Prague

Stand where 27 Protestant nobles lost their heads, watch 600-year-old mechanical apostles march for 45 seconds each hour, then enter a cemetery where 12 layers of the dead are stacked because the living weren't allowed more space. Prague's Old Town is beautiful — and merciless.

Climb to the largest castle in the world where people were thrown from windows as a form of political discourse, find Kafka's writing room in a dollhouse-sized cottage, then descend through monastery libraries where monks painted the meaning of existence on ceilings — and still brew their own beer.

Cross a bridge built on astrological palindrome at 5:31 AM in 1357, wish on the statue of a saint drowned for keeping a queen's secrets, then wander baroque streets where Mozart played the organ and Beatles lyrics defied a regime — in a city that resolved political disputes by throwing people out of windows.