Berlin Trip : Reichstag Tour at Night (well, in the evening)

I’ve done the tour of the Reichstag before, but I feel the need to do it again and thought I’d go for an evening slot this time. It’s free of charge, but visitors have to submit their details in advance and then provide a number of options for what time they want.

I got there a bit early, but they said it was fine and so I went through the security process. The security guard mentioned to me that I might want to put my coat back on as I had to walk back outside to get into the building. I said that I was already wearing my coat and he commented on my bravery, which I agreed with. But, I digress. The process is a bit confused as they managed to put me and some others in a German group, although it makes little difference other than I didn’t understand the introduction they gave. But, after that, you’re on your own anyway. Actually, the management of the whole arrangement was in places hopeless, they were barking at some visitors for not standing in the right place and the toilet facilities are chaotic. However, it’s a high turnover venue and the staff probably get fed up with idiots, and since they were nice to me, I was happy.

The bit at the base contains a history of the building which was comprehensive and interesting, as it’s certainly had a fair few difficult decades during the twentieth century.

It’s a clever design where you can walk up a slope and gain some considerable height and then look down onto the building, with another slope taking you back down again.

There’s the top with extensive views over Berlin.

Once back down again from the slope, it’s then possible to go out on a viewing platform.

Looking inside the building.

Beautiful.

The Brandenburg Gate.

And when back down to ground, a final photo of the Reichstag. There was a period where it looked like the Parliament building would be in Bonn, which had been where the capital of West Germany was located, but a decision was made to bring it back to Berlin. That was surprisingly close in terms of the vote, 338 votes to 320 votes for the move. The building’s redesign into a Parliament was overseen by Norman Foster between 1995 and 1999, with the keys formally being handed over on 19 April 1999. It’s certainly worth a visit for anyone visiting Berlin, as long as they remember to book tickets in advance as they don’t allow walk-ups and I note a number of angry negative reviews about that situation.