We're on the final count down of the trip, and boy are we crammin stuff in! For our final week, we are in Berlin. I really like Berlin. I'm not sure I would compare it to New York City, though. It has a different feeling when you walk around..it's busier than other cities we've been to, but not any where near New York.

As soon as we arrived in Berlin, we got our hotel rooms and headed out for our bike tour of the city. Biking the streets of Berlin...oh buddy...I'm not sure how we all made it back safe, but we did. We biked for about 3 hours; stopping at some of the famous sites in Berlin. It was absolutely fascinating to see sections of the Berlin Wall that were still up as a memorial. Our guide explained alot of what Berlin was like only 20 years ago. It's very hard to imagine the city completely different. On our way to return the bikes, we met Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaghey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) They had just arrived in Berlin. Matt loved that we were from Texas...of course. It was so awesomeeeeeeeee.

Today was a jam packed day! We visited a Molecular Research Center and had a great discussion with an expert on Stem Cell Research. The coolest part of the day was getting to see a 7 Tesla MRI! The magnetism was so strong that it pulled Brittany's shoes off! hahha The man in charge must have known that we were going to turn into little kids when we got there because he had all these things for us to play with. Coming in at a close second for cool things of the day was visiting a surgical center that's designing software for the future. They have created a computer program that eventually could enable an expert surgeon in Australia to show a surgeon in Texas how to operate on any part of the body! Seriously...technology is out of control. Our day ended with a lecture from Claudia Witt on different alternative medicines. This was very interesting because it's quite different in Germany. For common colds, most Germans don't immediately got take Advil or Tylenol. Instead, they opt for more natural remedies....herbs, massage therapy, etc. It sounds alot better to me. The only problem is that it probably takes longer than most Americans want.

Dresden tomorrow and then our last day! :( More later in the week...

Cheers,
Coral