn't manage to find out anything about it.

Facing the entrance is a huge stained glass window. A matching one will be installed above the entrance. It is a present for the The Queen from the MPs, if I remember it right.
It wouldn't be a problem to look around for much longer. Normally, I can easily interpret simultaneously, but it was a challenge to hear and follow Derek,  our Blue Badge Guide, as we were constantly chased by the next group whose steps along with the guide's voice made it hardly possible to hear him; not to mention to interpret for my guests.However, we were truly glad we went there.
Additional pleasure was to have proper scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam at the Houses of Parliament cafeteria!

Despite the rain, we marched ourselves further on, looking at more landmarks and taking more less then high quality pictures, as some of us were seeing them for the first time on their maybe 'once in a lifetime' visit to London! Not surprising... There are so many places to see!

The rain wouldn't give in, kept tormenting us. One of the two umbrellas, taken to scare off the rain, gave in very soon. Mine was barely enough for me with my 'omnipresent' small backpack.

We kept going, saw a lot, but finally took the tube from Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square where we had the most satisfactory and affordable meal at the reputable 'Gaby's', who's been serving customers, including famous ones, since the 1960s! I'm grateful to my friend who'd shown me this brilliant spot!

You can buy sculptures like these: