▸Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: www.blinkist.com/felifromgermany Which of the German castles and palaces would you like to visit the most? Let me know in the comments below! 👇😊

There are more McDonalds in Germany than there are castles in the US.

"I can reach 10 different McD locations in a 15 minute drive or less." Uh oh, you're measuring distance in car-time. You're full-blown American now!

When I visited my German girlfriend, she asked me if I would like to see the American Embassy, to which I replied, sure. She took me to McDonald’s, and we all had a great laugh.

I've been to a few castles in Germany and I can tell you that each of them left me more fulfilled than any trip to a McDonald's, LOL.

When I went to visit my best friend in Germany in 2018, he asked me what I wanted to do while I was there. As we drove from the airport to his apartment, I noticed quite a few castle type buildings along the the way. Being from Dayton Ohio originally, I was intrigued by them since we don’t have many buildings like that around the USA. So I told him that I’d like to see some castles. Everyday we went to a different castle. It was really fun!

I spent 3 yrs in W.Germany, during the 70's. I was stationed in Kaiserslautern and Heidelberg; regularly saw the "burning of the castle." Being of German heritage, my wife and I took every advantage to travel that we could. (river boats, bus tours and walking tours.) I love how they repurposed the castle in Nuremberg, the "underground city" in Cologne, Bavaria and the Black Forest. Garmisch and Berchtesgaden (Eagle's Nest?) The Army taught me how to ski up in the Zutzpitz (sp?). Skiing in shorts and swimwear during the day, heavy parkas at night. Edelweiss. THE FOOD, PASTRIES, WINE, BEER, MUSIC, DISCOS, FASHIONS (short fur coats and tight, shiny pants) and the PEOPLE, they were the best! Made some good friends near the transit plaza park in Heidelberg, mostly college students. Gently, they gave me a whole new perspective of life and life in the USA, as they saw it. They busted my chops about Nixon and Watergate, and I got 'em back with their Prime Minister's scandal at the time. They helped me with my German, and I with their American form of English. Absolutely lovely people! 🙂 German hand made toys. German furniture. (They threw out better stuff than I ever had) Beer, bread and milk delivered to your door. Man, I miss it. Thank you for your videos.

I was stationed at Spangdahlem Germany from 1998-2001 and during that time I was able to visit some of the castles in Die Eifel region like Burg Eltz, Reichsburg Cochem, Bernkastle, Chateau de Vianden, and Manderscheid to name a few. I absolutely loved my time there and really enjoyed all the history that was everywhere!

EXCELLENT presentation and production Feli, you have an innate knack for making these types of historical topics so interesting. I especially enjoyed the details about Hamburg since that is where my mother grew up before the war. 😊

To add to the confusion, there is the word "borough" in English that derives from "burg" and originally refered to a defended/walled town. It occurs it lots of British place names eg. Edinburgh, Middlesborough. Many towns are officially Borough of X where they would be cities in the U.S., although now it's more of an administrative distinction than anything.

I love how the Germans maintain their buildings. Even regular houses and building still have character. One, in Stuttgart, a friend was taking me on a tour in Stuttgart Koening Strasse. He pointed out a red castle to the side of the street and said, this is the Parliman building and added that it was rebuilt after the war. Feeling a little uncomfortable about the mention of the war, I still asked, the first or the second, he said, "The Napoleonic War". This for me summed up Germany. It is a country with history that is deep, and people keep it preserved through their buildings and other heritage symbols. As for the Hamburger, yes, its origin is Russian/German and was consolidated in Hamburg. Russian sailors visiting the city somehow were fed shredded beef patties instead of a steak and that how the naming was started (AS THE STORY GOES)

"Burg" and "Schloss" which are both "castle" in English are two kinds of buildings which have different purposes. The "Schloss" is generally a representative residental buildung of aristocracy or clergy while a "Burg" also is a residental building, but at the same time constructed for defense with elements of a fortress. Both "Schloss" and "Burg" could have been "palaces" ("Palast" in German) if they has been used as residence and office of a ruling aristocrat like an emperor, king or duke or a ruling cleric like a bishop. And for more confusion: there are "Schlösser" which are look like "Burgen" but they technically aren't a "Burg" cause they never had a purpose of defense.

Germany has beautiful castles, I've visited some of them (well less than 25,000, that's for sure) and I'm totally impressed. Herrenchiemsee, Hohenzollern, Sigmaringen, but also Lichtenstein, Eltz, Stolzenfels, to name just a few, are absolutely amazing, I'm not afraid to use such superlatives, they totally deserve it.

Great video, here in Slovenia, population less than 2M, we have 23 McDonald's and over 500 castles

As a Hamburger (citizen of the city of Hamburg of cause), I am sometimes asked what the origins of the hamburger are. There are several possible explanations. One, I think,is quite plausible based on the fact that Hamburg (along with Bremen and Bremerhaven) was the most important port in continental Europe for emigrants to the USA until well into the 20th century. In the harbour area there were so-called "Kaffeklappen" (literally: coffee flaps), where the dock workers could buy not only coffee, but also something to eat. In addition to stews and the hot sausages that are inevitable in Germany, “Rundstück Warm” was particularly popular. This was a slice of warm roast with sauce in a bun (which is also called a "Rundstück" in northern Germany). There was also a variant with a fried flat meatball, the original form of the burger patty, so to speak. It is not unlikely that many emigrants had become acquainted with this dish, which also was served in addition to plenty of stew in the emigrant accommodations. There is, however, indeed an old menu from a transatlantic liner in which a "meatloaf Hamburger style" is called.

The concept of "Chateau" (castle/Schloss) in french has the same problem, for similar historical reasons ahah Your production value is excellent, especially for a semi niche channel. I'm really glad to see you going strong after the whole name change bullsht, usually that destroys a channel but you just keep going with amazing energy. Respect. Cheers, Prost!

I went to Burg Eltz when I was an exchange student in 1985. 🙂

We have the same in Swedish, Slott, borg, fästning, skans, fornborg, pallats. But we often call a building that is a residens a Slott or pallats. Borg is oten both a residens and a military fortress from the middleages. Fästning (fortress) is often a big defensive structure. Skans is a small defensive structure. fornborg is a defensive struktire from early middle ages or prehistoric times.

I've a suggestion for a video. I'm quite a fan of the Aldi grocery chain. Particularly their Deutsche Kuche brand. I thought that it would be interesting, being Oktoberfest season, if you were to sample some of their food offerings, give your opinion and do the origin, history and what region of Germany the food is most popular. As always, I enjoy the enthusiasm and information in all your videos.

Just before the pandemic, I spent a week in Munich - mainly to visit castles. Loved the visit - I wish I could have stayed longer than a week.

The castle that you mentioned "Schloss Neuschwanstein" I read somewhere that that one was the model for the castle in Cinderella and later as a model for Disneyland castle.

Thank you for addressing the confusion of nomenclature on castles, fortresses, and palaces. As a girl growing up in the U.S., mostly learning these things from fairy tales, I tended to use the words castle and palace interchangeably. When I arrived in Germany, a Burg fell into that category as well as the older, more utilitarian versions! You did a great job laying out accepted definitions.

The name "Schloss" was originally used for a "key" fortress or castle, dominating some valley, road or river. Since those buildings were usually the seat of some higher/richer noble and therefore had more comfortable facilities (including guest rooms), the term was later used generally for the seat of the ruler of a region, even if it was not so heavily fortified after medieval times. The word "palace" ("Palast" in German) goes back to he Palatine Hill in Rome, where starting with emperor Augustus the imperial palaces were erected. The German word "Pfalz" has the same origin; it originally meant one of the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Emperor (who was migrating from one to the next during the year). The "Palatinate" in the state of Rheinland Palatinate was the most important of that estates, the Palatinate of the Rhein, managed by a Count Palatinate who was also a member of the Electorate which had to elect the next German-Roman king (by the way: since 1214 the Count Palatinate or the Rhine was of House Wittelsbach, whose other branch(es) ruled the Duchy of Bavaria). Also the same origin has the word "Palas" which referred to the main residential building of a bigger castle (which served not only as military outpost, but as residence). A "Festung" or fortress was a bigger and better fortified castle which a stronger military presence. Starting with the 16th century a fortress could also include a whole city, like Mainz (imperial/federal fortress 1619-1918), Luxembourg (imperial/federal fortress until 1867). (They were called "Federal fortress" between 1815 and 1867, since the HRE had been dissolved by Napoleon and replaced by the German Federation in 1815; the fortifications of the federal fortresses of Ulm, Koblenz and Cologne were built during that time, while the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein opposite to Koblenz at the other bank of river Rhine was a large castle, destroyed in 1801 by French troops and rebuilt in the 19th century.) Regarding the number of 25,000 castles: That number also counts the many ruined castles, of which are sometimes only a heap of stones left or which were later overbuilt with other structures, but keeping the "Burg" denomination. There are also many big, medium and small palaces, some of which originally built only as hunting lodges or country estates, as well as some former abbeys and monasteries respectively convents, which were converted into palaces after 1806 (and in some cases looked like baroque palaces even before). 10:54 It is often said that Germany did not become a unified country before 1871, but that is a bit of a national(istic) myth. Germany started out as the Kingdom of East Francia, combined from the tribal duchies of Saxony, Francia, Swabia/Alemannia, Bavaria and Carinthia, the duchies of Upper and Lower Lotharingia, the duchy (later kingdom) of Bohemia and the margraviates (=border provinces) of Lausitz, Meissen, Austria and Verona. Around 1000 AD this became the German Kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire under the "King of the Romans" (and Duke of Saxony) Otto I the Great who won also the Kingdom of Italy (by marrying Adelheid of Burgundy, widow of the King of Italy, which would later led to the merge of the Kingdom of Burgundy into the HRE). By internal politics and local nobles striving for sovereignty this clear structure became muddy later, especially as the Swabian duchy was dissolved after the extinction of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (because each noble grudged his peers that powerful position) and the Saxon and Bavarian duchies were divided between heirs. Reformation and the 30 Years' War (with involvement of nearly any other European power) caused a further dissolution of central power as well as the independence of the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Italian provinces, the title of German king had no power anymore. But formally a united German crown existed until 1806 as Napoleon forced the formal dissolution of the HRE. He then started to distribute promotions to "king" and "grand duke" between his allies - by this Saxony, Bavaria and Württemberg became kingdoms for the first time. The German states then constituted the German Federation in 1815, which had its federal seat in Frankfurt, but this federation was defeated by Prussia and Italy in 1866.The "unification" of 1871 was actually more of a new, but somewhat closer federation. It did not change the borders of the states nor their governments or their heads of state - the German Emperor (who was not allowed to call himself "Emperor of Germany") was the president of the federation, but the other kings were his peers, and Bavaria even kept its own embassy in the USA. Many of the mentioned palaces were built either in the 18th century (so during the slow dissolution of the German kingdom) or in the 19th century (the time of historicism) as representative statements of one noble House or the other (or by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, because he loved building such things); Schloss Drachenburg was built 1882-1884 for German-French business analyst and investor Stephan von Sarter.

They also had another function: they were customs stations along the rivers.

Thanks, Feli. You always have very informative videos. Someday I will make it to Germany. I want to see Wewelsburg and Neuschwanstein Castle. And I want to walk through the Black Forest and bring home a cuckoo clock. I might also check out Cologne Cathedral, too.

From my perspective there is a timeline in the different names of the same: It started always as a "Burg", because in the very early days a ruler always had to fortify his "house". There were castles at the height of a hill ("Höhenburgen") e.g. in the south of Germany due to the terrain there or castles in the flatlands - often surrounded by water. The hill or the water were additional safety features of these castles. Within these castles there were "Palas" buildings for the ruler if it was the dedicated house of this ruler. If not, it would be only a fortification to safeguard the rulers castle nearby or to collect taxes or tolls for that ruler. In the later times there was no sense in that style of fortification anymore. It became quite easy to destroy such buildings so they stopped to build them. But of course the "Palas" as a building for representation of power and wealth stayed in use - but without fortification and often within a strongly fortified residence town ("Festung"). This is, what we call "Schloss", it is the former "Palas" of a "Burg" without the fortification of a castle around it. And you forgot another term :) There is "Pfalz" as an additional term for a very old building inbetween "Schloss" and "Burg". It was a building for the use of the "Kaiser" on his travel through the medival central Europe. Every couple of miles there was such a building (or a cloisture) for the convenience of the traveling Kaiser with his staff (could be thousands of people, he had to travel, because nobody could feed such a crowd longer then a couple of days or weeks). There are a couple of these Pfalzen or Kaiserpfalzen left in Germany, e.g. Forchheim north of Nuremberg ...

I also often come across "Herrenhäuser"or "Gutshäuser" that are called "Schloss" (castle). That doesn't help the confusion with this topic. 😅

I’m loving the new video style for this. Much more engaging instead of you just sitting in front of the camera.

The historic Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida, Castillo de San Marcos, translates literally to Castle of St. Mark.

There are no 100 % matching translations. In the original sense a Burg (or castle) is a medieval fortified home of a lord. Burgen are usually (but not always) quite small and are exclusively from the medieval period (that's about 500-1500 AD). The translation for a Festung is fortress btw, not castle. The main difference between a Burg and a Festung is that Festungen/fortresses are military structures, not homes of nobles, and they are usually larger than Burgen. Both Burgen/castles as well as Festungen/fortresses are fortified against attacks. Palaces (Palast in German) are usually not fortified. There is no direct translation for the German Schloss; these are usually called palaces or castles in English. A Herrenhaus is just a large and usually luxurious mansion. Herrenhäuser usually belong to what is called a Gut in German - the best translation would be an estate. That said - there are many buildings that cannot be strictly classified as one type or the other. The fortified home of a lord built in the 17th century is not actually a Burg even though it fullfills the same role and might even look the same way...however it is not from the medieval age. The same is true for some surviving older structures from the Roman era - these are usually not Burgen/Castles, they are almost exclusively military fortresses. In the end all classifications are used more or less simultaneously and sometimes even interchangeably for many buildings. The only true difference is that a Burg/Festung (castle/fortress) is always fortified against attacks, while Schlösser/Paläste (palaces) are rarely fortified and even if they have some fortifications it is not the primary function. One interesting piece of information about castles is that approximately 50 % of the castles don't exist at all anymore, not even as ruins. The reason for this is that they where wooden structures which simply didn't survive the centuries. This is especially true for northern Germany where stone castles are actually quite rare. PS: Shadiversity has quite a few videos about this topic on his channel.

This is the most fun fact I"ve ever learned about Germany. ❤

I would have liked it if you used Battenberg as an example of a "berg" considering its name is strongly associated in the UK with a cake which was actually a British invention supposedly named to celebrate the marriage of Queen Victoria's granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenberg. Also, the name "Mountbatten" in the British royal family is an anglicisation of Battenberg which was unfortunately changed amid anti-German sentiment during the World Wars and not because of association with the cake. I would still recommend you try the Battenberg cake if you get the chance.

Thanks for making the connection between Hamburg and its sandwich namesake. That the Hamaburg looks round a flat in the aerial view gives you bonus points. Maybe Hamburger sandwich was named for that city because the inventor thought it would have more sales appeal than gehacktes Fleisch sandwich.

That was so interesting! I never really thought about the differences between those words, either German or English. I haven't really traveled much in Germany, but I spent a year abroad in Salzburg and saw a few castles and fortresses. I appreciated your diving into this. It makes the number of Mickey D's in the US seem small, hahaha.

My younger brother is retired from the USAF and one of his benefits is free airplane flights around the globe, but with some limits. They call the flights "space available" which means if there is a scheduled aircraft going to a place that might have room for a passenger (including cargo planes or generals and dignitaries) he can go in person to the base operations building and ask for space on the flight. He does have to pay for meals in the form of a "box lunch" and if he want lodging he has to check-in at the Bachelor officers quarters for a room. That is how my brother visited Germany and toured several castles there. I'm jealous but he earned it by his service to our country.

I'm glad you did something on Castles! I know one of my recommendations was a video on the history of the Neuschwanstein Castle and its connection to Disney World. As always, I enjoy your content and learning about German culture!

I've been living in Germany a little over a year. I love to hike and check out castle ruins, so I googled burgruine and a decent list popped up. It took me a while to look them up on the map to see if any of them are close to where I live, I finished the list after about an hour, and noticed "click to see more" at the bottom. Evidently they were in alphabetical order and I'd only gotten to the E's!

I’ve only been to four Schloss (so far): 1) Nürnberg 2) Nymphenburg 3) Heidelberg 4) Neuschwanstein

I lived 6 years in Germany, loved the castles for their history and architecture. My wife and I stayed overnight in a castle along the Rhine river.

Even in Ireland they seem to casually throw the word castle around, as when I visited Clare Island, we went to see Grace O Malley's "Castle" which had me scratching my head with how small it was, and I just found out is also considered a "tower House"

By the way, Mannheim Castle is the second largest baroque castle in Europe, second only to Versailles in size (but it is said to have one window more than Versailles). Unfortunately, the castle gardens had to make way for railway tracks and streets in the 19th and 20th century.

Interesting, ground beef is referred as hamburger, but once it's made into a patty, cooked and put in the middle of a bun its called A Hamburger.

I think the shift from "Burg" to "Schloss" has a lot to do with the agricultural surge of the 12th and 13th century and other technical and agricultural innovations, which only enabled large, mostly "unproductive" communities like a court to be localized in a specific place. In the middle ages, the royal court usually was travelling throughout the country, a) for being present in all parts for increasing loyalty and being able to hold justice courts or so-called "Tage" more locally, and b) not to deplete the food and resources of a region.

Nice to see the book "Fast Food Nation", from which you show some clips, is written by Eric Schlosser. 🤔😉🙋‍♂️

I have to say kudos for all the work you put into this video. Thank you, Feli!

I live in an area of Germany, where almost every village has a castle. My best friend lives right next to one, and on the 15 minute ride to him, I pass 3 castles - and not a single McDonalds. 🤣 I remember my parents talking about the war, and they sometimes measured the time on when which castle in the neighbourhodd was on fire. "That was the night when the castle in xxx burned down" "Not it was the night when castly yyy burned down" "It definitely was after castle zzz was on fire"... That made me realise that we had quite a few castles in our area. But not as many as the area in which I live now. So the 25,000 castles in Germany could be about right.

Love the new production format, another nice a addition to an already great channel 😊

That was so fun!

Enjoyed the video, nice job !!

Rare wide shot of Feli! You’re looking amazing in them. The new shots make the narrative more dynamic and fun to follow.

The was quite informative. Danke!

It doesn't matter what your video is about it's awesome you are so easy to watch and listen to , you remind me of my grandmother ( you are much easier on the eyes ) she was German. But they lived in Budapest Hungary , she was sent to the USA. When Hitler started his crap. She never saw anyone in her family again , I love what you put on you tube. THANK YOU FRANK FROM MONTANA...

Awesome editing!

I think it's really funny that as we are discussing castles and McDonald's you cite a book about fast food written by Eric SCHLOSSER🤣

Congrats on 500K subs

New sub here, I've always been interested in Germany and the language (same goes for Russia and the language) I really like the videos I've seen so far 🙂

Another great video! So informative. Love your enthusiasm .

thank you Feli💗💗 for your input on the Castles, I love to hear from you

i like the new video style! it looks a lot more professional and looks like it took a lot of work!! The hard work didn’t go underappreciated

Feli, thank you so much, I'm stuck here in Columbus (Ohio) till Tuesday before I can finally get home, your smiling and laughter infected me for a bit

In der Auflistung der bekanntesten Schlösser und Burgen fehlte aber definitiv Schloss Bellevue :D

Loved the new style of this video!

Love the information and subject.

Very interesting episode!!!!!

Thank you for the video. I can't wait for the next show.

Thanks for the history lesson. Keep up the good work Feli. - Chuck

This is a very interesting video. Enjoyable.😊❤

This was a fun video Feli.

Hi! I am from Portugal, and I've been watching your videos and loving it. Keep up the good work. I also went to Bavaria in 2016 and loved it. It was my favorite holiday trip so far.

Hi Feli, glad to watch your video!

This video is an example of how my mind works most days. It was fun to watch it. Thank you 😊😉

Hi Feli, ich mag deine Vids, dieses war sehr beeindruckend, besonders gefiel mir der Perspektivwechsel, von indoor zu outdoor, super professionell! Du könntest in jeder TV Sendung bei jedem Sender erfolgreich sein, super profi!

Feels like an improved Feli to me. I like the changing perspectives and narrative modes.

Like this informative video

Delightful, thanks.

One of your best videos! I was as shocked as you were about the ratio of McDonalds to Castles... and thank you for going over the different names and types of castles. This was just packed with information!

Great information and cute presentation as always.

I live in Koblenz and i can reach about 10 McDs in a 30 minute drive but 30 castles, fortresses and palaces. I can even see one out of my windows😂 and two more if i go out to the street❤ And there are ruins of castles! I know of several here in the vincinity. And then there is the Limes nearby.🎉

This video was very interesting.

I liked this video's style a lot!

Your best video. Thank you.

Hi Feli, please make a video about the differences about German home walls and American home walls. ❤

Great job Feli! I enjoyed the more journalistic-esque style of this video a lot, and I wouldn't mind seeing similar videos in the future about other topics.

Oh Feli, Deine Art ist so mitreissend, positiv und sympathisch. So nebenbei sortierst Du übersichtlich einige Fakten und schickst viele tolle Bilder unseres Kontinents in die Welt. Danke dafür, bitte weiter, bravo!

This is a great video.

I can't get enough of you, love you and your personality. Germany has never been on my bucket list until I found your channel :D Your videos are so interesting and addicting

Interesting. I would love to visit the castles again along the Rhine River.

Please, make a video episode from one of the castle. Speaking of residents, history, and inside interior decorations.

To complete the linguistic confusion: There is a castle near Solingen called "Schloss Burg", literally "castle castle" (usually it is called: "Castle Burg" in English).

We also have the word fort. It's usually smaller than a fortress.

Sehr cooles Video

I just returned from a trip to Wolfsburg, which is named after Schloss Wolfsburg, dating back to the 14th century. When Volkswagen was formed, they built their main factory nearby, as well as the city of Stadt des KdF-Wagens bie Fallersleben, or Town of the KdF car at Fallersleben. The People's Car was known as KdF at the time and was built in the factory. After WW2, the factory was rebuilt, along with the planned community that is today's city, including residences for factory workers. The city was renamed Wolfsburg after the castle, which still stands near the VW plant, the largest automobile plant in the world. As you noted, Schloss usually include a garden, and there are still nice gardens at Schloss Wolfsburg. Very timely video, since I have been wondering about the difference between Schloss and what I'd think of as a castle.

Thank you for recommending "Powers and Thrones" and Linklist!!

Brandon here from Minneapolis. Love your videos 🎉

As said so many times in the comments, we wish there was a more accurate count of actual castles, and not "where a castle once stood" or "remnants of a castle that once stood". I think it should be judge by, the dwelling can still be used and lived in by official government standards.

Like the fall decorations around u while using laptop

I listened to a podcast some time ago (Norwegian) where someone talked about Schlesien, there are thousands of empty castles there, formerly German ones, which are just falling into disrepair, and you can buy a castle relatively cheap if you want. Big beautiful castles, with large land too.

Thanks!

When I first heard this quote I started the same research and I'm happy someone finally might a video about a topic I wildly typed comments about :D However I think one important distinction missing in the video is that a lot of those counted are really more like bigger houses of nobility and even more important many of those counted are actually just ruins and sometimes just a wall being leftover and included in other buildings.

The Best way to look at Castle definitions in English is just to look at England. If there isn't a large permanent structure in the middle of defensive walls it's a fort. Such as the Iron age Hill forts, Roman Forts and from the Palmerston follies (large 18th forts North of Portsmouth). A small very small fort less than 500 years old is typically called a Battery. Then you have Castle, a castle is a well fortified place with a dwelling/structures inside used by an authority. Then you have palace which are fairly rare in English English are are only for Royal Family members and Bishops. However the largest category you didn't mention are Stately Homes which would probably make up the majority of "Schloss" in Germany. Which is basically just a big old mansion, sometimes they can look at bit like castles, but if there defences are just for show (or are follies) they are still just Stately homes. Even in England it does get confusing as the terms are often used incorrectly in names.