Lübeck

Lübeck, a UNESCO World Heritage site for its brick gothic architecture, is a beautiful city in Northern Germany, on the Trave River which goes out to the Baltic. It was the leading city of the Hanseatic League, a trade organization in the middle ages. The old city is really well preserved and restored. It is enclosed by the Trave river, and very small and dense with lots of narrow windy streets.
The Speicher buildings in the background, which used to store salt.

Below: the Marienkirche, the church on the main square (Germany's third largest church, built 1250-1350).

The church was partially destroyed in the bombing of Lübeck in 1942 and the bell fell from the bell tower onto the ground, sinking in. They left it as a memorial to the war and you can still see it today. This morphed, broken bell is something that has stuck in my memory since I first saw it years ago. Beautiful wood and brickwork on the Rathaus, city hall building.