Martin Luther Square featuring one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen

Dresden, Germany may not be the first place you think of when someone asks you about beauty, but I'm here to tell you that Dresden in single-handedly the most beautiful city I've ever seen. Walking through the UNESCO protected buildings in the main square, wandering down the roads lined with history, or enjoying the stories shared by street performers, there was nothing more inspiring than Dresden, Germany.

It would seem that the buildings are not the limit of the beauty in this great town, but the people are truly amazing as well. One of the things that I hear the most is a fear of traveling for fear of other people. I'm here to tell you that that is a fear not worth having in many cases. Let me tell you about my day in Dresden.

Street performers with very interesting instruments. They were telling a story that I couldn't understand (my German is terrible) and playing music in the background. The children loved it.

I'm sitting on a train on my way to Prague and woman next to me tells me that she believes Dresden to be the most beautiful town around and that I should go there as soon as I get the chance. I figured since I was headed no where in particular, why not? I got off the train in Dresden to see what it was all about.

Getting off the train, I was met with an astounding architectural history, one that I could not understand or appreciate fully, but that I knew to be gorgeous and down right breathtaking. Standing in Martin Luther Square, you're facing a gorgeous church and the main down town area. The skyline alone is incredible with all the spires and flourishments standing out against a blue sky.

A view of the skyline in Dresden, Germany

I wandered as far as my feet would take me, through the buildings and the square, through the gardens and along the river. Nothing but inspiring sights and kind people were everywhere. I made my way down a street to a building that looked important. Not knowing the history of Dresden accept for the Dresden bombings all those years ago limited my academic experience, but the artist in me was very pleased. This building was the old royal palace, they tell me. It was under renovation to be turned into a museum. This was back in 2012 and I'm sure the renovations are complete by now.

Genius idea here, you stand on the square pad and you get a perfect shot of Dresden along the river.

There were people everywhere and no shortage of things to see. One of the coolest things I saw wandering along the river was a spot that y ou could stand in to reproduce a breathtaking photo. You can see in the first photo, there is a pad for you to stand on and a red frame to line up your photo in.

Once you've lined up your shot, you get this breathtaking view of the city along the river and there's even a description on the plaque below the red frame that tells you about each building in the photo.

Gorgeous view of Dresden along the river at dusk

After this little adventure, I wandered back towards the downtown area and got myself a little lost. I stumbled back through Martin Luther Square where there was a free rock concert going on. I had no idea there would be so much going on in this seemingly quiet town. That brings me to the people.

The streets were busy well into the night.

As the concert wound down, I walked back towards the train station to hop on another train. It's after midnight at this point. I came across a young woman, roughly my age standing outside smoking. I was out and I asked her if I could buy a smoke from her. Not only did she give me one freely, but it was a roll-your-own and she rolled it for me and everything. I was very appreciative. Now, you may think that this isn't a big deal, but wait, there's more. She and I started talking about where I was headed and I was telling her about my trip. She asked me where I was staying and when I had no where, she told me to wait there. She ran upstairs to her friend's apartment and found me a hostel in town nearby. She even told them I was coming and to save a bed for me! This kind of kindness was everywhere I went in Europe, just about.

Now, that doesn't mean you should trust everyone you come across. In fact, shortly after I headed to the hostel that this stranger found for me, I was walking down a dark street in the middle of the night with a small crowd of young men walking behind me. Being the survivor that I am, I'm sizing them up every step of the way. There were almost ten of them, big guys, all guys. They were being typical rowdy dudes in the middle of the night. I was getting nervous at this point and starting to question my own sanity. I, of course, had no weapons, as I flew into Europe. So, I'm trying to figure out where I can get to quickly enough to avoid being robbed.

They caught up to me and struck up conversation, first in German, then English. He realized quickly that I was no good in German. He was a friendly enough, but I didn't let my guard down yet. He asked me about my trip and if I was traveling alone. I lied to him and told him that I had a friend waiting for me in the next city (my Momma didn't raise no dummy! solo travelers can be bigger targets!) to continue the trip. I asked about their trip and what they were doing. "We're a biker gang," he says to me. Great. Of course. This trip was going entirely too well for it to continue.

Beautiful bikes owned by a bunny suit wearing biker gang in Europe. This was an awesome group of guys! (This photo was taken in the middle of the night, sorry for the color)

Turns out, they are a biker gang that dresses up in bunny suits and do trick riding in parades around Europe to raise money for children's cancer research. Yeah. Read that sentence again so I know you let it sink in. We were staying at the same hostel, they had really nice bikes and they were a really cool group of guys in general.

Breakfast of Champions leaving the beautiful Dresden, Germany

I got into the hostel and got a bed for the night and fell right to sleep. The next morning I got on the train and headed on. I was met with a woman wearing a teacup hat who gave me a carnation and a pamphlet on something. So, I bid the beautiful Dresden farewell the best way I knew how, with a beer.

Check out the rest of my favorite photos of Dresden in my Dresden Gallery.