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Government: Parliamentary Federal Republic
Capital city: Berlin (3.388.000 inha., 4.170.000 with the suburbs)
Other cities: Hamburg 1.734.000 inha. (2.533.000 with the suburbs), Munich 1.248.000 inha. (1.920.000 with the suburbs), Cologne 966.000 ab. (1.828.000 with the suburbs), Frankfurt on Main 643.000 inha. (1.903.000 with the suburbs), Dortmund 590.000 inha., Essen 589.000 inha. (5.788.000 with the suburbs), Stuttgart 589.000 inha. (2.616.000 with the suburbs), Düsseldorf 573.000 inha. (1.318.000 with the suburbs), Bremen 545.000 inha. (856.000 with the suburbs), Hannover 516.000 inha. (1.000.000 with the suburbs), Duisburg 506.000 inha., Leipzig 498.000 inha., Nuremberg 494.000 inha. (1.023.000 with the suburbs), Dresden 484.000 inha.
Ethnic groups: Germans 91,1%, Turks 2,3%, Italians 0,7%, Serbs 0,7%, Greeks 0,4%, Poles 0,4%, Croatians, Austrians, Bosnians and others 4,4%
Bordering countries: Denmark on the NORTH, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France on the WEST, Switzerland and Austria on the South, Czech Republic and Poland on the EAST
Main mountains: Zugspitze 2962 m, Höllentalspitze 2745 m, Watzmann 2713 m
Main rivers: the Rhine 865 Km (in Germany, in total 1320 Km), the Elba 700 Km (in Germany, in total 1165 Km),the Danube 647 Km (in Germany, in total 2858 Km), the Main 524 Km, the Weser 440 Km, the Saale 427 Km
Main lakes: Costance lake 305 Km² (German part, in total 538 Km²), Müritz 110 Km², Chiemsee 80 Km²
Main Islands: Rügen 930 Km², Usedom 373 Km² (German part, in total 445 Km²), Fehmarn 185 Km², Eastern and Northern Frisian Islands (Sylt 99 Km², Föhr 83 Km²)
Climate: Oceanic - continental
Language: German (official), Danish
Religion: Protestant 43%, Roman Catholic 33%, Islamic 2%, others 22%
Currency: Euro
The typical German dishes are:
· GOSSE BOHNEN MIT SPECK: tender broad beans with lard flavoured with leaves of savory .
· PANNHAS: thin maize bread made with lard broth, sausages and blood pudding. People say this dish has got the property to recover the baldness
· MATOSCHEN: a kind of ravioli stuffed with calves brains, pork and spinach
· Typical is beef with radish sauce or the Berliner little pork paw
· DEUTSCHES BEEFSTEAK: famous in all the world is the minced meat steak called hamburger steaks.
Pay attention please: in Germany the hamburger rundstuk is made of bread, ham and fried eggs.
Most famous are WÜRSTEL with SAUERKRAUT.
The most famous starters are:
· KNOEDEL: big gnocchi with breadcrumb and cubes of lard KALBSHAXE, the potato gnocchi with baked dried prunes and apples or the typical soups like the eel soup in Hamburg, and the soups with sausages and potatos in Saxony.
Typical desserts:
· KUCHLE: wild berries, hazels and petals of roses wrapped in the pastry
and fried
· PRINTEN: honey biscuits from Aachen.
Stout and lager beer is the most famous drink, but we can also find the Kirsch, made with the wild cherries from the Black Forest, or the wines made in the Rhine Valley and in the Mosella Valley
Sports:
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football, hockey on ice, American football, handball, tennis
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