Facts about Germany

♦ Did you know a German invented the calculator and that Berlin has more bridges than Venice? Berlin boasts 960 bridges.

♦ Germany was the first country in the world to adopt Daylight saving time. This occured in 1916 in the midst of WWI

♦ It’s illegal to run out of fuel in the German Autobahn - although not forbidden. Having an empty tank of gas is not treated as an emergency.

♦ College education in Germany is free even for internationals − tuition fees for bachelor’s degrees in public universities was abolished in 2014.

♦ Germany is sometimes known as "the land of poets and thinkers": Bach, Beethoven and Goethe were all German, alongside composers Händel, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner and R. Strauss. Some of the world's greatest German philosophers include Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Heidegger.

♦ Over 800 million currywurst are eaten in Germany each year − currywurst is a sausage served with a spicy sauce.

♦ Germany is Europe's second largest beer consumer right after Czechs. Germans drank 2.55 billion gallons of beer in 2012

♦ Germany has more cultural activities and places than any other country − it's a cultured place, with 6,200 museums, 820 theatres, 130 professional orchestras and 8,800 libraries in 2013.

♦ Germany is one of the world's largest car producers - selling 6 million cars in 2015. VW's Golf is one of the best selling cars of all time.