My last day in Germany...

The program officially ended last night with a farewell party and final European goodbyes to the majority of the group.  Today was Hannah and my final day here, but we had Ashley and Sharon to keep us company too.  The day mostly involved a lot of relaxing, so I was happy to have the extra day.  Sleeping in, re-packing, reading, enjoying final German meals, and visiting the Berlin zoo at a pace that would be acceptable to a 65 year old...all very nice and stress-free.  I found I was able to pack more than I thought I could into my 2 suitcases and somehow ended up with extra space!  Sharon, Ashley, and I went to the zoo after lunch (at the 1.80 euro/huge pizza slice place), and it was awesome!  They have a larger variety of animals then the Cologne zoo did, but the Cologne habitats were much nicer.  Some of the exhibits just made me sad today at the Berlin zoo.  It is probably because the Berlin zoo is smack in the middle of the city, but some of the habitats made the fact that these animals are held in captivity blaringly obvious.  The elephant house at Cologne was 1000% better than Berlin's as were the large cat and bear areas, not to mention the monkey house.  I wish the monkey's had the freedom to roam around as they do at the Cologne zoo.  To Berlin zoo's credit though, they had orangotangs that were absolutely hilarious!  I stood there and just watched them play for a good 15 minutes.  There were 3 of them in their 25' x 15' light green tiled room, and they were all having a blast with the 3 bed sheets that were provided to them.  The littlest one was having a great time running into and wrestling with the largest one (who was about the the size of 3 Javorski Lanes and covered in dread locks); the middle-sized one was just doing cartwheel after cartwheel inside its sheet.  After the zoo, the 3 of us took naps, Hannah joined us, and we all went to "White Trash" for our last dinner in Germany.  It was an awesome day and a great way to end the trip!