For years, Judith Rakers was on the road to the North and Baltic Seas for the NDR’s “Inselgeschichten”. Now she is moderating the travel magazine “Wunderschön!” – and touring from Passau to Vienna.
Berlin – Enthusiasm in the world’s only Dachshund Museum in Passau. Moments of pleasure with original apricot dumplings in the Wachau. Or a historic visit to the great-granddaughter of the Austrian heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand, who was shot in 1914, at Artstetten Castle.
All of these are stops on Sunday at 8:15 pm on the TV travel magazine “Wunderschön!” On WDR and NDR. Judith Rakers, popular “Tageschau” spokeswoman and “3 to 9” presenter, will present this versatile “Danube journey – From Passau to Vienna” by boat, by bike and on foot.
Because Rakers, who spent a long time on the North and Baltic Seas for the NDR “Inselgeschichten”, is the new presenter of the series that has been running since 2008 – alongside Tamina Kallert, Anne Willmes and Daniel Assmann. Initially, four more firmly agreed tours take them to northern Spain and Lake Maggiore (Italy) and – broadcast in 2022 – to the Lüneburg Heath and Cornwall (Great Britain). “I am happy that I can now see so much of the wide world,” said the television woman, who lives on the outskirts of Hamburg, in an interview with the German Press Agency.
In doing so, she also catches up a little, which she was not spoiled with in her youth as it is more common today, says the 45-year-old. Growing up as the daughter of a single physiotherapist with her own practice in Bad Lippspringe near Paderborn, she was initially sent to a nearby pony farm during the school holidays, which she loved very much.
Later I went on a bus trip to the mountains to go skiing or at most to the Spanish seaside resort of Lloret de Mar. “That was terrible in that I vomited during the entire trip. I suffered from travel sickness on the bus, ”recalls Rakers and laughs. Further trips to Jamaica, for example – which are currently hardly possible due to Corona – were only made as a young adult.
Her “Beautiful!” Tours demand a lot from the moderator, who is in good physical shape thanks to three horses of her own, and physically as well. In the Bavarian town of Passau, for example, Rakers blew up in a paramotor plane despite his fear of heights. She tramped uphill and downhill through woods and meadows on the “Schlögener Schlinge” in the Upper Danube Valley while “trail running” with a guide. She dived in the river Traun in a skin-tight wetsuit between pike and crabs. “That suits me personally very much. I am very close to nature and more of an active vacationer, ”explains Rakers, who has been growing fruit and vegetables in her home garden for three years and has five cats and 13 chickens.
Rakers explains: “I don’t mind staying in a nice hotel. I can really enjoy it for a few days. But I get bored quickly. If I have the choice, I prefer a holiday apartment or the tent for a holiday close to nature. It’s also a change from standing in the artificially lit, air-conditioned studio with an automatic camera. ”For example, she would like to explore New Zealand with a motorhome.
Rakers has even gone on vacation in her horse truck. “I converted it into a camping car – cleaned it deeply and fitted it with mosquito nets. For a trip to Sweden, because you can camp there for a night in the middle of nature, ”says Rakers,“ that was a really great vacation. ”However, she does not reveal who she is traveling with privately. Otherwise, they love Rügen. She always returns to the Baltic Sea island, where she has made many friends.
Of the five “Wonderful!” Regions she initially presented, the presenter was particularly familiar with the Lüneburg Heath. “I had been there many times. If you live in Hamburg and are a rider, you know the area because it is so fantastic to ride out there. Past the Heidschnucken – it’s a really great adventure for horse and rider “, raves Rakers about the local recreation destination south of the Elbe metropolis,” also because of the many small hotels and inns where you can stow your horses. As well as great diversity spots in villages like Luhmühlen and Mechtersen. “
Personally, the culinary part is also very important to her on all trips. “Eating is one of my absolute core competencies,” says the moderator dryly, “I already enjoyed this aspect very much with the” Inselgeschichten “- but rarely understood anything at home.”
Because actually she can’t cook at all. But Rakers adds: “With my self-sufficient garden I am slowly getting better – I have to process the products. Now there is nothing with ready meals and frozen food like in the first decades of my life. ”Now she’s googling for recipes, trying them out and making typical beginner mistakes. It works well with jams.
The trained journalist took a picture of the apricot dumpling recipe from Dürnstein just in case. “The problem here is the Austrian units of measurement – I have to convert them first. But I have made up my mind to prepare the dumplings, “summarizes Rakers,” because that was one of the best desserts I’ve eaten in my whole life – simply too good. “Dpa
