The Parliament, Again

Two of us, Lynn and I, took a taxi from the school to The Parliament Building for another visit. Another Fulbrighter had met several staffers at a restaurant and they had offered us a tour and a chance to see the question session that afternoon. When we first got to the building, we were picked-up by Tanya Morgan, the chief-of-staff for Ross Vasta MP and taken back to the cafe that is only for staffers and members of Parliament. We had lunch there and then we had a short tour of the areas that are normally off limits to tourists. Then, we went to the question session. If you have watched the British Parliament do this, then you know what it is like. The Prime Minister and his other Ministers field questions from other representatives about current issues. It can get quite rowdy, which makes it a lot of fun to watch. After the session, Lynn and I left the room and to our surprise, saw John Howard, the Prime Minister come out just in front of us and walk in front of us. It was pretty cool to see someone that important just 15 feet away! Then, we had a tour of all the areas that are totally off limits without connections, which we had! We got to see almost everything in the building and we spent about 15 minutes talking with Ross Vasta, a Representative in the Parliament. We finished off the day with a quick snack in another exclusive café and then Lynn and I went about trying to catch a taxi back to our hotel. However, you can’t really get a taxi from there at that time of day, so the security guard offered to drive us home! So, we stayed around an extra 25 minutes and then Ian, our savior, drove us to our hotel. The picture I have below is of Lynn and me with Ian.