  The Milky Way's bar dominates the orbits of stars and the flow of cold gas in
the inner Galaxy, and is therefore of major importance for Milky Way dynamical
studies in the Gaia era. Here we discuss the pronounced peanut shape of the
Galactic bulge that has resulted from recent star count analysis, in particular
from the VVV survey. We also discuss the question whether the Milky Way has an
inner disky pseudo-bulge, and show preliminary evidence for a continuous
transition in vertical scale-height from the peanut bulge-bar to the planar
long bar.
