iraq a journey through a land full of contradictions. joy and sadness. confidence and doubt. our documentary depicts the contrasts of everyday life. and help people cope with. iran bittersweet. starts may second g.w. . welcome to this special edition of check ins. today. are checking out hamburg. braman.

germany sixteen federal states these three are city states. today we'll discover what else makes them so special. our tour begins in berlin germany government. has decided to explore the government district. from the central station it's just a short walk to the german capital government built in the years following the cold war everything is. made mostly of concrete and glass. and right in the middle of all this modern architecture is the historic. one of the most visited sites this is where the german parliament known as the stock convenes

it's a center of power and tourist magnet like. i've arranged to meet you feel to think of her lehner with turkish troops she's been representing the social democrats on the stack since two thousand and thirteen so she knows her way around first she shows me the debating chamber the heart of the problem and really german democracy as a whole. hear that there but we debate vote and pass laws here for the. and that's where you work yes that's right so how does it feel to stand up there at the podium. it's nerve wracking i can imagine especially the first time. with a thought well over time you get used to it the nervousness doesn't fade but that is all right but i've been

a member of parliament for four years and it's truly special to have a chance to speak in this hallowed hall. and i come from an immigrant family and belong to what they call the guest worker generation. on the fourth and it's really something significant for me and my parents as well than that i got a good education and today i'm representing people in germany as a member of parliament. to mention boschfontein. walking the halls of the bundestag is like taking a journey through time this graffiti was scrawled on the walls by soviet soldiers after they won the battle for the right stock in one thousand nine hundred forty five british architect norman foster integrated them into his plan when the building was reconstructed and he left the bullet holes to. the. now corner and the delicate lobby this painting represents the right stock fire in

nine hundred thirty three the nazis used the event as a pretext to persecute their political opponents to the books of names commemorate the hundred twenty members of parliament who were murdered in the aftermath of. the next stop is the prayer room a place of quiet and reflection for the m.p.'s regardless of their faith. there's a lot more going on up on the roof of the building the glass dome is the biggest attraction for visitors to the right time. from the top we had all the way to the bottom in the basement we come across five thousand boxes with four thousand nine hundred ninety nine names on them a sofa needed for the move there's

a box for every democratically elected representative in the years between one nine hundred ninety. in one thousand nine hundred nine. when the crust and the foam. formed said is there anything in them no. these boxes are all shaped the say to stand for the equality of all elected representatives independently of their function and nothing to feel and so on the years of naziism are symbolized by a black box there's no name on that one you can see the. tunnels least from the reichstag building to parliamentary office buildings nearby . them and now we've emerged from this tunnel into another very futuristic looking building. and on up with

a home yes this is the power luba house from the to the representatives offices and the committee rooms are here on the right and left on their own biden. so lots of heated debates behind these walls that one right. my committee the finance committee meets in this room every wednesday from nine fifteen till about noon or one o'clock post it's. the polar bear house on the western bank of the reverse just across the muddy elizabeth new does house some members of the business talk of their offices over there. when the city was divided in this area of the river served as the border between east and west berlin the crosses for member people who lost their lives trying to escape from the east.

i'm standing in front of the chair. yes larry up there on the seventh floor that's where the love merkel works unfortunately i can't get in but on her official website you can take a look at her office. wow look at that view you can see that your garden the big inner city park and all the way to the right start. right next to the chancellery and i'm going to hop on that lou but. nicknamed the chancellor train this will get me to the grand boulevard on today linton in no time and that's good because i have a very important appointment to keep. i'm of course going to take the v.i.p.'s and trips i mean i have a photo session with the chancellor herself. ok ok it might not

be all that exclusive after all at madame tussaud everyone can take a picture with aguilar markel or with morocco obama. or other celebrities a bit stiff but pretty close to the originals and you think. now i'm going to treat myself to a little break the tear got missed the perfect place for that it's right in the center of the city just behind the right stock and the brandenburg gate. and oasis of peace and quiet for berliners and tourists longing to rest their legs. here in the park you can rent a rowboat chill out in a beer garden. or

just sit back and watch the boats go by. at dusk it's time to walk back over to the government district here i'm going to check out something i've been looking forward to all day. just behind the right stock a row of steps along the banks of the sprayer river offer a perfect view onto the muddy elisabet ludo's house and summer and big round window becomes a movie screen that presents milestones of german history from the end of the german empire to the fall of the berlin wall in one thousand nine hundred nine this sound and light show is a wonderful way to end my day in berlin is fascinating government district. northwest of berlin is hamburg. located on the elba river the former hence the arctic city is famous for its port nowadays you can spend the night on this former

fishing boat. were. after a restful sleep in the floating hotel. is ready for his tour of hamburg. welcome to my hamburg summer tour always pretty close to the water from the concert hall through the entertainment district to the beach and if you're going to. but first a tour off a former fishing boat built in one thousand nine hundred forty seven. shows me his ship. this is the belly of the ship here is where they kept the fish cool on ice. and feathers the only leave the harbor sometimes or is it permanently mortier . oh no it's fully functional we can set out right now for spain for instance or wherever you want it is ok maybe another time today i want to check out hamburg.

it took a long time and became more expensive than expected but it seems to have paid off the feel of money concert hall has won many fans since its opening in two thousand and seventeen that makes it quite difficult to get concert tickets but a visit to the observation deck the plaza is free a great new balcony three hundred sixty degrees of pure hamburg. from where i'm from both from russia or why are you up here at the other fella money. they kiss is a landmark in hamburg and it's

a place you have to visit if you're in hamburg and london come here is all this is to britain i heard it's very difficult to get tickets that means you just get in line and hope for the best and it wasn't this is exactly at six pm we'll go to the box office and hope we get tickets so you know any tricks to get tickets just luck that's all that's all i'll give it a try i seem to be. close with but until then good luck. sung paulista one of the most famous districts of hamburg famous and notorious here you will find pubs i think grand theatres a red light district and culture and all of it not far from the elder. son poll even has a small museum where you can find out what has shaped the district. because like polly was originally a border region between the danish city off and the hands eric city of hamburg residents here knew how to use this kind of free space dance halls and cheap

entertainment have been a part of scientology since the seventeenth century. so it was a busy. image of prostitution and crime evolved over the years i think if you bring that up about how does that state exempt poly is in my constant flux i'd say the red light district image which now plays a role in many tourists perceptions as well as in marketing strategy. is very much influenced by the one nine hundred seventy s. and the one nine hundred eighty s. and i think i got to go on and lots of cliches emerge then. go and change hairdos and such. and survive and nobody can so with these cliches they try to attract tourists by saying we have a red light district we have gangsters that might be interesting to some people. i think show we at the sun it's probably museums don't think of ourselves and that we

try to present everything in the development of the district and enable visitors to understand how certain myths were formed wish them to move and some are just myths and some are cliches. you can also take a dip in hamburg's river after years of pollution the water quality of the open today is clean enough to swim in bathing in the has a long tradition is specially during the nineteenth century. join a list and author has already written two books about it like many locals she's a fan of the river. bust the victim what moves you to sweep in the elba every day. fast didn't tell my step a day was like a no it's a great pleasure it's just wonderful for my now the elderlies at my doorstep i can go in when i want to i can do what i want to ever almost everything. and it's

a centuries experience the water in the flowing and streaming rising and falling water i enjoyed immensely. would be always whether you're in the open there are certainly other people to do you think this is a new trend. the custom of swimming in the elder rich. since german reunification many sewage treatment plants have been built in eastern germany and the water has become much cleaner and feels almost for twenty or thirty years it was really dirty. i think the idea of having nature at your doorstep on the outskirts of a city with a population of millions and being able to use it should be revived. and then more and more people will see how lovely it is america should and then the beaches in hamburg have lots of visitors and at weekends in the summer and during school holidays there are many tourists and most know that the water ebbs and flows

and avoid lying too close to the edge when the water is rising because if you make . of us our. course i have to try this now my first swim in the album just the fink on such a beautiful summer day. there is hardly a better place to end the day on the album than this place fish to compel the bar it's famous in hamburg. a wonderful view.

hamburg without the that's impossible the river is hamburg lifeline so on the one hand it's a useful traffic route and on the other it's in a way. so no wonder the el that fascinates so many people including myself. our final destination today is braman which is also the smallest of germany's sixteen states. britain is famous the world over thanks to a grimm's fairy tale which features a donkey a dog a cat and a rooster. nicole clearly decided to spend the day in the northern german and sciatic city. those are the tell musicians of bram and beloved characters from the grimm fairy tale of the same name stopping by on to the city to see them has become

a must and touching the forelegs is supposed to be good luck i want to find out about the fairy tale let's see if some locals can help me. ken do you know the story of the bremen town musicians. are you proud forgotten to bring with me and you could become a town musician. they were animals that were treated badly so they left home from souls i felt they could. they settle down in a house where they were robbers and frighten the robbers away. they stayed in this robber stand in the woods us that's because they found a life without hardship when in liberty. it flows. so the freeman town musicians never made it to braman at least not in the fairy tale but they're statue has stood in front of the city hall since nineteen fifty

three. that's right mine is full of stories like that today i'm going to discover that. my search begins at the market square. this is where i stumble upon my next story this statue is called the rowlands and legend has it that as long as he's here the city will remain free and independent. the statue is a unesco world heritage site just like these stories city hall across the street. that is why i'm going to take the columns inside this remarkable building. i don't. think are you my guide and we have a day. in here now in the upper hall one of the most beautiful ceremonial venues in germany

and the town hall itself is the oldest in europe that still in its original state by why was this room built what it used to work would have been looks on from. the old town hall is actually a medieval trading center with a wine cellar below it and a covered marketplace and a pair in assembly room the room also served as a courtroom the mayor used to be the chief justice. is on the spot i don't mind these model ships although the ceiling especially impressive they're four hundred to five hundred years old and there are models like those built by the huns yogic league before the ships were built for real before and lifting. what's the hands out a cleek. the arctic league was a confederation of towns that promised each other for protection and aid and trade and it was quite a large area it stretched as far as no growth in russia or norway down to belgium and bremen was

a member of the likud. now important was it for braman to be as the attic city and then we still call ourselves the huns the arctic city of bremen although the leak ended three hundred years ago whatever but the term sounds good many associate it with honesty straightforwardness and reliability and that's why we still use it and that's why i tell. my story searching quest here in braman takes me to the cathedral square they say this is where i'll find the so-called speeding stone and it conspicuous cobblestone with a very interesting history. this right here is the site of remember and this for the crimes of geisha got free back in the nineteenth century she poisoned fifteen people and this is the spot where she was beheaded in eighteen thirty one and still today the local spit on this very stone in order to express their disgust with the killings of three. the spitting stone lies at the foot of the ancient cathedral

it's almost one thousand years old. and apparently it's home to a little church mouse made of stone. either i'm bad looking or very good at hiding. pastoring ingrid vigil will surely be able to help me can i bother you for a second. she leads me to the vestry. so yes so here we have the church mouse it's tiny just like a real mouse some so what's the deal with a mouse and dockets washer various stores. the most common one is that in the past the artisans who worked on the churches were supposed to look at them very closely when they travelled through the country and if they could say where this church mouse was here in the cathedral the master builder knew that they'd looked at it

properly. as a lesson so it was to trick the workers to stay an ark this. i've arrived at such a structure that in the middle ages it was an important connection route between the market square and the river vai's up the street got its name from the coopers in germany who used to live here. the street as a whole is listed the red brick architecture is typical for braman and on but just toss it is perfectly preserved. in this courtyard you'll find the fountain of the seven lazy brothers and of course there's a story behind that to. the seven lazy brothers were the sons of a local farmer who weren't exactly known for their hard work they couldn't find a job here in bremen so they went out into the world there they acquired extensive

knowledge and experience upon their return they built drainage ditches for their father's fields the locals dismissed their ideas and accused them of simply being too lazy to work the muddy grounds today of course we know that they were lazy at all they were just a little ahead of the time. but yes just a is a street that stimulates the senses your taste buds your eyes and your ears. at the top of every hour thirty porcelain bells played your dish will and modern tunes and up in the tower you'll also find a visual display to go with the songs. no joke. any would be complete without some local fare on the menu today a typical northern dish that of course comes with quite a history. the rathskeller as head chef heikal kalinowski

presents it to me. ok. but what on earth is this going to taste the loves us that much i know ok ok just on the ingredients i want to be. flowery potatoes and salted beef brisket and pickles wasn't and watching the story behind it is a pretty traditional dish around here right now. as evolved in the past when sailors were at sea for a long time that was the best place to meet had to be preserved that's why there salt to be visible. to the mice and because most of them were probably toothless due to face bites scurvy or whatever or that everything was mashed up just so they didn't have to chew it was ok but i enjoy thanks shakes i can't wait.

for all that was surprisingly delicious a perfect finish for my tour around brendan i've learned later and tasted a lot and i feel like that's a great note to end this show and so thank you guys for watching and soon accept.

it's one of the most hotly debated buildings in germany first there was the city palace then the east german palace of the republic. after the german unification decision was made rebuild city palace dramas a standout project. for.

thirty minutes on d.w.p. . and chain reaction of cuts. around six hundred years ago. in the renaissance. architects scientists and artists are. trying to reach out to the darkest glaciers consuming. in seventy five minutes on d w. the only order is history the world is reworking izing itself and the media's role is keep shifting cowards the topic in focus at the global media forum twenty nine

teams in the laboratory for the digital age. who are we following whom do we trust to debate and shape the future at the georgia global media forum twenty nine t. the place may for minds. some time in the twenty six to you my great granddaughter. but the world like in your life time in around half a century. your world will be around two degrees warmer. inevitably sea levels rise by at least one meter in a century. we're going to have some climate impacts return greater than what we see or maybe. it's really frightening to look. at play.

why are people more concerned. little yellow birds stars may thirty first d.w. . play . this is d.w. news live in a shootout and leaves more than a dozen dead authorities raid the home of a suspected terrorist linked to the east of bombings seizing explosives isis uniforms and flags will get the latest from our correspondent in the capital also coming up mozambique bears the brunt of another giant cycle in tropical storm

kenneth unleashes high winds and trench will rains on the country. of massive flooding ahead.