About Germany

     Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland (help·info), IPA: [ˈbundəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), is a country in West-central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

     Germany is a parliamentary federal republic of sixteen states (Bundesländer). The capital city and seat of government is Berlin. As a nation-state, the country was unified near the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. After World War II, Germany's government was re-formed, its territory was divided into two separate states along the lines of allied occupation in 1949 and then was reunified in 1990. Germany is a founding member of the European Union, and with over 82 million people it has the largest population among the EU member states.

     The Federal Republic of Germany is a modern great power, a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G4 nations and, as of 2006, ranked sixth in military expenditure. Germany is the world's third largest economy by nominal GDP, the world's largest exporter of goods, and the world's second largest importer of goods. In 2007 it held the rotating presidencies of both the European Council and the G8 summits.

About Jena

     Jena is a city in central Germany on the river Saale. With a population of 102,494, it is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.

Main Sights : 

• The 13th century Town Hall ("Rathaus"). It has astronomic clock featuring the "Snatching Hans" ("Schnapphans").
• The Gothic St. Michael's Church ("Michaelskirche", 1506). It has a bronze slab of Martin Luther's tomb
• Monument to John Frederick the Magnanimous (1905-08), in the Market Square
• The Old Castle and numerous towers from the medieval fortifications, including the Powder Tower (13th-14th centuries)
• House of Friedrich Schiller and his Wedding Church.
• The Botanical Garden, founded in 1580, the second oldest botanical garden in Germany
• Jen-Tower, a research edifice built in GDR times. There is a restaurant and viewing platform at the 27th floor.

In the neighbourhood are the Dornburg Castles and the Kapellendorf Moated Castle.

Museums : 

• Optical Museum Jena - history of optical instruments
• Schott GlassMuseum - production and usage of glass
• Citymuseum Göhre - urban history of Jena
• Botanical Garden
• Phyletical Museum - biology
• Romanticism House - literary
• Memorial to Goethe - literary
• Oriental Coin Cabinet Jena - Oriental history, numismatics

 Culture :

• The Jenaer Philharmonie is the largest independent symphony orchestra in Thuringia.
• In the Novel 1632 and several other works in the best selling fiction 1632 series, Jena and the University of Jena, located in the same region as displaced town (in both time and space) of Grantville, WV, play a prominent role Jena becomes part of the New United States founded by the Americans of Grantville introducing modern thought a political theory into the middle of the Thirty Years' War, and the University the heart of their attempt to introduce modern medical knowledge and practices into the plague ridden Germany.