The State Opening

The Queen's speech every November opens the new parliamentary session; it's called the 'State Opening.' It's happened for more than 500 years, and it's very elaborate and ceremonial. She delivers her speech on the grand throne in the House of Lords. Her speech sets out the legislative agenda for the parliamentary term, and it's written by members of parliament. She has no say in what she says. But basically every sentence begins with "my government is committed to..." The photos here are just screen shots from when I watched it online today. This country is so awesome!

(Prime Minister Gordon Brown (left) and David Cameron (right), Leader of the Opposition, are listening to the Queen's speech. Someone must make them sit together; most of the time they're yelling at each other over the table in the House of Commons.)

Berlin

Berlin was a really cool place to be this week, especially because Monday they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's rare to see remnants of something whose impact to the world was so huge and so recent. Above, that's us with the Berlin Wall just across the intersection in the background. We learned more details about Berlin during the world wars, Nazi Germany, the division of East Berlin from West Berlin and other cool stuff on a walking tour around the city.

Above, that's me in front of the Brandenburg Gate, an iconic monument in the city. Below is Ronald Reagan in front of the Brandenburg Gate in 1987; this is the speech where he encouraged the Soviet Union to increase freedom and peace in the Eastern Bloc by tearing down the Berlin Wall. Obviously it took another couple of years before it happened. The below photo makes the above photo pretty cool. :)

Ok, I can't resist another photo of the gate, this time it's the other side and it's at night.

Near the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag building, where the German parliament meets. It's a beautiful building. The photo below the Reichstag is Jacob in front of the building they call the 'washing machine.' It's where Forbes #1 most powerful woman in the world works. But sadly we didn't happen to run into Chancellor Merkel while we were there. We wanted to give her a shoulder massage.

We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, the most visible passage point between the Soviet and American sections of the city. Below our photo of the checkpoint replica (and Jacob's shoulder) is a photo from the 1961 standoff between American and Soviet tanks at the checkpoint.

We also took a day trip outside Berlin to Potsdam, which was cool. And we enjoyed great German food, so obviously it was a great trip. :)