Reichstag tour - what's the pitch?

zagmund · 09-10-2014 6:37pm #1

I'm heading to Berlin in November and have managed to book a Reichstag visit while I'm there. When I was there previously there were none available. The only problem now is that I can't see details of what's covered in the tour. Yeah, I know I booked it before knowing the details . . . but it was on my list.

If memory serves me correctly it is supposed to be a mix of history/modern architecture/current politics and that *should* be OK. I'm pretty sure that's going to be the case, but I wanted to see if anyone here had been on the tour in recent times and could confirm/deny?

If we have to spend 1h30 being told "this is the seat where the CDU member from Westfalia sits, and beside it you can see the seat where his colleague sits. Several rows up you can see where the Green member from Bremen stood when he delivered his famous speech regarding the proposed extension of the Kiel canal in 1997 . . ." then I may be in trouble with Mrs Zag.

Can anyone put my mind at rest and tell me the tour is well worth taking?

Thanks,

z

goingnowhere · 10-10-2014 6:15am

If its the normal free tour

Enter with a security screening and ID check
Escort into building and lift to roof
Collect a headset and walk up the glass dome as the sights and history is called out

Nice view, lots to see and the politics are pretty minimal

Humour Me · 10-10-2014 6:23am

Very little actual politics discussed. The tour guide will go through the history of the of the building which is pretty interesting. You will see some of the graffiti that Russian soldiers wrote on the walls when they took Berlin in 1945. Its part of the history of the building so they didn't cover it up. We got a general overview of how the German political system worked.

The view from the dome on top of the Reichstag is really impressive. The tour was actually one of the highlights of the trip for me.

SoulTrader · 10-10-2014 4:33pm

I did it two months and it was worth taking. The two posters above me have described it well.

Poochie05 · 10-10-2014 6:52pm

You also get to see down in to the chamber through the glass funnel that brings natural light from the dome. The parliament were sitting the evening I was there and it was interesting to see how casually they were dressed compared to our lot- Ming and Mick notwithstanding

Reichstag tour - what's the pitch?

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