After Prague, we jaunted on up to Dresden and stayed there overnight and the next day. First things first, we went to the Frauenkirche in the downtown area. This church was destroyed during the Dresden bombing in World War II. It stood for about a day after the actual bombing, but because of the exceedingly high temperatures the limestone blocks that the church was made from were so dried up and damaged that the following day the dome collapsed, taking the rest of the building with it.

It remained this way until 1993, after several movements and organizations gathered enough support to rebuild the church. Reconstruction finally ended in 2005 after a twenty year effort.

Dresden was one of the strangest European cities I've been in. When most people think of Europe their first thought is old buildings crammed together with tiny streets and alleyways in between. History, culture, etc. Dresden was nothing like that. Modern buildings had hundreds of feet of green space between them. Roads were wide. Everything was new. It's impossible to imagine this city used to be just as old and ancient looking as its European siblings. The city lay in ruins until 20 and 30 years ago.

It was amazing the efforts they put into reconstructing the downtown. I love working on puzzles, but this would be like working on fifty three dimensional 10,000 piece puzzles at the same time. Way. Over. My. Head.

A group of us also found this old bombed out church that had been left and protected they way it was left after the bombing. Imagine seeing your entire city reduced to this... without the grass and the trees to bring life back in. Just charred rubble piled everywhere. I can't imagine it.

Sometimes history just blows my mind.