There are a number of things you can do to find out how Germany is doing right now. Read a lot of newspapers, study statistics, interview psychologists, visit delivery rooms and churches, whatever. But you can also make it easier and drive to the small town of Stockach at the northern tip of Lake Constance. Idyllic old town, 17,000 inhabitants, the inn is called "Zum Goldenen Ochsen", the tattoo studio "Cry later" and the ice cream parlor, of course, "Venezia". But that's not it. Matthias Reim lives a little further away, on a small, quiet hillside street, and you only have to look at him and listen to him to know how the country is doing at the moment.

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