Above: The French parliament is housed in two separate buildings in Paris.
The lower house is the National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale), which
has 577 members.

Below: Despite having a letter of support from the French Embassy
in New Zealand, I was unable to get into the French parliament in
2007. Five years later, however, I was finally able to gain admission
to Question Time in the French National Assembly.

The 348-member French Senate is housed in the Palais du Luxem-
bourg (which is on the northern edge of the Luxembourg Gardens,
roughly two kilometres south-east of the National Assembly). French
Senators represent the country's administrative départements and
are chosen by electoral colleges consisting principally of town and
city councillors. Seen above is the main entrance. Seen below is a
view of the rear of the building while it was being used as the
backdrop for a performance of Rossini's The Barber of Seville.