It is a shame to spend a sunny morning struggling against bureacracy, especially Indian bureacracy, but there it is. The Indian visa process recently changed; all forms must be filled out online and submitted in person but the website is woefully vague, especially if you are applying outside your own country. So we had to return to the Berlin office three times just to submit our applications. Now the waiting begins, 7-10 days. We don't anticipate any problems - we're just going as tourists - but we won't buy our tickets until we have visas in hand.
We visited Berlin a year and a half ago so we decided to stay in Potsdam instead of the capital. Besides, we wanted a place where we could do our own cooking over the New Years holiday when so many places are closed. Our "pensionapartment" is just a couple of kilometers from Sans Soucci, the opulent palacial compound of Frederick the Great. "Sans Soucci" means "without care" (or in the words of Alfred E. Newman, "What, me worry?") I guess "Der Grosse" felt he needed two or three palaces on 600 acres to get away from business and relax. Es ist gut der Konig sein!
