Euromaxx: The Truth About Germany

This week our roving reporter Michael Wigge is touring the country in a bid to find out just how passionate his fellow Germans are.

And while we're on the subject of orchestras and classical music - it just so happens that Michael Wigge took that as his cue for this week's reportage. Our roving reporter sets out to see if Germans can live up to their reputation of being big on classical music...and whether or not they can spare good old Beethoven the rolling over!

This time our roving reporter Michael Wigge is taking a look at Volkswagen cars as he tries to find out what makes them so popular. He will be visiting the company's headquarters in Lower Saxony.

With most sectors still reeling from the shock waves of the financial crisis there's been a lot of talk about the art market, how prices have slumped, or how many younger artists are benefitting from the fact that buyers are happy to pay lower prices these days. Unchanged however is the fact that contemporary German art is very much in demand - and our intrepid reporter Michael Wigge decided to find out why it exerts such a fascination.

You've heard the phrase "someone with two left feet" which refers to someone who can't dance. Well at home I'm referred to as the man with two left hands as I am useless at do it yourself jobs around the house. It's a major achievement when I can change a light bulb successfully. Why am I telling you this? Well it seems the Germans have a reputation of being dab hands at DIY. Our reporter Michael Wigge has been finding out the truth!

This time we are off to Hamburg's famous red light district.

Nobody hikes like the germans. On the weenends, up to two million hikers and nature lovers retreat to the wild green yonder. But what spurs them on through sleet and rain to thoug it out with Mother Nature?

In our weekly series, "The Truth About Germany", our intrepid reporter Michael Wigge investigates stereotypes and this week he's off to the Ruhr Valley region. Germany's biggest urban sprawl and former industrial heartland has been chosen as one of the 2010 European Capitals of Culture. Reason enough for Wigge to see just what role culture plays in the Ruhr Valley and among its residents.

And on a more seasonal note - it's now time to ponder the truth about Christmas in Germany - courtesy of our roving reporter Michael Wigge who explores German Christmas traditions.

In our regular series on clichés surrounding Germany and its people, our roving reporter Michael Wigge this time focuses on the idea that Germany has lots of snow and is a winter wonderland. False. There are whole parts of the country that hardly ever get any - like the Rhineland. Wigge is on the search for truth...about snow.

Michael Wigge continues his search for the truth about Germany. Today he heads for the Autobahn, Germany's famous network of highways where you can sometimes drive as fast as you like.

In our weekly edition of "The Truth About Germany," euromaxx reporter Michael Wigge sets out to see just how multicultural Germany has become these days. Wigge investigates in the capital, Berlin.

Today our intrepid reporter Michael Wigge explores the differences between Eastern and Western Germans to find out what die-hard stereotypes and prejudices about "Easties" and "Westies" still exist nearly 20 years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

Michael Wigge gives us a special report to mark 60 years of the Federal Republic of Germany. Our roving reporter is out and about in Berlin for the last time.

A family in Germany statistically consists of 1,37 children thereby placing the country at the end of European fertility. No wonder, considering that 41% of the population live alone. Experts have pointed to many reasons why Germans are failing to reproduce - a conservative family culture, with women expected to stay at home; schools that finish at lunchtime; and a tax system that discriminates against working women. Germany's family minister, Ursula von der Leyen, has been doing her best to...