How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
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Typical. We're a 100 participants in and my hypothesis are utterly unsupported.
I'm surprised to see not a single "5 or more" vote.
Already some interesting comments!
@Pepijn Unfortunately we are at a point where more people would go out of their way and line up to see the interior of the bookshop in Porto that appeared in a Harry Potter film than would visit a parliament building.
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@Pepijn About ten years ago, I was taken on a spontaneous backstage tour of Portcullis House and the Palace of Westminster by a friend who works in the Parliamentary Service. It was fascinating, but that place is falling apart...
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@Pepijn Germany and the USA — maar niet de Tweede Kamer y tampoco aqui en España. And I see you are not counting the EU (which I have visited) and luckily I haven't been inside the Palau del Parlament de Catalunya so I can avoid asking whether it counts as a “nation”.
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F folfdk@helvede.net shared this topic
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Typical. We're a 100 participants in and my hypothesis are utterly unsupported.
I'm surprised to see not a single "5 or more" vote.
Already some interesting comments!
"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..
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@Pepijn Does having been outside the building count?
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@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.
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@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!
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@Pepijn
Note that the UK "Yes Minister" series famously and deliberately had no scenes set in Parliament.Access also may be difficult.
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@Pepijn Does having been outside the building count?
@aslakr I mean, that means you've visited every parliament ever

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"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..
@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
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@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!
@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.
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@Anneke I'd love to visit the Hungarian one. Their website (https://www.parlament.hu/web/visitors/visitor-route) makes it out to be mostly a show of the building, and not so much the political stuff going on inside. Is that your experience as well?
@Pepijn yes that was my experience (30 years ago
). First building with airconditioning I think? -
@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.
@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!
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@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.
@raphv I now wonder how many parliaments have rooftop access! I can think of a couple already

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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@Pepijn Actually i wirkend in two (Bonn, Düsseldorf) and visited Berlin.
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@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.
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@raphv I now wonder how many parliaments have rooftop access! I can think of a couple already

@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.
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How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@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. -
How many national parliaments (the buildings) have you visited?
My hypothesis is that a significant mid-double-digit percentage of people have at least visited the one in their home country (often as part of a school trip) and the other options will all be single digit percentages.
I'm not gonne do the "boost for scientific accuracy" thing here.. but, uhm.. if you can boost this it'll be more accurate, in a scientistic way.
Mainly: tell us about your experiences!
@Pepijn one but not my home country. I visited the old Mexican parliament in the Zocalo square
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@Pepijn I have visited 0, but just to visit the US Congress building would mean traveling nearly 1000km, and I live relatively close to Washington DC
If I wanted to visit the capitals of the two nations that share a land border with the US, That adds another 4000km to the trip
North America is a terrifying large place
@SnyperWolf @Pepijn A whirlwind, one-way trip to see the three capitals of the US state bordering mine is only 2200km or so.