As a Program Consultant with Explorica, an educational travel company that helps teachers plan student tours, I get to go on one trip per year. This year I was lucky enough to go on our Central European Cities tour. Although there were many spectacular things to see and do, the Hungarian Parliament building surprisingly stood out as one of my favorite visits.

At the turn of the century there was a contest amongst architects to design the perfect Parliament building. The one we see now is the winner, obviously, and it is built in a deeply intricate neo-gothic style.

The interior looks like it sprung from the pages of a William Morris design guide. It's done up completely in rusts, navys and deep greens accented with gold and the incredible height of the ceilings definitely oozes the "sublime" feeling.

I particularly liked seeing where the House meets and seeing how they vote on their little fold-out tables and seeing the brass cigar holders lining the windowsills. Each cigar holder has a number so that each member could remember where he laid his/her particular cigar. The Elks Club should get on this.

Make sure you hang about the Holy Crown of Hungary salute. 3 men with swords descend upon it once per hour, salute/menacingly point their swords at it, and then hang about in the room for about 10 minutes. This Crown is super special because it's been worn by every single Hungarian King since the 12th century. During WWII the crown was sent to Fort Knox to be protected and it was finally returned in the 70s.

Take as many pics as you like to capture the building's beauty but, please, no flash in the Crown room. You'll get a very disapproving and disappointed look from the guards and, as we all know from childhood, letting someone down is worse than any kind of spanking. Shame on you, flashers!