ln the heart of Europe, Germany offers small picturesque towns, elegant big-city charm, fine wine and beer and a wealth of art and culture, plus the perennial pleasures of huge of forest and castles along the Rhine. Germany also lies at at the crossroads of Continental history. From Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire to Otto von Bismarck’s German Reich, Nazism and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, no other has shaped Europe to the same extent as Germany.

November to April for fewer tourists and surprisingly pleasant weather

Hiking from Gsathaus (hote) to Gasthaus in the Black Forest Experiencing Dachau, Buchenwald, or another Holocaust memorial lmmersing yourself in the urban cultures of Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Dresden Taking a trip down the evocatively scenic Rhine Valley Discovering the picturesque walled cities and towns along the Romantic Road Enjoying a traditional meal in a Ratskeller (basement restaurant) Viewing lofty cathedrals such as the Ulm Munster and the Dom in koln Summertime swimming at lakes and Schwimbads (swimming pools)

Read Goethe’s Faust, which tells of the classic deal with the devil, and nobel prize-winning author Gunther Grass’s novel The Drum, which caused an uproar in Germany in the 1950 because of is depiction of the Nazis

Listen to Berlin-style punk symbol Nina Hagen, or tune in to Kraftwerk’s’ 80s techno, and chanteuse Ute Lemper

Watch Wim Wenders’ earthbound angels over divided Berlin in Wings of Desire or the fas-paced Run Lola Run

Eat Wurst (sausage) with mustard, sauerkraut and potato salad

Drink beer: with 80% of Europe’s breweries in Germany, the choice is ample; or sample white wines such as Gewurtztraminer and Rieslings

Auf Wiedersehen (goodbye/farewell until we see each other again)

Lederhosen; the legacy of WWll; good engineering; no speed limits; cuckoo clocks; Oktoberfest; the Berlin Wall; doing what is socially accepted (and expected); BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Audi and Porsche

German is a very pretty spoken language; Germans sometimes break the rules; Germans can play as hard as they work

From the claustrophobic beauty of its cathedrals to classical films from the silent era of cinema, from the most influential (try Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Marx for starters) to some of the world’s great physicists (Einstein and Planck), from the cream of classical composers (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel and Wagner)to contemporary music and Krautrock, from the genius of Goethe to the revolutionary theatre of Brecht, Germany has it all.