During my first summer of backpacking through Europe, it wasn't too uncommon for people, particularly those with Eurail passes, to show up at the train station and take the next departing train that seemed interesting. Now it seems that almost no one does this. Even the people with Eurail passes seem to have itineraries mapped out. And they all have guidebooks. I think they are neglecting some of the mystery in travel.

Of course there is one practical advantage that the itinerary and guidebook people have over me. They have all pre-booked their cheap room for the night. These are harder to find now when you just show up in a city along a backpacking route. I'd heard that Dresden was a particularly tough town to find a cheap bed, but I'm game to try.

I ask at the tourist office first. They can give me a list of hostels but they don't do bookings. Then I check online and find that all of the hostels are fully booked, save for the YHA hostels whose status can not be determined online. I try the larger YHA first. They are fully booked for the night but I am able to reserve for the next three nights.

Guessing that the other, smaller YHA will surely be booked as well, I check out hotels along the way as a backup. They cost far more than I want to pay but they are all full up as well. I'm thinking that I might be sleeping in a park (BTW, Dresen has a monsterous one near the center) for one night. Amazingly though, the other YHA, which is in a very nice neighborhood, has plenty of spare beds. Far stranger, when I move over to the other YHA I wind up having a room to myself for three nights! Go figure!

Like Wurzberg, Dresden was famously firebombed during WWII. The rebuilding and reconstruction was very uneven, so it has some beautifully restored sections along with some horribly ugly parts. For the most part, I like it though. I buy a museum pass and wind up visiting all the available places on it. I take a trip south to Pillnitz Palace, which is on a lovely spot along the banks of the river Elbe.

Two of my best lack-of-guidebook surprises are found in Zwinger museum complex. So, spoilers ahead to avoid if you want the same experience. Now, I already knew that the Zwinger was famous, but I didn't know anything more than that. I'd even heard of the Grünes Gewölbe or "Green Vault" before, but again, I didn't know anything about it, nor did I even know it was in the Zwinger. Well, it turns out to be a collection of amazing Renaissance and Early Baroque objects, created with marvelous skill and detail by master jewellers and goldsmiths, and all made up of the most precious jewels and metals. They are stunning. I could say much more about them, but the description wouldn't do justice to them anyway, so I won't. I had to go back and see them twice.

My other Zwinger surprise came in the Sempergalerie Altes Master section. Again, I knew this was a famous art gallery, but had no idea what was inside. I got there early and with the aid of my museum pass, was the very first one in the galleries. While walking through these great rooms, doing a quick reconnaisance of the masterpieces, I look up and see those enigmatic cherubs at the bottom of Rafael's famous "Sistine Madonna". Of course I'm completely stricken and stand there admiring the painting until several other people, all with guidebooks open to a photo of this painting, join me.

I'm sure they enjoyed the painting as well, but they certainly missed out on the joy of surprise.