The Bundestag

On Tuesday I visited the German Parliament. Obviously one can't just walk right in, so I had to apply ahead of time and provide them my name and passport information. It wasn't the most exciting place I've visited, but I took plenty of photos. We had a tour guide, but I couldn't understand much of what she said, especially when she talked about how the German government is organized. We also couldn't go very many places, but at least I got to sit inside the parliament chamber, empty at the time, and also climb to the top and get some nice photos of the Berlin landscape.

There's a chapel inside the Bundestag, which I thought was quite interesting and appropriate, given that Germany has two official state churches (Evangelical and Roman Catholic). Unfortunately, this chapel is meant to be a place of worship for any beliefs...including Islam. See the raised section in the lower part of this picture? It points to Mecca. Welcome to the land of ecumenism, even inter-religion ecumenism.

Hehe...the old Germany national anthem, which starts out, "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles." And I wonder why it's not used today.

We weren't allowed in the main area of the parliament chamber, but we got into the second level, where the public can sit. The German eagle looks less regal than the American eagle; at least ours doesn't look like it's doing a karate move.

The roof of the chamber, which is apparently an open roof, allowing stale, hot air to escape without rain getting in.

A look over the Tiergarten, with the Soviet Memorial and the Siegessäule in the distance.

 

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