The weeks are flying by, so soon my in-laws will be here from Germany! In honor of this celebration, and because Germany is such a big part of our family now, I wanted to share with you some facts about Germany that you may be surprised to know!
- There are over 300 different types of bread in Germany. And they have their own museum (whattt?)
- Germany is the first country to adopt Daylight Saving Time (DST) in 1916.
- 65% of the Autobahn (highway) has no speed limit.
- Frankfurt am Main, commonly known as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hessen and the fifth-largest city in Germany. This is also where my husband grew up.
- Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany. I find this one particularly interesting.
- The Christmas tree (Tannenbaum) tradition came from Germany.
- Other notable German inventions include: the telephone, diesel engine, aspirin, fluorescent lamp, and the pregnancy test.
8. Germany has over 400 zoos, the most in the world.
9. Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft is the longest word to be published. It is 79 letters long. It seems to mean Danube steamship company captain.
10. You can take up to 3 years of maternity leave in Germany. The catch is that it is unpaid after 14 weeks.
11. Germany is rated highly as a place to grow old – life expectancy in Germany is almost 81 years – 83 for women and 78 for men – and just over 26 percent of the population is currently over 60. Germany is a good place to retire.
12. Women have not achieved full equality work wise – full-time female workers earn around 77 percent of the salaries of their male colleagues.
13. Over 800 million currywurst are eaten in Germany each year – currywurst is a sausage served with a spicy sauce, and is a street food that has become a cult classic in Germany. About 7 million currywurst are eaten in Berlin alone. There's even a museum in Berlin dedicated to the popular snack.
14. There are over 150 castles in Germany.
9. Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft is the longest word to be published. It is 79 letters long. It seems to mean Danube steamship company captain.
10. You can take up to 3 years of maternity leave in Germany. The catch is that it is unpaid after 14 weeks.
11. Germany is rated highly as a place to grow old – life expectancy in Germany is almost 81 years – 83 for women and 78 for men – and just over 26 percent of the population is currently over 60. Germany is a good place to retire.
12. Women have not achieved full equality work wise – full-time female workers earn around 77 percent of the salaries of their male colleagues.
13. Over 800 million currywurst are eaten in Germany each year – currywurst is a sausage served with a spicy sauce, and is a street food that has become a cult classic in Germany. About 7 million currywurst are eaten in Berlin alone. There's even a museum in Berlin dedicated to the popular snack.
14. There are over 150 castles in Germany.
** Disclaimer: I found all of these facts on the internet, so they are accurate to the best of my knowledge. Don't hold me to this, or use this information in a research paper and be disappointed when your grade comes back.
*** Also, these are pictures that I personally took on our last trip to Germany in 2012. These particular pictures are all from Frankfurt.
**** I didn't list any facts about beer in Germany, because everyone knows that Germany is known for it's beer drinking. But if you feel like you're missing out, here are a few bonus facts!
1. Germans are the second largest beer consumers in the world, after the Irish. My husband jokes
that he started drinking beer in his bottle.
2. Beer is among the most popular and important part of the culture of Germany. Fact is, its
popularity is well known all throughout the world. The beer in Germany is highly diverse. There
are more than a thousand breweries all over Germany. The popularity of the German beer is the
outcome of the strict process it undergoes before it is sold to the public. That is because beer
manufacturers in Germany are required to follow the purity law. The purity law enables the beer
manufacturers in Germany to differentiate which ingredient they must and must not use. The
basic ingredients that the beer manufacturers Germany are allowed to use are water, hops, and
barley malt.
3. The beer my brother & I are drinking in the pictures above is called Apfelwein, which literally means apple wine, and is made from pressed apples. Hot Apfelwein was served to us when we visited Frankfurt during their Christmas Market - I have to say I prefer it chilled.
I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about Germany, and because of it feel more German! It is a beautiful country to visit, and one day I will have to share a picture post of all the places we visited with my in-laws a couple years ago!
*** Also, these are pictures that I personally took on our last trip to Germany in 2012. These particular pictures are all from Frankfurt.
**** I didn't list any facts about beer in Germany, because everyone knows that Germany is known for it's beer drinking. But if you feel like you're missing out, here are a few bonus facts!
1. Germans are the second largest beer consumers in the world, after the Irish. My husband jokes
that he started drinking beer in his bottle.
2. Beer is among the most popular and important part of the culture of Germany. Fact is, its
popularity is well known all throughout the world. The beer in Germany is highly diverse. There
are more than a thousand breweries all over Germany. The popularity of the German beer is the
outcome of the strict process it undergoes before it is sold to the public. That is because beer
manufacturers in Germany are required to follow the purity law. The purity law enables the beer
manufacturers in Germany to differentiate which ingredient they must and must not use. The
basic ingredients that the beer manufacturers Germany are allowed to use are water, hops, and
barley malt.
3. The beer my brother & I are drinking in the pictures above is called Apfelwein, which literally means apple wine, and is made from pressed apples. Hot Apfelwein was served to us when we visited Frankfurt during their Christmas Market - I have to say I prefer it chilled.
I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about Germany, and because of it feel more German! It is a beautiful country to visit, and one day I will have to share a picture post of all the places we visited with my in-laws a couple years ago!