Dresden is one of the cities that was completely destroyed by the war, however a lot of the history has been preserved through reconstruction of the original buildings including the church, city castle (schloss) and semperoper.

Next time I visit Dresden I NEED to see an opera performance in the semperoper. The building is impressive from the outside but unfortunately we couldn't go inside to take a peek. At least the performers don't have to worry about people walking over the roof, like is the case in Cologne where security is hired to stop people from walking over the roof (which just looks like a footpath) where the orchestra plays underneath! Apparently they can hear the footsteps from the auditorium downstairs... extraordinary architects must have been hired for that job :)

The town is very different to everywhere we've been before. Quite a lot of tourists, however the city seems to be very clean and a lot less city-like than Berlin. On our first night we saw two extraordinary opera singers (husband and wife) busking by the frauen-kirche (women's church), they were fabulous and even had a ballet dancer in a tutu in their act. They must have made well over 200 or 300 euros in the evening.

The next day we ventured up the Elbe river to see some of the green in Germany after all the old cities we've been to! We took the ferry from Dresden to Stadt Wehlen and then Pillnitz on the way back. The area near Wehlen is famous for beautiful walks and we certainly found one. We found a great little circular loop (translated as ring devil's canyon and devil's chamber). We actually walked through a little canyon that was dark and we had to bend right down to fit through it. It was a beautiful walk, and not too strenuous... I managed it in my havianas and a frilly skirt :) Another next time would be to the full 174km walk along the Elbe, though I'll probably put some proper hiking shoes on for that!