Yesterday, we enjoyed one of London's great annual pleasures: Open House weekend, in which many buildings normally not open to the public let folks in to ooh and aah -- or at least enjoy and appreciate good architecture.

We visited Australia House, the Australian High Commission (i.e., embassy) off Aldwych and the Strand in the West End. It has a magnificent interior built with different types of Australian marble and wood. The Exhibition Hall was used in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," where it played the role of Gringott's Bank (remember the goblin bankers?).

We finished our visit at a cafe set up for the occasion that offered Australian treats -- ANZAC biscuits (cookies), made from a World War I recipe intended to keep them fresh for the long voyage from Australia to the front -- there are no eggs in the recipe for this oatmeal cookie -- Lemantine cake, a wonderful coconut and chocolate confection -- and cheese-flavored Twisties, Australia's answer to the Cheez-Doole (But better. They have a little spice and are crunchier).

We exited Australia House and went to Bush House, the complex of buildings where the BBC World Service is based. It was built by American Irving T. Bush in the 1920s as a trade center, but economic conditions put an end to that plan. The BBC moved in in 1940. Bush House takes up most of the area between Aldwych -- an old Saxon name, by the way -- and the Strand.

The place is a maze.

We finished the day by visiting Banqueting House in Whitehall, where Charles I literally lost his head during the British Civil War, and at Westminster Palace's Westminster Hall, the grand medieval hall where William "Braveheart" Wallace was tried and condemned to death, and Winston Churchiill and kings and queens have lain in state. Parliament sits close by.