helmets on safety first that's right they  used to produce pig iron which you need to  

make things like steel so we are now  walking through an area that is known  

as Paradise Nature has really taken over  this part of the Völklingen Iron Works  

it feels like almost like a  post-apocalyptic Space Station

well good morning good morning everyone  good morning guys from a rainy day in the  

city of Saarbrücken Germany we're actually in  the states of Saarland and we are very close to  

the French border and today the plan is to visit  the famous Völklingen Iron and Steel works this  

area is known for but we also have some free  time to explore the city of Saarbrücken we  

do we're gonna wander about I think there's a  Saarbrücken castle to check out some cathedrals  

food food of course more than once and yeah  it's just we're gonna make the most of a bit  

of a rainy day we've only got a day here so we're  gonna hit the ground running and see what we can  

do and eat and you know what even though it's  a rainy day we're already finding some colors

hey hey hey hey hey it's exciting because it  is breakfast time yeah I'm hungry we've been  

walking around in the rain a little  bit and sort of trying to find scope  

places we can have a nice breakfast we found a  wonderful little spot here we have a great menu  

all kinds of things that you could ever want  to have shakshuka they have different types of  

bagels they had pancakes that were on my mind  but then I saw the Philly cheese steak I'm like  

that's what I feel like having for me it won you  over it won me over so that's what I've ordered  

and yeah I'm excited to be here and I can't  wait to to get some food in my stomach foreign

flavor and this is really delivering it's also  a really cold day out today so it's nice to be  

having a warm hearty dish we've got the egg and  the tomato sauce zucchini loads of mushrooms bread  

for dipping so yeah this is just wonderful friends  check out my Philly cheesesteak that is absolutely  

loaded with goodness like Audrey was saying  I'm hungry right now and the reason being is  

it's cold we kind of underestimated how chilly it  would be this time of the year in Germany and so  

I'm going for the heartiest thing that I could  see on the menu which is a Philly cheese thing  

we also have some green peppers in there  totally delicious big thick slices of steak  

love the sauce so the name of this restaurant  was Gemmels Töchter and we paid 28 Euros for  

breakfast delish finished all of it and  ready to explore now we can continue

we just went through the farmers market  of Sankt-Johanner-Markt that was really  

cool I mean very Lively and all kinds of  different things you can get I mean you  

can get your local produce you can also get  specialty items there's baked goods really  

good looking jams I was thinking if we brought  our bigger suitcases we would be loading up  

the stuff when we carry on only this yeah we're  packing a little light this time around foreign

y guys so we just finished visiting the palace  church and it is a 15th century church built on  

top of a 13th century chapel and what's really  interesting is that it was uh completely burnt  

out during the 1944 raids so the stained glass  that you see inside the church is actually quite  

modern yeah it is and really cool like it's a  work of art if you check out all the windows it  

really is that was the most impressive part about  visiting there I think that's one of the most  

impressive places I've ever seen for stained glass  to be honest okay I mean I could have just walked  

around and checked them all out we didn't see  all of them but the ones that I saw up close were  

really nice yeah cool so it's very interesting for  sure if you liked it I liked it but now I'm going  

to show you a view of the church because we're  climbing the steps up so a different vantage point  

so we've got Sam here always in search of those  views guys right here I found probably the best  

view of the whole city of Saarbrücken Germany  you get an entire shot of the river and then  

you can also see some of the other cathedrals  in terms of off in the distance and a few of  

the taller buildings so we were just across  the bridge earlier that's and on the other  

side is kind of like the the old Center where  we had breakfast and saw the market Johannes

um so yeah now let's go check out  that Saarbrücken castle let's do that  

foreign

Saarbrücken  

castle and it's been converted a little  differently from what I expected so usually  

you know when you visit a castle or a palace  you're used to seeing you know the old rooms  

and like there's still Furniture there and  artworks it's almost a bit more like a museum  

but this one the interior has been like  completely modernized and painted white  

and it has conference halls and there's like  a dance class happening and there's like photo  

shoots for weddings and just different spaces  um and like graphic design firms so a little  

bit of everything still really cool to go inside  and kind of check out the architecture so yeah  

and with that we continue with our little  walk around the city Saarbrücken foreign

foreign

as we continue our random exploration around  town here over my shoulder you have Ludwig's  

the Church of Ludwig Ludwigskirche really pretty  inside it's all white with a little bit of pink  

and just soft pastels they were just setting up  for a concert so it's a little busy in there and  

we also saw a sign that said you can have tea and  Cake in the Crypt Cafe but unfortunately they're  

on holiday uh while we're visiting but they're  supposed to be back in a few weeks so if you  

find yourself visiting that church go down to  the Crypt for something sweet cheesecake guys  

how could you not want that original one I  know Sam is so sad they're not here today  

I was thinking coffee and cheesecake yes it's  the afternoon and I could use a pick-me-up yeah  

thank you  

so we just finished having lunch at a delicious  restaurant it's called kostbar and basically  

everything you eat there is a locally grown  organic healthy natural they have a section  

where it's all vegan food but if you do eat  meat it is all like I mentioned organic from  

local farms so they really focus on sustainability  and yeah we had a delicious platter with eggplant  

zucchini pumpkin so yeah we are feeling nourished  and ready to continue with this little adventure  

and now it is time to head over to the Iron Works  so we're going to be driving over see you shortly

time to put on those helmets  yes for safety first first  

the hair net that's what that little blue fluff is

I got a lot of hair right now guys

it's been too much we could be  making pastries in the kitchen

helmet songs Safety First that's right 10.

and we call it the paradise because nature is  coming back and after the close down all the  

plants were coming back all dressed up for  a very special reason today we are visiting  

the Völklingen Iron Works pretty cool place I've  actually seen photos of this place online before  

and I've always wanted to visit but it just  seemed like a random destination when am I  

ever going to end up here lo and behold here we  are so to tell you a little bit about this place  

um they used to produce pig iron which you need  to make things like steel and this place was an  

operation between 1882 to 1986. it is also now  a UNESCO world heritage site and yeah it's just  

fascinating to visit you kind of start off  at ground level where there's a museum some  

exhibitions but then together with a guide you  can actually walk through the different levels  

here at the Ironworks and I mean at its height it  employed 16 000 people that was back in the 60s so  

truly truly impressive and yeah we're gonna share  this place with you guys so let's go check it out  

what do you think of the place so far I mean my  goodness it's unlike anywhere else I've been it  

feels like almost like a post-apocalyptic  space station yeah as much as it does in  

industrial complex I mean it's just it's surreal  to be up close to the machinery and to some of  

the different structures I mean they're just so  massive and Grand in scale and normally you don't  

get to see that up close and like we were just  wandering around and I would see someone walk by  

one of the industrial pieces and they look like  smaller than ants they look like miniature ants  

standing next to it it feels like its own City you  know feels like a base no what's kind of poetic  

uh our guide was telling us this place has the  nickname of the Cathedral of the workers or like  

the Cathedral of the working place or something  like that because it is so Grand I mean you almost  

had a city of people working here at one time it's  unbelievable also more steps you guys know I love  

some good stats when we were inside one of the  buildings earlier in the tour they were telling  

us that the temperature in there could reach 50  degrees like the workers were working indoors in  

50 degrees can you imagine that that's why they  had ceramic floors to kind of try and cool down  

the place which is virtually impossible so insane  work conditions but man it would have been rough

foreign

guys so we are now walking through an area that is  known as Paradise and you can probably tell why it  

gets its name because Nature has really taken over  this part of the Völklingen Iron Works and you can  

see what is left of some of the buildings which  are now ruins but nature is really taking over  

whatever is left so super fascinating place to  walk through okay so we just finished our guided  

tour with the dettler yeah he was excellent he was  great oh he was so good and one thing I wanted to  

mention we're going to do some closing thoughts on  the experience I thought it was really interesting  

that our guide mentioned that back in the 80s  once this place closed down there was a very long  

conversation about what should we do with this  Völklingen Iron Works place because I mean it's  

in the middle of the city of Saarbrücken it was  kind of an eyesore and it was the debate should  

we demolish or should we turn it into something  and a lot of the people who had worked here just  

wanted to demolish it because it was a reminder  of unemployment and kind of like sad times the  

jobs they lost so they did consider demolishing  the place but ultimately they decided to turn it  

into this like Museum Living Museum experience  and now it's a UNESCO world heritage site yeah  

it's honestly one of the the most fascinating  museums I've ever been to I'm not a huge fan  

of traditional stuffy museums you know you go in  and everything's curated and don't touch and put  

away the camera and all that stuff this is the  exact opposite this is super immersive and the  

really interesting thing too that we found out  is that they're constantly changing some of the  

installations and displays oh yes so apparently  that keeps locals and and other people coming back  

frequently yeah year after year they were saying  yeah to see what's going on and I just found it  

fascinating like I've never done anything quite  like this never seen anything quite like this it's  

the kind of place that I mean we spent a couple  hours you could spend two days here and probably  

not see everything that's how much there is to do  highly highly recommend it and it's I also think  

it's family friendly I think kids could have a  great time here too but um so if you ever find  

yourself traveling through Saarland Germany this  is one place you can't miss most definitely there  

we go Franklin Ironworks okay so now that we  are checked into our hotel for the night I just  

wanted to do a little recap of what we got up  to yesterday evening slash today in the morning  

because we did visit one more place here in  Saarland Germany that I wanted to tell you about  

and yesterday we actually arrived in the town of  mettlach germany and then from there we took a  

taxi to this beautiful accommodations right on the  edge of the forest and people choose to stay there  

because you can actually hike up to this place and  it's kind of like this sculpture vessel Lookout  

Point type of construction where you get beautiful  views over the valley and over the river so a lot  

of people choose to go to that hotel to do some  hiking enjoy nature you can go kayaking that type  

of thing now we brought the rain with us so we got  there and it was just torrential downpours and we  

couldn't enjoyed ourselves which is a bit of a  shame because we were super excited to come and  

visit that area but I thought I would recommend it  in case you guys are traveling around here that's  

another place that you can check out and the  accommodations were just really beautiful it kind  

of had a bit of a like a treehouse Vibe Loft type  accommodations like the bed was up on the second  

floor and then you have a little uh dining living  kitchen area we also enjoyed a really nice dinner  

there they had a a Spanish set menu last night so  we ate really well they had roulade and then some  

Crema catalana for dessert so even though our  time there was very brief we really liked the  

hotel we just wish we could have done a bit of  the hiking but such is life and such is weather  

so yeah another place to check out if you visit  Saarland we're just gonna enjoy a little rest  

and then we're gonna head out for dinner alrighty  guys so we're gonna catch you up little bit on the  

day's dinner because it was kind of dimly lit  very dark in the restaurant also always makes  

it a little bit tricky to film but the food was  good so we went to a place called Hilde and Heinz  

here on the same street as our hotel yeah it was  such a quick little walk so I had the Saarland  

Schnitzel let me tell you it wasn't just any kind  of schnitzel I had a thick cream sauce with bacon  

added oh it was good you tried some too the  history schnitzel was good yeah and I ordered  

the Saarland platter which was also very nice  kind of like a sampler of different dishes to  

have in the region so quite heavy on the meat  right we also had some dumplings lots of potato  

creamy Rich mushroom sauce so just ate a little  bit of everything could not finish at all because