Hesse - Home of the Frankfurter Quiz

Answer: Main

Frankfurt is a major financial centre. It is home to the European Central Bank and one of the world's major stock exchanges as well as many other institutions. The city has a particularly prominent skyline. In October 2011, all bar one of the German buildings that were classified as skyscrapers were in Frankfurt!

The city's full title is usually written as Frankfurt am Main, meaning Frankfurt on the Main (river). The Main rises in the Franconia region of Bavaria and meanders its way across Germany until is discharges into the mighty Rhine. Although there is also a Frankfurt an der Oder, that town is situated on the border with Poland in the German state of Brandenburg.

As well as being home to the frankfurter sausage, other culinary delights that you could sample in Frankfurt include Apfelwein (apple wine) and a Hessian favourite called green sauce. Legend has it that this was the well-known German writer Goethe's favourite dish.

Answer: Wiesbaden

During the 19th century, Wiesbaden expanded from a very small town to one containing around 100,000 people. As a result of this population explosion, the city illustrates many examples of the varying architectural styles of the period and this has been labelled as "historicism".

Amongst the famous characters to have come to Wiesbaden to sample the benefits of the hot springs are Goethe and the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Unfortunately for the latter, he took an interest in playing roulette at the casino and built up huge gambling debts. This experience influenced his 1867 novella "The Gambler", which was written in order to pay off gambling debts. Had he not written something by a strict deadline, he would have lost all the rights to his works!

Answer: Hamburg

One of the popular ways that people spend time on a visit to Germany is touring the towns of some of its beautiful river valleys. Less well known than its near neighbour, the Rhine Valley, the Lahn Valley is home to wonderful scenery and has some lovely towns that contain half timbered buildings which are typical of many German old towns.

Aside from Weilburg, Limburg and Marburg, Wetzlar contains an unfinished cathedral that displays architectural features from many different periods owing to the length of time that it has undergone construction. Those on a scientific pilgrimage may want to visit X-Ray discoverer Wilhelm Röntgen's tomb in Gießen.

The massive city of Hamburg is much further to the north and is treated as a city state. This city state lies between Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, far away from the Lahn Valley.

Answer: Gothic

The church is named after Elisabeth of Hungary, a 13th century saint known for her charitable work. Her remains were buried in the church and attracted many pilgrims until they were removed on the order of Philip I "The Magnanimous" of Hesse.

Philip was an important figure in the protestant reformation that occurred during the 16th century. The city's university is named after him and was the first protestant university in Europe. The infamous Ulrike Meinhof once studied there, where she became involved in reform movements. She was eventually to co-create the terrorist organisation the Red Army Faction.

Marburg has a less appealing claim to fame in that it has a virus named after it. Discovered in 1967 after an outbreak in the city, the virus was passed on from infected Green Monkey tissue. A particularly nasty outbreak of the Marburg virus occurred in Angola during the early 21st century that resulted in over 100 deaths.

Answer: Documenta

Kassel is home to the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe. Although there are many examples of palaces and accompanying gardens in Germany, a particular appeal that makes this one stand out is that it is situated on a mountain slope, this particular park being the largest to do so in Europe. An iconic site is the Hercules Monument situated on the top of a hill. From here, water makes its way down through an elaborate system of waterways until it reaches a fountain. The system is maintained naturally, with the water being released at specific times when people can come to enjoy the spectacle.

"Documenta" takes place every five years and attracts many major figures from the art world. Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, created the largest ever unsupported inflatable structure for Documenta 4. The controversial Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei participated in Documenta 12 in 2007, where his design was an archway made up of antique doors. Unfortunately, it collapsed and remained on display as a fortuitous new piece of art!

Answer: Fulda

St. Boniface is thought to have been born in Devon, England, but it is for his work in spreading Christianity among the Germanic people that he has gone down in history. One legend tells of how he felled an oak tree sacred to the pagan god Thor. Bystanders were stunned when he was not struck by lightning! He was martyred in 755 when he and his companions were attacked by infidels. Instead of fighting back, Boniface preached to his companions to meet their death with calm and look forward to the everlasting peace that would follow. An easy day's murdering for the infidels was not rewarded with great booty as all the religious group had were items of a religious nature.

The town of Fulda gives its name to the Fulda Gap. This is a region of open terrain around Fulda that had important relevance during the Cold War, where it was seen as a route that could be used for a Soviet offensive. There was even a board game made to simulate such an event occurring.

Answer: Brothers Grimm

References to Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm pop up all over Germany. Towns and cities are keen to point out when the Brothers Grimm spent some time there, and many of their fairy tales have become very well known internationally. In trying to learn a little bit of German, I came across "Der Froschkönig", known in English as "The Frog Prince". Expecting a nice fairy tale where the princess' kiss turns the frog into a prince, I was stunned to discover that this actually happened when the ungrateful girl threw the frog against a wall. That wasn't in the Disney version!

The fairy tale road commences in Hanau and takes in many towns and cities that have some association with the Brothers Grimm or one of their fairy tales. The route finishes in Bremen, where you will find a statue of "The Town Musicians of Bremen." That story told of the adventures of a cat, a dog, a rooster and a donkey as they searched for a new home.

Answer: Fossils

One of the most important known fossil sites in the world, the astonishing amount of fossils that have been excavated at the Messel Pit helps to give an idea of what life was like, and how it developed during the Eocene epoch. This was the period of time when modern mammals began to emerge and finds include early relatives of bats, horses and anteaters.

The site has been used in the past as a quarry, but fell into disuse in the 1970s when extraction of the oil shale ceased to be deemed economically viable. The site was considered as a landfill site, but thanks to campaigning against that proposal, the site remained intact. Should that have happened, the discovery of a "lemur-monkey" fossil in 2009 would never have occurred. That particular fossil has been lauded as a missing link that helps to prove Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Answer: Darmstadt

Chemical element number 110, darmstadtium (Ds), is named after the city where it was first created. This took place at the GSI, a heavy ion research centre situated in a Darmstadt suburb. Darmstadtium is a synthetic, unstable element that exists for only a short time before it decays into other elements. As well as darmstadtium, the GSI has also been credited with creating other transfermium (elements with an atomic number over 100) elements.

One piece of modern architecture that stands out in Darmstadt is the "Waldspirale" or "Forest Spiral" in English. This is a very colourful residential complex made to a design by the Austrian architect Fredensreich Hundertwasser. It takes a U-shape, and gradually descends from its high point at one end, to its low point at the other end. Of its many windows, no two are exactly the same!

Answer: Carolingian

The highlight of a visit to Lorsch is the unique Carolingian gate hall. Built over 1,000 years ago, it serves as a rare example of architectural styles that were used between the Roman and Romanesque periods. It served as the entrance to the monastic complex, although what exactly its purpose was for is still open to debate.

Unfortunately, when I decided to pay a visit to Lorsch, the gate hall was covered in scaffolding. As much as this was not exactly what I'd gone to visit, it served to highlight how essential restoration work is if such fascinating historical sites are to be preserved for future generations. Owing to factors such as pollution, many parts of the gate hall were starting to look a little worse for wear. Modern techniques were to be used in order to try and restore the building while retaining its authenticity. Despite this disappointment, Lorsch and its neighbouring town of Bensheim have lovely centres and I still had a great day out.