The next thing to do was get the UK Visa. This I thought would be much simpler as I could directly apply in Bangalore and would involve only half a day's work. Well, the initial process was convenient, I booked an appointment and went there for the application submission.The VFS staff checked my documents and asked for some more documents, after some scrambling I managed to give them all the possible documents or rather the ones that I thought would ensure a visa approval.After a wait of 15 days, I found out that I was not granted a visa as they were not convinced of the genuineness of my friend's documents because they were photocopies. I was shocked and then furious. When all the rage and frustration had subsided, which took some time and a lot of venting, I decided I didn't have enough time to re-apply and so rescheduled to visit only Germany.Again, because of the original plan and the 10 day visa, I couldn't extend my stay in Germany either. So the final plan was to leave on Sep 1st morning to Germany and return on the 10th morning.
On boarding the flight I was in for a shock.I had expected a little more spacious seating for a long haul flight but what I got was worse than our very own Air Deccan seating and all the seats were occupied! Luckily I was too sleepy and beat to be bogged down by that and slept for a good 7 hours before I got up and discovered that my neighbors were generally flirting and hitting on each other.Thankfully I had the in-flight music and headphones to 'discover'! We reached Frankfurt on time and as soon as we landed I started 'exploring' the airport. I went in a circle twice before finally figuring how to get to the other terminal.For those who don't know me this is my signature style, I have never been able to get from point A to point B without going in a circle at least once.But this time I had an excuse, it was Frankfurt airport!!So then I wandered through the airport for nearly an hour and identified the gate from which I was to board my flight to Berlin in 7 hours.This done I decided to venture out.I spotted a travel desk which had a Frankfurt City tour of 3 hours scheduled in the next 15 minutes.I signed up for it and waited with a group of Chinese guys for our pickup.Unfortunately when the tour guide came to pick us up some of the guys had wandered off, but the tour guide would have none of it and said he couldn't wait for them. So he took me and another lady who was to be dropped off at the train station and drove off in a mini van.Some very disturbing thoughts were beginning to form in my mind but the minute we drove out of the airport they were replaced by sheer awe.More on Frankfurt in the next post.Next Stop, Berlin.Meeting Renu & hanging out with her had been what I was looking forward to, but the city itself was a pleasant surprise and the 4 days I spent there were the highlight of my trip.And then was the weekend visit to Rome that Renu had planned out.Aah Rome!
Before I knew it, it was time to head back.The flight back was more comfortable and I had this old Indian couple sitting next to me.It was entertaining to watch them try wine after wine and then Beer. It was almost as if there was a competition.So with all this entertainment I hardly felt the 9 hours go by.I reached Bangalore at 1 in the morning and decided to wait for the shuttle service to get home.That was a wait of 6 hours in the airport, 3 of which I spent outside thanks to the poor information service at the airport. Of the journey back home from Berlin, the distance between the airport and home seemed the longest! 
