Dresden

For a city that was carpet bombed to the ground not so long ago, Dresden is surprisingly densely packed with historical buildings. They rebuilt practically everything and there really is a lot to do here. Like Pisa, it really is a tourist city. The train station opens up onto the main street, and you simply walk down it until you reach the densely packed historical center. Whereas it probably took hundreds of years to spawn the originals, Dresden sports rebuilds of all the good stuff, most replaced in the last 20 years.

Yes, there are churches, a humongous palace, museums galore, and all the other things necessary for a major european city. Dresden is also the most affordable city I've been to in terms of museums and sights. Since all the attractions are state run, a single ticket can be bought for access to all of them (with audioguide included!). So I had a field day running from museum to museum (there were 17). In odd contrast, the exteriors of the buildings were made to look like the originals, but the interiors are all new and modern.

Although most of them did not have anything exceptionally outstanding, save the art gallery's Sistine Madonna by Rafael, they had the most impressive armory I've ever seen. Complete sets of full plate, chain mail, even scale mail. Hauberks, pikes, spears of every size and length. Hundreds of guns and swords and guns and swords in combination with each other to make the gunblade. A greatsword with a blade longer than I am tall and sharper than the kitchen knives I use at home impressed me a great deal.

And that was just the old town. Just as I was leaving, I decided to poke my head into the new town a little and to my surprise I found a street festival going on. I definitely would have liked to stay longer and see the rest of this city, but unfortunately one day was all I had. Berlin is up next.