Dresden by night

After a long, fabulous day in Prague, where we toured the castle and monastery - walking up and down the hillside city for miles, even as the rain rolled in - we drove after dark to the German city of Dresden.

In WWII, this city was obliterated. An Allied forces firebombing in the final days of the war - February 1945 - flattened nearly every magnificent structure and took the lives of tens of thousands of civilians. Then the Soviet army swept in to "free Dresden from Fascism" (as explained on every DDR-era plaque in the city). During the next 4 decades of communist rule, many historic sites remained, quite literally, in rubbles & ruins. But after German reunification, nearly all the cathedrals, palaces, theaters, and other significant cultural relics were rebuilt and restored in authentic detail to their former glory.

It is incredible to view these newly reconstructed icons and imagine their history.