Have you ever tried watching anything important from the Gallery? It's theoretically possible but odds are seriously against you getting in...there'll be dozens of reporters who will be fighting for those seats. You'll have just as good view on C-SPAN anyway. Save the Gallery watching for unimportant junk when the galleries are borderline empty.
Isn't it amazing how small the House Chamber is? I've never been on the floor, but even from the Gallery it feels slightly claustrophobic down there. The State of the Union must be more packed than the Tokyo Subway.
Have you ever watched PM question time? The House of Commons is really tiny, and well, there are more members of Parliament than in the US House.
I have, and it's striking there, as well. Both buildings can't really be expanded, of course. While at the Capitol, if you look at Statuary Hall, you can reflect that they used to have to force the entire House into that even more tiny room. At least it had great acoustics. (John Quincy Adams' desk position was able to hear things spoken on the other side of the room, allowing him to listen in on the other party's deliberations)
