Friday Fun Facts

Fun Facts - Germany

1.  As of 2008, there were 82.7 million people living in Germany along with 68 million bicycles.  They like to bike over there!

2.  The most popular German children's names are Marie and Leon.

3.  Funny names of some past German monarchs:  Karl the Fat, Arnulf the Evil, Friedrich the Handsome, and Heinrich the Holy.

4.  When the USSR blockaded Berlin, the Allies responded with the Berlin airlift, dropping the equivalent of 22 freight trains (with 50 cars each) full of food... every 90 seconds!  Jesse learned about this as part of his Air Force history during BMT.  It was a huge feat! 

5.  Germany is the world's third largest economy (after Japan and the USA) and it is the world's largest exporter! 

6.  Because most schools only go from 8am to 1pm and childcare is very expensive, most German women with young kids either don't work or only work part time. 

7.  Germans lower (rather than raise) their voice when angry. 

8.  The original score of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is kept in the Old National Library in Berlin.


9.  Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm compiled 210 fairy tales that had been passed orally between generations into their book The Complete Fairy Tales.

10.  There are more than 1500 sausage varieties in Germany.  They are usually all served with bread and either sweet or spicy mustard.  Mmmmm!

(Today's fun facts compliments of Germany, by Lonely Planet)