Father’s Day in Germany. A "moveable feast" holiday linked to Ascension Day it changes each year, while for those who are new to it the first experience can come as a bit of a shock, as a variable date is not the only way the celebration differs from other countries.

Germany's inventors and scientists, past and present, have helped build the country's reputation for invention and technology. However many of the items used in homes worldwide, including toothpaste, were created in German kitchens, attics and workshops, not only laboratories.

German immigrants to the USA made a huge contribution to its culture, economy and technology. From introducing Santa Claus, founding breweries, popularizing ketchup, producing Presidents to establishing banking, industrial and philanthropic dynasties and designing the Brooklyn Bridge.

Perhaps because German Americans stem from a mixed community that settled in the USA over a wide span of time, they assimilated quickly into their new homeland, and using their skills, discipline and different talents, household names or unknown, they had an enormous influence on American society.

Germany's different regions follow many of their own traditional, sometimes unusual, wedding customs, but throughout the country May is the most popular month to get married. Age old traditions begin weeks before the ceremony and celebrations can last for days.

The Potato Museum and The Medieval Crime Museum are two of many unusual museums in Germany's huge, and comprehensive, museum collection, covering everything from classical antiquities and priceless treasures, chocolate, ships and composers Bach through Wagner, to Zeppelins.

Sweet Woodruff is the scent of early summer, and added to White Wine makes May Punch, Maibowle, a favorite May time beverage in Germany which joins the months other festivities and customs. Its season is brief but perfect for those first warm spring and summer evenings.

"Spargelzeit", the springtime "white asparagus" madness which sweeps over Germany, a first symbol of spring. A brief season, "Kirsche rot, Spargel tot – When the cherries are red the asparagus is dead", beginning around mid-April ending June 24, the feast day of St. John the Baptist.

Something for all chocolate fans It looks like a ship moored on the Rhine River, but 3,000 years of chocolate history, a child and adult friendly interactive journey from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, and free samples, are found in Cologne's Chocolate Museum, the world's largest.

An Easter without eggs is hard to imagine, and in Germany from Easter Trees and Easter Fountains to Easter Sunday's Egg Hunts and Breakfast Table, eggs of one type or another still play a starring role in the country's Easter celebrations.