Lunch in Dresden

Time for another passport stamp, bt I'm broke, so our original plan to go to Poland got scrapped and we had to go back to Dresden. This time we planned to see a different set of sights titled by the guidebook as "romantic Dresden". This walk included beautiful 19th suburbs and the Blue Miracle, a bridge revered by the Dresdeners. At the end of WWII, the Nazis had set it to be destroyed to protect their retreat from the Russians, but two locals cut the firing cable, thereby saving the bridge.
The day started out on the wrong foot as we went to the wrong train station and had to run to catch our train. Once on board we quickly realized that almost eery seat had been reserved and we had to push into a cabin that wasn't quite full. But the train was one of the newer more comfortable ones, and we settled in for the 2 hour trip to Dresden.
Once ther we quickly headed off to lunch hoping that we might miss the rain that appeared to be coming on us. We had a very pleasant lunch at a restaurant we had also tried in Vienna. Unfortunately I also realized I had left my ticket back to Prague on the train. Afterward we spent some time trying to decipher the Dresden tram system which is complex, and I think poorly mapped. However we finally found our tram and travelled over to the bridge. Megan and I both found the bridge generally unimpressive, and only just barely blue, but it did offer some pretty spectacular views of the Elbe. Continuing on our way we found the Funicular which was to take us up into the hills above the river to walk through tree lined streets of a specific 19th century neighborhood. Unfortunately, once at the top, we soon realized that the funiculars destination had been changed since the writing of Megan's 10 year old guidebook. We wandered around the streets at the top for a few minutes, and I have to admit that the building are in fact quite lovely, but decided to try to make an earlier train back to Prague. On the way we realized we weren't gonna make it, but decided to go to the station to get me a new ticket, and then go get some dinner. At the station we found ourselves walking in circles trying to find a ticketing window, but finally had to settle for an automat. However, while wandering about Megan noticed that the train we had missed 30 minutes prior was still listed on the board. We decided to give it a shot and went to the platform where the train was in fact still sitting. We hopped on board and the train almost immediately set off, so that we knew we had had a piece of extremely good luck. Photos.