I have been to ... the Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Despite the rain, Sue and I went up to Westminster this morning to pay a visit to the Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Both were open to the public as part of Open House London, an annual event when places that the public cannot normally visit open their doors to visitors.

We drove to North Greenwich Underground Station and took the Jubilee Line to Westminster. Although it was around 10.00am, the train was quite full for most of the journey, which took about fifteen minutes. By 10.30am we had walked the short distance from Westminster Tube Station to the main entrance to the Treasury Building, and we were both surprised to find that there was no queue of people waiting to go in.

The Treasury Building.

This is the first time that we have been able to visit the Treasury (they were supposed to be involved last year but were unable to open 'due to unforeseen circumstances') and we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. There was an extensive collection of photographs on display that illustrated the history of the Treasury, and in particular the construction of its current building. We were able to visit the Treasury garden, where we had hoped to see Gladstone, the Treasury's cat, as well as the central circular courtyard.

Gladstone, the Treasury's cat.

On leaving the building we found ourselves opposite the entrance to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and seeing that there was no queue to go in there, we passed through the security checks and into the main courtyard.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Building.

From there we turned left and walked up the stairs past the famous Gurkha statue. Our route took us past the in-house coffee shop and eventually into the wonderful Durbar Court. This was built when that part of the building formed part of the India Office, and was designed so that the Indian Princes and rulers could come to pledge allegiance the the King-Emperor. It has a wonderful paved floor, and the walls around it are decorated with friezes that are redolent of India as well as the bust of famous men who were involved in the ruling of British India.

Our route then went up to the next floor and around the corridor overlooking the Durbar Court. We eventually ended up by the bottom of the stairs that led up to one of the cupolas. The ceiling dome was decorated with supports depicting the Muses, and two portraits (one of Queen Victoria and the other of Emperor Napoleon III) dominated the wall above the stairs. From there we went to the Grand Staircase via the Locarno Suite, which we descended after looking into the Ambassador's Waiting Room. In pride of place at the bottom of the stairs (and occupying an antique chair) was the FCO's cat, Palmerston. He is famous, has his own Twitter accounts (@DiploMog and @PalmerstonFOCat), and unlike everywhere else in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he had two 'minders' and a security guard to protect him!

Palmerston, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's cat.

Upon leaving the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, we discovered that it was raining rather heavily. Sue and I therefore made out way back to Westminster Tube Station, where we took a Jubilee Line train back to North Greenwich. Luckily our car was parked close to the station entrance, and despite the heavy traffic, we were home by not long after midday.