"Hi and welcome to my new G ..." a Germany Travel Page by Kristina1701

Some facts about Germany:

NAME: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) ---> Federal Republic of Germany

Area: 356,959km²

CAPITAL: Berlin

INHABITANTS: about 81 million

BIGGEST CITIES: Berlin (3.5 million inh.), Hamburg (1.7 million inh.), Munich (1.3 million inh.), Cologne (1 million inh.), Frankfurt am Main (660,000 inh.), Essen (630,000 inh.), Dortmund (600,000 inh.) and Stuttgart (600,000 inh.)

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: German; in the state of Schleswig-Holstein there's also a Danish-speaking minority

CURRENCY: Euro; 100 Cents = 1 Euro

Germany is located in Central Europe. It's "neighbors" are: Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland. No other European country has that many "neighbors" as Germany.
Germany is a member of the European Union (EU) and introduced the Euro on January 1st 2002.
Germany is subdevided into 16 states, including 3 city-states whose status can be compared to the one Washington D.C. enjoys: (from the north to the south) Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Brandenburg, Nordrhein-Westfahlen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Hessen, Thüringen, Sachsen, Rheinland-Pflaz, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg, Bayern.
Germany is supposed to be in the top 10 of the richest countries in the world and thus provides its people an excellent social system which is unique on this planet.
After World War II, Germany has become a kind of "immigration-country". For we did not have enough labour, our government invited people from Italy, Greece and Portugal (who are not regarded as real immigrants for these countries are members of the EU) to work here. Since about 2 decades, there are also many people from Turkey, Poland and the former Yugoslavia living in Germany. Germany is the country with the largest and strongest economy in Europe, followed by France who we have close relations with, both economically and politically.

For further information on Germany, I recommend to visit the following pages:

1. Auswaertiges Amt

The Federal Foreign Office in Berlin does not only provide information on German and EU politics, but also general info on Germany (working and studying in Germany, youth exchanges,...), as well as travel information from a German perspective (travel warnings + country profiles). The page is available in German, English and French.

2. Deutschland.de

This page provides all kinds of info on Germany.

3. Deutsche Bundestag

This is the official homepage of the German Parliament, available in German, English and French

4. Bundesrat

Here you'll find information on the 16 states. However this page is only available in German.

5. Der Bundeskanzler

Everything you've always wanted to know about our chancelor Gerhard Schroeder you'll find here! There's even a special link to a page for kids called: chancelor for kids.

6. Der Bundespraesident

And here you'll find everything on our head of state Johannes Rau. This page is available in German, English, French and Spanish.

7. Das Goethe-Institut

The Goethe Institut is THE organisation for the teaching of German language and culture worldwide. Besides in German, this page is also available in English.