Lightning illuminates a thundercloud as a storm front hits the North Sea region near Westerhever, northern Germany, on August 11, 2014. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/AFP Photo/DPA)

Carnival revellers pose during the postponed “Rosenmontag” (Rose Monday) parade in Mainz, Germany, May 8, 2016, after the original parade in February was cancelled due to severe weather. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Reuters)

An “asparagus eating contest” made of asparagus and carved pumpkins is on display on the sidelines of the Giant Vegetable Competition in Klaistow, northeastern Germany, on September 20, 2015. The vegetable giants compete in seven categories. (Photo by Bernd Settnik/AFP Photo)

Musician Nina Chub poses on the red carpet for the 2022 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) at the PSD Bank Dome in Duesseldorf, Germany on November 13, 2022. (Photo by Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters)

Italy's Federica Brignone's helmet is seen after their run at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on January 25, 2025. (Photo by Gintare Karpaviciute/Reuters)

A bee searches for nectar on a flower in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on Friday, September 19, 2025. (Photo by Boris Roessler/dpa/picture alliance/Getty Images)

These portraits reveal the incredibly humanlike expressions of a variety of apes.Through piercing eyes and finite facial details, the intimate photographs show the animals looking angry, sad, delighted and pensive. They are the works of Manuela Kulpa – an IT consultant and keen photographer from near Cologne, Germany – who shot the apes predominantly at zoos across Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands. Here: Bonobo, Azibo. (Photo by Manuela Kulpa/Caters News)

A Sorb egg painter decorates an Easter egg while using bent spoons full of melted wax as coloring at the annual Easter egg market on March 16, 2013 in Schleife, Germany. Easter is a particularly important time of year for Sorbs, a Slavic minority in eastern Germany, and the period includes the tradition of painting Easter eggs that include visual elements intended to ward off evil. Many Sorbs still speak Sorbian, a language closely related to Polish and Czech. (Photo by Adam Berry)