On the second day of our visit to Berlin we went to visit the Reichstag, seat of the Bundestag (Parliament). A thoroughly impressive building. Unfortunately, on the day of our visit, they were cleaning the glass of the dome on the roof so we weren't able to so inside. Oh well, still interesting.
From a couple of the roof shots you can see a couple of things: the vast expanse of trees is the famous Tiergarten; the Brandenburg Gate; and the MASSIVE U.S. Embassy.
A little background on the building from the good people at Wikipedia:
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire supposedly set by Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the Reichstag as a group were held in the Kroll Opera House. After the Second World War the Reichstag building fell into disuse as the parliament of the German Democratic Republic met in the Palace of the Republic in East Berlin and the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn.
The building was made safe against the elements and partially refurbished in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after the reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, when it underwent reconstruction led by internationally renowned architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, it became the meeting place of the modern German parliament, the Bundestag.
The Reichstag as a parliament dates back to the Holy Roman Empire and ceased to act as a true parliament in the years of the Nazi regime (1933–1945). In today's usage, the German term Reichstag or Reichstagsgebäude (Reichstag building) refers to the building, while the term Bundestag refers to the institution. [Source: Wikipedia]
