old bailey tour

today we took a tour of old bailey. this is a huge criminal court here in london. the building is beautiful and had a great hall in it with really high ceilings and frescos. the walls were lined with marble and there were several statutes surrounding the center of the hall.

we also got to see a court room. there were some noticeable differences between that room and the ones back home. first, they arent allowed to modernize the place too much because they have to keep it looking like it did hundreds of years ago. so my first impression of the court room was "wow, this is quaint."

i was able to sit in one of the judge's chairs and it offered quite a grand looky look of the room. here are the difference: 1) the prosecution and defense sit on the same side as each other - the prosecution sits in the first row (too the left of the judge's bench when looking out into the gallery) and the defense sits in the row behind; 2) the defendant sits in a large box/circle thing in the middle of the courtroom (not next to his/her attorney like in the us); 3) the witness stand has a cover over it (like a roof) because in the olden days, the trial used to take place outside and they didnt want the person presenting the evidence to get wet (you would think the roof would go once they moved the process inside, but again, they dont like change); and 4) the public gallery is upstairs and sort of hangs over the room.

old bailey sees mostly homicides and terrorist trials. there was a terrorist trial going on when we were there and originally we were able to go in and see part of the trial but at the last minute they said we couldnt because too many family members were in the room watching.

right now i am at school waiting for 5:20 to come so that i can have my 6th interview...almost done!

oh...and tomorrow we leave for norway. i cant wait! look for more posts next week.