Our day trip to Potsdam started with pickup at the hotel for a shuttle to the tour starting point. The shuttle was about ten minutes late arriving at our hotel. That was an exception to the normally on-time performance of every tour and reservation (not counting the late start from United Airlines in Albuquerque).

The beginning of the bus trip was quiet, but we stopped to pick up our guide near the dividing line between Berlin and Potsdam. As soon as she climbed aboard, she started talking about everything we passed. Both German and English speakers were on the tour, and she repeated everything in both languages.

Potsdam is a smaller town about a 20-minute drive southwest of Berlin. It took us a little longer than that though since there was a big backup on the A110 and we went by surface roads instead. Those in Potsdam say that although Berlin is the big sister, Potsdam is the pretty one. It is now a favorite place for famous and wealthy people to live. The palace of Friedrich der Grosse, Sans Souci, is similar to Peterhof and Versailles, but seemed somewhat smaller. It was his favorite home. He died and was buried there. Actually he was buried in the church even though he had requested to be buried in his own gardens. He was moved back to Sans Souci recently. We had a very nice tour there with our guide. As we visited the many rooms of the palace, no other tour groups or tourists were in sight. They did an excellent job of moving people through the tour without overlapping the groups. It made the tour very nice since we could hear our guide without competition from others.

When we returned to Berlin, it was after 2 o'clock and we were hungry. We found a sidewalk café and beer garden for lunch. Both of us had curry wurst which is a funny thing to be popular as a blend between German and Indian food. Philip had a Berliner pilsner and I had a Berliner Kindl Weiss mit rot. One of the German Language teachers at school suggested trying it at a beer garden since I don’t like beer. It is sweet and tastes like a combination of beer and Sprite with a little fruit flavor added. It is bright red and served in a short glass that is too fat to pick up with one hand. Glad to have the straw.

We got off the tour bus within a few blocks of KaDeWe department store. It claims to be the biggest department store in continental Europe. Lots of fun things to look at there with the gourmet and food shops being the most interesting. We did not buy a thing though. We do not have room for much more in our luggage.

Rather than going back to the hotel on the subway or by cab, we decide to walk. It is going to be a long way, but we expected to see something different on the way. It just took a long time mostly and I was tired and ready to sit down when we finally made it back to the hotel after an hour and fifteen minutes.