Since the 18th Century, just outside Germany's capital Berlin and far away from the Netherlands-German border, there has been a 'Dutch Quarter' with 134 simple Dutch styled homes, built for artisans from Holland and set amongst the opulent palaces and parks of Potsdam.

The Day of German Unity, "Tag der Deutsche Einheit", is an annual celebration held on October 3rd, commemorating the day in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic, East Germany, officially became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. After 40 years of communism and Soviet rule.

A red apple sits amongst the branches of many German Christmas Trees during Weihnachten. "Der Paradiesapfel". The Paradise Apple. A symbol of "hope" and "promise", to regain something lost or reveal an aim to work towards.

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

Mercedes Benz began as a dream. Bertha Benz believed in her husband Carl and his vision of a Horseless Carriage. When he wanted to give up his dream she made the first ever long distance journey with an internal combustion engine powered vehicle, from a love story the modern automobile was born.

East Germany began building a wall across Berlin on August 13th 1961, and while it existed the Berlin Wall defined the cold war and division of Europe. November 1989 the exits were opened by government decree, and families who had been separated for decades could be reunited.

Life, revolutions and war changed Marie (Missie) Vassiltchikov’s predestined comfortable and privileged future, that of a beautiful and spirited "White Russian" princess in Tsarist Russia.

Many of Germany's festivities for Sommer-Sonnenwende, Summer Solstice, and Johannisnacht, Midsummer Night, were originally mystical Pagan and Pre-Christian events, and fires still play an important role in celebrating the triumph of sun and light over cold and darkness.

Strammer Max has been one of Germany's most popular 'anytime' meals for generations. Delicious and simple to put together it's an open faced sandwich combination with regional variations, but always including an egg. Here are the recipes and all of them are worth trying.

Stolpersteine, Stumbling stones, are a memorial built one stone at a time. Small 'memory' blocks embedded in sidewalks in front of homes where victims of Nazism last lived freely, simple memorials bearing their names and documenting their lives with the barest of details.