Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Rothenburg, Germany – Samantha Brown’s Places to Love FULL 4K EPISODE

Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Rothenburg, Germany – Samantha Brown’s Places to Love FULL 4K EPISODE

-I’m in Germany, one of the top travel
destinations in the world, and I’ll be exploring three
of its cities, each with a unique place
in history that can still be felt… [ Glasses clinking ] …and sipped today. One city is an unknown travel
gem founded by the Roman Empire. Another is known for its one-of-a-kind art collection
and chocolate. And finally, one of the most preserved
medieval towns in all of Europe, saved by an American mom. I’m visiting Mainz, Wiesbaden,
and Rottenburg. Hi, I’m Samantha Brown, and I
have been traveling the globe for 25 years. Here’s a great episode of my
Emmy-award winning travel series Places to Love. Like and subscribe to join
me on my adventures! Okay, let’s go! ♪♪ -On this trip to Germany, I’m focusing on three
iconic cities near the major hub
of Frankfurt — the spa town
of Wiesbaden, the medieval city
of Rottenburg, and I start my trip
back in Mainz. I was enjoying
a Rhine River cruise when I first encountered Mainz, and I found it to be
a charming city that enjoys its location
along the famed river and has an amiable old town
of cobblestone streets and half-timbered homes. Its major claim to fame
is that it’s the home of Johannes Gutenberg, and it was here
in the 15th century that he created movable type
and the Gutenberg press. -One, two, and three. Bravo.
-Okay. But this city’s history goes
back much further than that. -This station was built
in the late 19th century, and it was named South Station. And later,
when they were the excavation, they changed the name, and now it’s
Station of the Roman Theater. -And I love it. You’re waiting
on this platform, and if you arrive at the station
you’ve gone back 2,000 years. -That’s true. Yes. -Now we are now
in this theater. And the theater, what you can see today,
it’s from fourth century, the biggest theater northern
of the Alps. There was possible to come here
10,000 people. -10,000 people? -And it was also very high To the cross
to this Luther church — to the top of the cross,
there were the seats to the top of the cross. -Oh, my gosh! It’s hard to imagine
10,000 people could fit in what’s left
of this ancient Roman theater. The train now runs through
what used to be the stage, but at a slightly higher
viewpoint a little more
of the amphitheater is revealed. Was this always known
this was here? Did they always know they had
a Roman theater? -Not always.
It was known till 17th century. They used this to have stones
for building other houses, and then it was forgotten. And the first wall was found
in late 19th century when they built
the railway station. -Wow. But excavations didn’t begin
until the late 20th century. Having Roman ruins
in a German city — How unique is that? -So far it’s fantastic.
[ Laughs ] -But, I mean,
are there lots of cities that can make that claim? -No, so it’s really a central
place at the eastern borderline of the Roman Empire. -Yeah.
-Okay. Come with me now here. -The Roman Empire may be gone, but next to the ruins
is a hidden tunnel which leaves clues
to their lasting legacy. Wow, that is cool! -That was used for the
fortification in 17th century. Look here. That is a stone
of Roman times, this beautiful decoration
with grapes. Although that’s
very typical for Mainz. Mainz is great wine capital. And you can see grapes,
and you can say that the Romans brought
the technique for making wine. They brought it here
in this area. -Rheinhessen, in the world, was known for cheap and sweet
wines and mass production. Some young and innovative
vine growers came and said, “Yes, let’s do this. Let’s focus on good grapes.
Let’s focus on lower yields. And let’s make
not only Liebfraumilch, which is sweet and cheap,
let’s make wine which is a good
for a restaurant in New York.” I’m Eva Vollmer,
and I’m the owner of Eva Vollmer Vineyards, and my wine region
is Rheinhessen. Now, and this is what I’m
following is, of course, planting resistant grapes,
resilient grapes, which are, um —
have a harder skin. So we have less spraying. 80% less spraying
with more sustainable grapes. We should taste one.
-I think so. -We are in the middle of
a future grape, I call it, because it’s
a grape for a better future. -This is a future grape? -Yeah, I call it like this.
-May I? -It’s a PIWI.
A fungus-resistant grape. -Okay.
-And it’s Sauvignac. -Sauvignac?
-The grape is called Sauvignac. -Okay.
How old is Sauvignac? -It started
its history 20 years ago, but it needs time
to get on the market. A vineyard is
a long-term culture, so we have to think,
“Okay, I’m doing something
for the next 40 years.” -What you’re doing
is very different. This really is more
of an open-air laboratory. -I want to have
a coexistence of new ideas, but also our holy Riesling,
of course. -I love it. I’m seeing a grape at
the beginning of its career. -Yeah, yeah, it’s a baby. And I’m pouring you
that blend. -So this is Sauvignac.
And what did you blend it with? -Hibernal and Cabernet blanc. -Phenomenal! -Yeah. It’s exploding.
Yeah. -That is phenomenal.
-Yeah. -My whole mouth is having
a good time right now, and I really appreciate that. -I have a picture in my mind, and I think that I’m feel what
people really, really love. And then it’s my job
to taste in the vineyard. I tasted those
three different lots with three different
grape varieties. And I know they fit together.
-Good job. -It’s a hard job
but a good job. [ Both laugh ] -Well, cheers to the future
of wine. -Yeah. Cheers.
-Cheers. The future of wine in Mainz
is strong. Everywhere in this
small city founded by Romans you’ll see people enjoying wine
day and night, outside and inside
the many wine houses of Mainz. And I’m checking out
one of its busiest. So the day is not over, and I’m drinking more wine
because I’m in Mainz — as in, “I ‘Mainz’
have another glass.” [ Laughs ] But I’m actually
at a wine house. And this is what I love
about this part of Germany. I know Germany is known for,
like, beer and big beer halls, but it’s also known
for wine houses. Danke schön. Oh, yeah,
just leave the bottle. -Yeah, sure, I will do it.
-[ Laughs ] -So, enjoy.
-Thank you. [ Laughs ] My hotel is right
around the corner. I’ve just got a few cobblestone
streets to walk over, and I’ll be fine. [ Indistinct conversations ] Oh! I’m just I’m just in my — I’m in my land of wine
with this kind of wine. This is, of course, Riesling,
which is the king here. And all the wines are
from within 20 kilometers. There are 4,000 wineries
to choose from, so they’ve got quite
a selection. And everyone here
is drinking wine. Do you see any cocktails? No.
Do you see any beer? No. And we’re in Germany.
Because we are in a wine house. Cheers. Just across the Rhine, I’m visiting the nearby spa town
of Wiesbaden and its spectacular
art museum. Museum Wiesbaden is known for its rare
contemporary art collection, and the museum recently opened a permanent collection
of Art Nouveau. -Well, Art Nouveau is
a movement in Europe and the US, wanted to create
a new style of art inspired by the dynamism
of the nature and the thought of the youth. They wanted to reinvent
the craft, the hand skills. They wanted to become
aware of the individual altogether with nature. I’m Andreas Henning, the director
of the Museum Wiesbaden, that is the Hesse State Museum
for Art and Nature. I would like to show you
one of my favorite pieces. It’s a desk.
-Oh, yes. -A desk
made by Louis Majorelle. The desk is growing
from the floor like an orchid. We have the plants,
the blossoms of an orchid. I really want and dream to sit
and write a letter here, but even as the director
I’m not allowed. Unfortunately.
-I mean, really? Even at, like, 2:00 a.m. you can’t sneak in here
and write a nice — pay some of your bills. -There’s alarm systems,
so that isn’t allowed. So we have here mahogany wood,
leather, um, gilt bronze, for example,
and we do have electric light. Imagine, electric light
was just invented and the artist couldn’t have such a slim lighting system
without electric light. Art Nouveau furniture,
porcelain, chandelier, paintings all together. We are united. And nature
is the main source, or was the main source
of inspiration. -Of inspiration. So the idea was lifestyle,
right? “This is our lifestyle
that we’re going to live.” -Yes. That’s a good expression.
You can say that. Lifestyle. So you can discover the
different styles of Art Nouveau in this collection. Franz von Stuck, a German
painter based in Munich, invented this iconic painting —
a female nude with a serpent. It is part
of the symbolism movement. Symbolism is part
of the Art Nouveau movement, and they looked on
the darker sides of existence. It’s frightening and exciting. It’s both. A serpent
and a female naked body is allusion to Eve,
of course, and it’s why it’s written
in the tabernacle frame “Die Sünde” — “The Sin.” But it’s not a painting
about Eve, but about the femme fatale. Because men in these days,
they felt, well, the female body were used
as a weapon against male sex, so they were frightened. -Uh-huh. So, is that representing
a man’s fear of women’s power or is that representing
women’s power? -That is both.
-I like her. -Yeah. And this is dedicated to
Hector Guimard. He designed the metro stations
in Paris. -Oh, of course. -And here, we have one
of his series of furnitures. Flowing lines,
just ornamental, organic lines. coming one with another. It’s just a huge collection
of 570-odd pieces permanently on show. -But it’s also
from one collector, who collected all
of these beautiful objects over 40 years. -Thanks to him,
Ferdinand Wolfgang Neess, an art dealer and collector,
created this collection, and it’s one of the
very outstanding collection of Art Nouveau worldwide. -It’s incredible. ♪♪ I was told that
to really enjoy Wiesbaden, that it’s all
about just relaxing, going on a stroll, seeing some art,
and then have a snack. -We have a lot
of people walking by, just stopping and having
a look at all of the chocolates, deciding if they want to go in
or not. Then they’re passing
the next window, and there’s people sitting
there having their coffee, drinking hot chocolate,
and then that’s the moment where they decide they
definitely have to go in. -That’s when I was hooked. -Kunder Chocolateria
has been making chocolate here in Wiesbaden
for over 125 years. Okay, so, what’s your
favorite chocolate? -There’s one
which I particularly like. It’s right over there.
-Mm-hmm. -It’s the orange one.
-Okay. -And we invented it in 2014, when the Dutch queen and king
came to visit Wiesbaden. -Oh! -And it’s with orange juice,
vanilla, and honey. -Ooh! Alright.
This is one of your favorites. -It is. -Oh, it’s wonderful.
Mmm! They’re called pralines, but
different from American style. A praline here is chocolate
that can be eaten in one bite and usually filled
with something. How many kind of go
back to over 100 years ago? -That’s our pineapple tarts. -Pineapple tarts.
-Yes. And they have been invented
in 1902 by my great-great-grandfather,
Fritz. Wiesbaden was a spa town
back then in those days, and they really wanted to have
a souvenir for people to take home and they wanted to use
very exclusive products and ingredients
and they choose the pineapple. I would recommend you to try
them with our hot chocolate. It’s special to us, as well,
because we serve it very differently
than a lot of cafés in the area. It’s two cans filled with —
one is filled with hot chocolate like, melted chocolate,
dark one, and the other one is with milk. And then you can pour it
into your cup and just decide how much milk and how much chocolate
you want to be in there. -Oh! That is beautiful. And now for the famous
pineapple tart. -This is not a one-biter.
-[ Chuckles ] Wafers, nougat,
marzipan, dark chocolate, pineapple jam,
dusted with almonds?! To think that people were
taking these as souvenirs. This is not making
it back in my luggage. [ Chuckles ] Just a two-hour drive
from Wiesbaden lies the fairy-tale city
of Rothenburg. We are now walking
in what is considered one of the best-preserved
medieval cities in the world. -One of the famous.
-One of the most famous. What do you think makes
it famous? -It’s well-preserved
in medieval Gothic style. They want to see
these timbered houses, to see this romantic,
picturesque place. -Located at the intersection
of two great trading routes — Prague to Paris,
and Hamburg to Venice — Rothenburg
was wealthy and popular throughout the Middle Ages. The fact that we today, in 2024, are allowed just
to walk its main streets and its little alleyways —
why is it so well-preserved? -Yes.
After the Thirty Years’ War, which was finished 1648, they lost their power,
they lost their money, they lost their influence. -And then those difficult
times ultimately protected the beauty of the city. -They were very poor
and they didn’t have any money to renovate,
to change buildings — -I’ve heard that term before
that poverty protects. So is that what happened here?
-You can say that, yeah. And in the 19th century,
the town was discovered. Suddenly, they say, “Wow!
This is a town of…” -This is beautiful!
-“This is beautiful. Nothing happened.” And then came the —
they discover it. -And that brings us right here
to — what? — September 17, 2024,
and it’s just all these people. -Yeah. -But no one might have been
able to enjoy this city were it not
for an unexpected advocate. During the final days of
World War II, U.S. General Devers was prepared
to bomb Rothenburg to the ground if there wasn’t
a total surrender. But the Assistant Secretary
of War, John McCloy, listened to the advice
of someone very close to him. -His mother —
she was here on holidays. She was a fan of Rothenburg
and she wrote her son, John. It’s so beautiful.
He heard about it. And then he said to Devers,
“Please wait one week, then everything is over.” And that was the reason
Devers said, “Okay, I wait one week,
and if then we have no problem.” And on the 17th March,
in the morning, 6:00, the U.S. Army
went through these gates. -And so, because of
John and his mother, Ellen McCloy,
the town of Rothenburg survived. Most travelers come to
Rothenburg for the day, and they are missing out. Once the tour buses leave, there are more personal
experiences to be had, like the one I found
at Hotel Markusturm, where fourth-generation
hoteliers Stephan and Lilo Berger check you in,
cook you a meal, and serve you. And I’m having my meal with
their daughter, Lissy Berger. -Enjoy your meal.
-Thank you. We will. You are fifth generation?
-Yes. When did your family,
your descendants, first be a part of the hotel,
I should say? -We got it in 1898.
-Oh! Wow! -It was like my living room.
-Mm-hmm. There was always life. There were always guests
from all over the world. There were Japanese people,
people from America, from all over the world. And they were so friendly,
so super-friendly. And every day was different. -So, we are outside of
the tower and the archway that was built in
the 12th century. So how old is this building? -This part is 750 years old. This part, for example, in this
wall is from the 13th century. Three walls are built from us. And the fourth wall is
the city wall. -Running a hotel, you not only
have to take care of guests, but you also have to take
care of an ancient building. How do you repair a wall
that was built at a time that people are like, “I don’t
know how they made that”? -We have really good craftsmen
from this region, of course,
so they know our house. They also are family businesses. So they know my parents,
my grandparents, even because they are also third
generation, fourth generation. For example, we have a lot
of old clocks in the building. -Okay.
-So we need someone to fix it. And there is only one person
left who can fix it, and I hope he will
still do it for a lot of years. -Do you see yourself
thinking about the ways you would change a hotel that’s been here
for well over 100 years? -I love how my parents
maintain it the way they did, but I see some changes
in how to — in employees,
in human resources. My generation has a
different way to work with them than they did. -Mm-hmm.
-There is no hierarchy anymore. It’s more friendship
than workship. -There’s also a cat.
A really important cat. -Maybe he is the actual boss.
I don’t know. -[ Laughs ] And you named him…?
-Don Corleone. -[ Laughs ] Do I have to kiss
his paw before I leave? -Please, kneel down and say, “Thank you, Don Corleone,
for letting me in,” yeah. -So, at the Christmas village,
the Weihnachtsdorf, we sell more than 20,000 items
on display across 1,000 square meters
of store footage. -Is there a challenge
maintaining the Christmas spirit every single day? I’d find it exhausting
after about two weeks. -My grandparents lived
across the street, so whenever my parents
were busy, we were staying
at my grandparents’. However, they were obviously
also involved in the business, and so we were always
around Christmas and it was part of the family
and living. So it’s — I think it’s
the emotions that’s part of it and growing up. I’m Takuma Wohlfahrt
and I’m third generation from Kathe Wohlfahrt,
the Christmas family business, which was founded by Kathe Wohlfahrt
and Wilhelm Wohlfahrt, my grandparents, in 1964. -So you grew up here.
-I did, yes. -What was your favorite area? Where could they
always find Takuma? “Where’s Takuma?” -Actually, in the
cuckoo-clock department, because I was the one
who was playing with the clocks all the time with my brother. So, we changed the time so all the cuckoos came out
at the same time. So, sometimes, whoever was
responsible for the area the next day asked,
“Who was in the store again?” [ Chiming ] -What was the item
that began this all? -The idea for the company
started with a music box from my family’s home area, and they wanted to gift it
to friends of theirs, American friends,
and the only way to get one of those music boxes
was to get them in bulk and they had to get 10. So they gifted them one. He was suggested to maybe
kind of start a small business. -Everything I’m seeing is handmade from Germany
and even from the regions that they are traditionally
made from. -It’s always been kind of also
part of the personality of the company itself. So there’s always still
this great measure of detail that we want to put
into the product range. -People from all
over the world are coming here, and they don’t want
just Christmas, right? They want German Christmas.
So what does that represent? What are those items
that people are looking for that really mean Germany? -The most iconic, I would say,
is the traditional nutcracker. It’s made in Eastern Germany. Christmas pyramids are
also a very traditional item you would get from Germany
for Christmas. -One German Christmas item
I had never seen before were the smokers. Burning incense
creates smoke that comes out in hand-carved
tiny chimneys and mouths. I brought this German home
with me. Oh. The nutcracker’s
got some competition. [ Chuckles ] -Everyone has to see
Mainz once in his or her life,
because it’s a traditional city. It has so much invention,
so much fun, and so much wine, of course. We have so many places to see, and wine is popping
off on every corner. [ Glasses clink ] -Well, I love to live in
this Wiesbaden. It’s a city which
many, many buildings from the 19th and early 20th century. You explore the city by foot,
have a cup of coffee, enjoy the parks, and the rich cultural
institutions in our city. -What I personally love
about Rothenburg is, although it’s such
a small town in the middle of the countryside of Germany,
because of the tourists, but also because of the people
who live here, it’s so international, and you
get to meet different people. And I think,
from a traveler’s perspective, you will feel welcome here and you will be
able to communicate to people. Yeah, you feel right at home
here in Rothenburg. [ All cheering ] -When you get to walk
through medieval times, spend time
in the Art Nouveau period and the Roman Empire, when
over 2,000 years of humanity, past and future,
is all within driving distance, that is
when we share a love of travel. And that’s why the cities of Mainz, Wiesbaden,
and Rothenburg, Germany, are all places to love. Hey, thanks for watching this
episode of Places to Love! What was your favorite scene? Be sure to leave a comment! Now, for a full itinerary
of this episode click here! It is a great
travel planning tool. And here if you want to watch
more full episodes And, of course, subscribe
to my channel to see new episodes as they
are released. Hope to see you out there!

Travel Itinerary for This Episode: https://samantha-brown.com/episodes/season-8/mainz-wiesbaden-rothenburg-germany/

We traveled around Germany so much for Season 8 that we had to split our visit into two parts! In this episode, we visit three more German cities with unique histories. The first is a gem known for its wine innovation, but did you know about its secret history? The second is a town with a beautiful art collection and a love of chocolate. And the last city? It’s just one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the world! Join me as I explore what make Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Rothenburg, Germany Places to Love.

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Chapters
0:00 Cold Open
0:51 Mainz
1:39 Roman Theatre
4:03 Weingut Eva Vollmer
6:29 Weinhaus Lösch
7:50 Museum Wiesbaden
11:37 Confiserie Kunder
14:10 Tourismus Rothenburg ob der Tauber
16:52 Romantik Hotel Markusturm
19:39 Käthe Wohlfahrt
22:16 Outro

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