How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?

[pepijn@mastodon.online]

"isn't this just asking if people are rich and/or in a big country"

People replied the same thing on the poll asking whether they'd personally sat on a cow

As with the cows there's much more to it. There's lots of European countries with subsidised trips for schools to visit the legislature. And other, small countries, without that.

Also: Seriously. I'm not asking if you own a moon. The fast majority of us have the financial means to visit another city at least once in our life..

[aslakr@mastodon.social]

@Pepijn Does having been outside the building count?

[raphv@social.edu.nl]

@Pepijn do rooftop-only visits count (which is kind of a giveaway as to which parliament I've been to)?? I grew up as far away from Paris as you can be while still being on the continental part of France, so school visits to l'Assemblée Nationale weren't something we did. The only assembly rooms I've been inside of were the UNESCO and a couple city councils.

[mertzigzag@urbanists.social]

@Pepijn At least 12 for me, many more if counting state/provincial level or intergovernmental seats (EU, UN) as well. A travel rule of thumb for me is that if I’m in a capital, I’ll see if there’s a tour available or at least grounds open to the public. Ironically I haven’t toured the U.S. Capitol because I was too busy with a protest the one time I visited my nation’s capital!

[raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie]

@Pepijn
Note that the UK "Yes Minister" series famously and deliberately had no scenes set in Parliament.

Access also may be difficult.

[pepijn@mastodon.online]

@aslakr I mean, that means you've visited every parliament ever

[helle@tacobelllabs.net]

@Pepijn I mean for Russia, the USA or Canada to visit the /national/ one may be a bit of a push. But if you allow for state/provincial/regional parliaments and such, it becomes a lot more common even there. — Violet

[mertzigzag@urbanists.social]

@Pepijn Of the national parliaments I think the Binnenhof tour was my favorite, but the Japan National Diet and UK Houses of Parliament were really great too. Out of American state capitols (which are often built on a scale as grand as national parliaments), Minnesota had by far the best tour.

[anneke@front-end.social]

@Pepijn yes that was my experience (30 years ago ). First building with airconditioning I think?

[mertzigzag@urbanists.social]

@Pepijn Side Note: If anyone on this thread knows how to get an English-language tour of the Polish Sejm, let me know! As far as I could tell, tours are only available in Polish, other languages only on request for large groups. I’d love to do a tour while visiting Warsaw next month!

[pepijn@mastodon.online]

@raphv I now wonder how many parliaments have rooftop access! I can think of a couple already

[corsa@mastodon.social]

@Pepijn Actually i workend in two (Bonn, Düsseldorf) and visited Berlin.

[obbiez@urbanists.social]

@Pepijn Caveat: I'm counting buildings where I stood outside. I've been inside a few state capitols, but I've only observed national capitols from the outside.

[raphv@social.edu.nl]

@Pepijn that was the Bundestag, when I visited Berlin 20 years ago. I vaguely recall that the rest of the building wasn't as easily accessible back then. I've cycled past the French parliament quite often when I lived in Paris, but never bothered visiting.

[jensilber@mastodon.social]

@Pepijn Answered 2, on the basis that "toured the inside of" only applies for my home country and its nearest neighbor. However, "walked up to and admired the building from the plaza or street" would add three more.
I know it helped that I grew up near the capital city. I didn't just do a school tour; a family friend worked in the building and showed us around.

[jdrm@social.linux.pizza]

@Pepijn one but not my home country. I visited the old Mexican parliament in the Zocalo square

[rgsharpe@sfba.social]

@SnyperWolf @Pepijn A whirlwind, one-way trip to see the three capitals of the US state bordering mine is only 2200km or so.

[reynir@social.data.coop]

@Pepijn I voted zero because I've not been inside any. But I've been just outside at least two buildings. For some reason it didn't occur to me that they might be open for the public or interesting to enter.

[mossman@social.vivaldi.net]

@Pepijn it's a tricky one. I think 4 if I include just walking around the outside. (UK parliament, French senate, Malaysia - I think... can't remember exactly - been past many official buildings down there, and finally I used to work in a shop across from the press entrance to the actual Dutch second chamber!).

Not sure if I've been inside any though - got vague memories as a kid of sitting in someone's seat and playing with the voting buttons in what may have been the Dutch parliament or may have been something to do with the UN or something like that. Similar vague memory of walking quickly into and out of the public gallery in the UK House of Commons during a school trip, but maybe I'm making that up from TV coverage or something. It was a long time ago...

Edit: and I've walked around the lobby of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff not to long ago. Forgot that one.

[diffrentcolours@tech.lgbt]

@Pepijn I am British. I have visited the outside of the Palace of Westminster (UK Parliament), the Scottish Parliament, the Swiss federal parliament.

The only parliament building I've been inside is the European Parliament.