Passport Control

I'm used to getting all sorts of questions going through passport control such as

• Are you here for business or vacation?


• How long have you been out of the country?


• Where are you coming from?


• How long will you be staying?

However the question I got today at Munich airport caught me by surprise. As the agent handed me my passport he pointed to the page and said "What is the name of this building, Independence Hall?"

I have to admit I was having a little trouble processing but managed to come up with something along the lines of "These pictures are all about Philadelphia, so yes that's Independence Hall." I got my passport back and walked on. Not sure if this is some new interrogation technique or if the agent had some other reason for asking. When I got in the taxi I looked through all the other pages to see if there are other buildings that I need to learn to identify. Luckily no, the other pages are just generic landscapes of various regions - with the exception of the Statue of Liberty but I have no problem identifying that.