Today's Germany is a country with a rich and turbulent past, one which we can learn so much from. When you go to Germany you'll defintely get to see the cool old buildings, drink beer out of huge steins, and eat lots of bratwurst. Obviously, what you're going to see is the more traditional German stuff, and fortunately there's still plenty of it to be found.

Area: 137,838 square miles

Population: 78,350,000

Capital: Berlin

The best places to do your sightseeing and culture sampling are Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt. The food in Germany is hearty and delicious, as long as you don't mind the fat and cholesterol. If you do go to, make sure to visit several different regions to make sure you get a true look at Germany.

Must See

A typical tour of the city starts with the famous Glockenspiel on the New Town Hall on Marienplatz. Go into the inner courtyard of the neo-Gothic Town Hall with its faux gargoyles -uilt in 1908 to look mediaeval - and head upstairs to take in the spectacular carved-wood City Library.

If you're into culinary adventure, head through the Old Town Hall gate from Marienplatz to the Weisses Bräuhaus on Tal St. Or walk briskly past the tourist traps to the northeast of the main square on your way the legendary Hofbräuhaus(Court Brewery) and see if the beer garden inside is open.

Then saunter back through the mediaeval Alter Hof or ducal Old Court towards the pedestrian zone north of Marienplatz, strolling past the National Opera, the Royal Residence with its antique collections and the Feldherrnhalle, where the first Nazi putsch was broken up by the city police in 1923. In summertime, you can hang a right here, ambling diagonally through the arcaded Royal Gardens past the spanking-new State Chancellery, under a pedestrian underpass, and find yourself in the English Gardens, conceived by American physicist Sir Benjamin Thompson.

In winter or rainy weather, hop on the subway at Odeonsplatz and head for one of the Museums around Königsplatz or the Museum Island. Directly on Königsplatz is the Glyptothek, King Ludwig I's stunning collection of ancient Greek statuary. and the Museum contains the most beautiful café in town.

Through the Propyläen arches, built in honor of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, lies the mansion of Franz Lenbach, painter and art patron, containing the works of his students Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and the Blue Rider group, as well as excellent contemporary exhibits. For these rotating exhibits, the Lenbachhaus recently opened its Kunstbau wing in the subway stop right next door. With its Greek statue exhibit at track level and the Kunstbau built in a tunnel hollow over the subway tracks, Königsplatz has got to be one of the classiest subway stops west of Moscow.

Also near Königsplatz are the flagship art museums, the Old and New Pinakothek. Unfortunately, the Old Pinakothek, with its immense mediaeval collection of Rembrandts, Dürers, Rubens, Brueghels and countless other Old Masters, is closed for renovation until 1998. A selection of its masterpieces is on display across the street in the New Pinakothek, along with the usual exhibit of 19th century Romantics leading up to Van Gogh.

If you've got a rainy day to kill, hit the Deutsches Museum on Museum Island,just past the McDonald's at Isartor Gate. The largest technical museum in the world - and the biggest science museum this side of the Smithsonian - ranges from a real mine shaft in the basement to a planetarium and space exhibit on the top. Little and big boys' eyes light up like Christmas at the aviation exhibits complete with V-2 rocket and flight simulator. Off the beaten path, check out Foucault's Pendulum in its 100-meter high tower in the southwest corner.

And if it's a really nasty day, round it off with a Roman-Irish steam bath at the Müller'sches Volksbad just across the bridge from the Museum, with its breathtaking art deco interior and pleasant café.

SITE OF THE 1972 OLYMPIC PARK

Funkytown

The Olympic Park, home to the 1972 games and famed soccer studs F.C. Bayern, is worth a visit for its revolutionary glass-tent architecture its panoramic view from the 951-ft. rotating TV tower and the futuristic BMW museum Advertising: BMW museum . But on Summer Sundays, the Olympic Park hosts a different attraction: free open-air rock jams by local bands at the Theatron amphitheater, from 3 p.m. till nightfall, complete with Folksfest and beer tent. Plus, from the Tollwood tent festival on the south end of the park features crafts, wholistic world cuisine, theater, live music and freaky art for the tie-dye set.

The Summer venue is the Feierwerk festival in an old army base turned youth center: free concerts, art, comics, juggling, theater, low-price food, and, of course, a beer garden - the Folksfest for the alternative-minded.

In the flourishing Munich art scene of the late 19th Century, the counterpart to the respectable Lenbach was a party animal named Franz von Stuck, a farmer-boy who struck it rich and built himself a mind-bending art-deco villa on the upper banks of the Isar River overlooking the city.

Munich's most famous church, Frauenkirche, is 328 feet long and was built between 1468 and 1494. The twin 320-foot spires offer a spectacular view of the city.

One of the most recommended sights is the Monopteros hill in the English Garden at sunset, often accompanied by African bongos, or, if you're really serious about scenic views, the Olympic Tower (951 ft., express elevator). Another church

The famed Frauendom (Church of Our Lady) may be the symbol of Munich, but, in typical Gothic style, the inside is virtually empty. Even the barbed footprint where the Prince of Darkness is said to have stamped his hoof in disgust at the cathedral is now empty.

Events Beer Festivals Oktoberfest

The first thing to know about Oktoberfest is that it actually begins in September. The second thing is to book well in advance if you expect to get a hotel room around Oktoberfest time - the Fest regularly draws around 10 million visitors, cramming hotels all the way to the Austrian border. For the special Exploring Germany Oktoberfest page, watch this space in Summer! Strong Beer Fest

If you're coming through town in March, be sure to check out the Lenten counterpart to Oktoberfest at Nockherberg beer hall, the Starkbierfest. Come prepared to party with a whole hall of Bavarians in all kinds of leather pants, from Lederhosen to motorcycle wear, who will very soon be your best buddies, regardless of whether you speak German or not.

Rest assured that the smoky Starkbier tastes fine, though, even a little too good - be sure to eat well beforehand, and keeping the cab fare in your pocket is probably a good idea. Munich: Pretzels, Beer and High Culture

The city of Munich was raised on beer and salty pretzels. When the first Augustine monks founded their settlement on the site of modern-day St. Peter's in the 9th Century, they began brewing a frothy mix of hops and malt that went a long way to converting the heathen. "Augustiner" beer remains the pride of the city to this day - officially dating back almost seven centuries to the year 1328!

Munich remained a market town of lesser importance until the beginning of the last century, when Ludwig I played a deft political game: first he supported Napoleon against the rest of Germany and Europe, which got him crowned the first King of Bavaria. After Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign switched sides and fought with the winners at Waterloo.

How to have your cake and eat it, too: Bavaria emerged from the Napoleonic Wars stronger than ever, Ludwig I married his son Otto off to the princess of Greece, and set his architects Franz Gärtner (who has a theater named after him) and Leo von Klenze to building neo-classical temples like monumental Königsplatz and grand boulevards like Ludwigstrasse. This passion for building was later carried to excess by his grandson, the fairy-tale King Ludwig II, who shot the state wad building the famed Neuschwanstein castle.