Head to Munich to take part in the 200th Anniversary of the world’s largest and most famous beer festival, known as ‘Oktoberfest’, with prices from just £419 per person. The festival first took place in 1810 on the occasion of the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese. And the next year, the royal [...]
New shopping centre in Hamburg With over 400 shopping centres, innumerable shopping streets and a variety of outlet centres and markets, shopping is good in Germany. And it’s about to get even better with the opening Hamburg’s brand new Europa Passage. Over 100 shops will open their doors on 05 October 2006, when Europe’s largest [...]
As Otto Lilienthal prepared himself for his first glider flight in 1891, he could hardly have imagined that over 100 years later a German airline would carry over 51 million passengers all over the world. Yet this was the number of passengers greeted by Deutsche Lufthansa AG on board their aircraft in 2005. The history [...]
“In an airship, one doesn’t simply fly – one travels in the best possible way.†Dr Hugo Eckner’s words from the 1920s when he was president of the Zeppelin airship company reflected the fascination which people had for the earliest Zeppelin airships. This history, steeped in tradition, is surely a reason why the Zeppelin name [...]
Happy get-togethers, infectious joie de vivre, release from everyday stress, pure enjoyment and an absolutely refreshing German beer – what a combination! Anyone who wants to learn about the refreshing side of life in Germany has his work cut out for him – one could have a different German beer every day for over 13 [...]
“Everybody,†according to the advertising in front of the first Frankfurt Book Fair after the end of the Second World War on 18 September 1949, “should again have free access to the book.†After the totalitarian censorship of the National Socialists, the book-burnings, and the many privations of post-War Germany, the promoters wanted to give [...]
The history of the German state founded in 1871 is also the history of the Reichstag. Despite its chequered history, the Reichstag is an architectural symbol of German democracy. Immediately after the foundation of the empire in 1871, a commission for the parliament building was set up. An architectural competition with a prize was announced. [...]
That Germany’s renowned car manufacturer, the BMW Group, has a distinct flair for innovative and pioneering architecture can be seen from the group’s headquarters in Munich. Since 1973, architect Karl Schwanzer’s “four-cylinder†design has been on the “must-see†list of every tourist to the Bavarian state capital. The shape of the building, which represents the [...]
“I want to serve Germany.†This opening sentence of her acceptance speech on securing the joint nomination for chancellor from Germany’s centre-right parties, the CDU and CSU, is perhaps the key to the political philosophy of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. Idealistic and pragmatic, she is as equally ill at home with radical positions as she [...]
In 2005, over 230,000 spectators followed the Le Mans 24- hour race – according to Audi’s head of motor sports Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, the “greatest motor sport challengeâ€. A challenge which the sportscar brand from the town of Ingolstadt has surmounted with success. Since 1999, when Audi’s involvement with Le Mans began, the team has [...]
Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven? Well into the 20th Century, people were still puzzling over the authorship of what is probably the best known Christmas carol in the world – and still attributing it to one of these three greats. Not until 1995 was the puzzle finally solved, when a handwritten score from 1830 emerged, in [...]
“The city of wood and cloth†– Nuremberg’s Christkindlesmarket – is unquestionably Germany’s most popular Christmas market. Sited on the medieval market place at the heart of Nuremberg’s Old City, the Christkindlesmarkt opens its stalls for business annually on the Friday prior to the first Sunday of Advent. Until Christmas Eve, over 20 million visitors [...]
Every year, Berlin transforms itself into the world capital of cinema for two weeks. The glamour is unsurpassed: international stars like Isabelle Huppert, Charlotte Rampling, Isabella Rossellini, George Clooney and Dustin Hoffman turn up to promote their works and, thanks to the heavy media presence, to present them to millions of people. Being represented and [...]
At the end of the 19th Century, German Rieslings were sold at very high prices throughout the world. They were often many times more expensive than wines from Bordeaux. It was the golden age of Riesling from the Rhine and the Moselle. These wines enjoyed a high reputation all over the world. They were consumed [...]
Heidelberg – the name evokes thoughts of the world-famous castle and the picturesque old town with its alleyways steeped in history, surrounded by beautiful countryside. The city on the golden river Neckar, first documented in 1196, is a favourite destination for foreign tourists. The third university after Prague and Vienna founded on the soil of [...]
The German Lederhosen Dictionary at the German Lederhosen Museum has it all, with names like Krachlederne (the rustic lederhosen), Kurze (shorts), Plattlerhose (for those footstamping, thigh-slapping dances) or Ganzarschlederhose (literally, whole-arse lederhosen, in which the rear section is made from a single piece of leather). Looking through dozens of pages here, one is not infrequently [...]
The ICE was the prince whose kiss awakened Germany‘s railway system from its long slumber. With amazement and wonder, Germanys sleepy eyes caught a glimpse of a rail speedster racing by on its maiden run in 1991. The new “InterCityExpress“ as it was called, was supposed to be half as fast as a jet and [...]
The dirndl – the sound of the name alone conjures up images of mountains, fresh country air, green fields and happily laughing women with rosy cheeks. We allow ourselves to be seduced by the thought of the simple, healthy life in harmony with nature, and wallow in nostalgic reminiscences about old traditional ways and customs [...]
“In Munich there’s a brewery – one, two, and drink!†The catchy original refrain is well known to all Germans, even if they have never been to Munich. The song about the world-famous guesthouse has been sung as a popular song for years on Shrove Tuesday, Carnival and other great festivals in Bavaria and beyond. [...]
Between the Pleasure Garden to the south and the Monbijou Bridge in the north, between the Kupfergraben in the west and the River Spree in the east lies the area of Berlin’s Museum Island. With five great buildings housing its collections, it forms a unique architectural ensemble right in the middle of Berlin. The complex, [...]