The tram adventure

A picture of I am not sure what...but it was pretty!

So I am ready to take on the Dresden tram......I have reviewed the map online.  I have my map from my first hotel and I have my all day ride pass.  What more could I need.  Um maybe a rudimentary knowledge of the German language!  I don't speak or read German.....nor to I possess the langage gene.  So I leave my new hotel and walk to the tram stop.  I get on the first tram that comes along.  Lucky #13 even though the lovely hotel staff say "Oh the # 3 will take you straight to the market."   Where is the adventure in going straight to the market?  Note: when I got on the tram I did not note the name of the station.  Big error!  So the tram is moving along and I am trying to compare the tram map on the wall with my hotel map of the "hot" spots.  At this moment I realize German is a very difficult language to "read" on the fly! I then decide I might need to get off the tram so I can better evaluate my situation.  I "jump" off  at the first spot that looks interesting.  There were fun shops and a bar or two.  So I am walking along trying to devise a plan when I see a shop call the English and American shop.......hum that might be a handy spot if I continue to be "lost".  But convinced I can do this on my own I press onward.  I turn a corner and find myself on a busy avenue full of wonderful bakery, and butcher shops, a wine shop and  thank goodness for small favors a book store.  I enter the book store with the great hope of a better map than my hotel's attempt to make Dresden seem very easy.  Yeah, a map that has better detail!  I give the wonderful man at the counter my 2 euro and ask with may map wide open......where am I?  He is very kind and points to a general area.  Hum, still not enough information so I decide to stop at one of the bake shops and have a cup of tea and a pretzel.  While there I evaluate my map and now realize I need the tram map but where do I get a tram map?  I remember the English and American store and head back to ask the burning question....where do I get a tram map.....because they are not on the tram, or at the tram stops.  So I enter the store and the shop keep is speaking to a customer in German....my sprites nose dive......but then when it is my turn she answers my hello with an american accent!  Score!  She drew me a map and got me to the round house at Albert plantz and I score my tram map!  Buoyed by my new tool I jump on the # 3 tram.  Yes!  I have this under control......I take my seat and travel a few stops and then realize I am in a residential part of town......and have no idea if I am heading north, south, east or west.....hum that is a problem!  I my defense it was snowing so the sun was no help!  I heard the lady driving the tram say next stop GroBen hainer Pl ......hum that sounds like the place my wonderful shop keeper said was super cool.....so I get off the tram.....it is the middle of nowhere!  a little bit of knowledge can be so dangerous!  Crap!  What do I do now?  I decide to walk back to the previous station and review the tram map!  I am there by myself and really get a chance to review the map.......a light bulb goes off and I get a clue!   It only took three trams passing and switching sides twice but I got it!  I  now know which trams going north and south and which go east and west.  I am still not sure of my original stop......but I am determined. As I wait for the north bound #3 tram I realize it is snowing harder and my feet got wet during my walk and I am very cold......a taxi whizzes past.....oh I could just jump in a taxi....but as quick as the thought entered my head, there it was my objective, the  north bound #3 tram!  I did not know which stop but I knew I needed north #3....I merrily board the yellow tram and find my seat.   I pass the GrBen stop, convinced that Trachen berger Pl was going to be my stop... because the #13....which got me into this mess and the #3 both have stops at that station.  But to my great surprise the approaching area looked familiar...it is my stop!  Liststr!  Yeah.....I am home!  I walked back to my hotel......and took a long hard study of the maps.  I am now off to the market!  On the #3 south bound tram!