Dresden!

I really, really enjoyed Dresden. There's some serious historical places there, but what's fascinating to me is that the majority of them were legitimately not there following WWII. The Allies went after Dresden because it was one of the major cultural hearts of Germany, and rumors were that the British bombed the cathedral/churches in Dresden in revenge for the Coventry Cathedral that was bombed out during the Blitz. So it was fascinating to see all of these new (but old--the bricks/stone were re-purposed from the old buildings) structures that would not have existed twenty-thirty years ago.

I think that the Dresdeners do a fantastic job of stressing the rebuilding of the historic city, but there's also a vast amount of history prior to the fire-bombing and restoration, which is fairly new. The old palaces, the massive porcelain mural of the Electors of Saxony--there's so much more and I think that the fire-bombing of Dresden ends up being stressed over this. It's a bit of a shame considering how much history there is, and I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's also not good to forget history either.

Also, climbing mountains like a pro. We got to see Koenigstein, and oh man, was that a beast of a mountain to hike up. It was well worth it though--the fortress was intense. I can see why it is considered impenetrable! (My poor, poor feet though.)