Frederick II of Prussia is one of the most famous German Rulers, both for his military successes as a brilliant strategist, and for the ground breaking domestic reforms he introduced into his country.

Once upon a time there were two very dissimilar brothers, whose combined talents produced European folk and fairy tales which were anything but sweet and gentle bedtime stories. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Sophie Scholl was 21, a leader of The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group of Munich University students, and one of many Germans who did not support the Nazi regime, when in February 1943 she was executed for treason, together with her brother Hans and their friend Christoph Probst.

The Cologne Cathedral took over 600 years to complete. Construction began when Cologne was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and was finished in 1880 when it was a city in newly United Germany, with Wilhelm I as the first German Emperor. Now it is one of the country's most important monuments.

Karneval, organised chaos that takes place before Lent, especially in the wine regions of Germany. Those who are not fans usually avoid Carnival areas, where strangers embrace, bars make 40 percent of their annual earnings, and 'The Fifth and Foolish Season' takes over city streets

February 2nd is Groundhog Day, an annual tradition with roots which lie in a Christian festival, age old European superstitions about hedgehogs and the weather, and pagan celebrations bound to the cycles of nature.