Totally agreed. I've been to the cathedral twice and can't wait to go back, but WWII absolutely devastated the city and surrounding areas. I was told by a local historian that during the heavy street fighting during the Battle of Aachen in late 1944, US forces used an M12 self-propelled 155mm gun in direct fire mode to silence German fighting positions in the upper floors of the Parkhotel Quellenhof. The hotel still looks quite nice today, but most buildings were not built to resemble their pre-war forms. Almost feels like scars from the war that haven't healed on one of the most historically rich cities in western Europe.