Picture Imperfect

Most of the really amazing historical places in London don't let you take pictures inside.  Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, all the palaces, Shakespeare's birthplace, and countless others have a very strict no picture policy.  This greatly distressed me at first.  I found myself taking as many pictures as possible of the exterior to try and make up for it, taking final snapshots through the doorway until the guards start giving me dirty looks.

But today my class went on a tour of Parliament.  We met underneath Big Ben (which is actually the name of the bell inside the tower, not the clock or the tower itself, which is actually called The London Tower) and had to go through security checks more severe than those at an airport.  They lead you into Westminster Hall, which is the oldest part of the building dating all the way back to the early 1300's, and this is the last place they allow you to take pictures.  Once again I begrudgingly put away my little camera, I didn't even bring my nice one because I know the rules by now, and followed the tour guide out of the hall.  

The next room quite literally took my breath away.  It was the House of Lords, and was gilded from top to bottom.  At one end was an elaborately carved alcove for the even more elaborate throne where the queen gives her yearly address.  The carving on the walls was equally ornate, and painted either bright, royal red, or covered in glittering gold leaf.  This outstanding room was followed by another, then another, then another.  We walked through hall after hall of gorgeous statues, and uber bright paintings, while hearing our tour guide tell us all about the histories of the room and what they are used for.  

As we progressed deeper and deeper into England's Capitol, I thought about the camera in my bag, and did not have the slightest desire to try and take a picture.  There is just no way that the lens of that machine could reproduce the effect of those rooms.  They couldn't catch the shimmer of the gold leaf, or the way the light comes through the stained glass.  The intensity of the faces in the paintings and on the statues would just looked washed out in most photos and there would be absolutely no point in trying to describe the feeling of knowing that you are surrounded by a building that has seen so much history that it is hard to even imagine.  

Though I love to take pictures, sometimes they just can't even begin to do justice to the real thing.  Sometimes, there is just no substitute for a memory, for the experience that simply couldn't be translated to film.