The legal drinking age is 18 in Germany. Most Germans don't drink to get drunk and are extremely cautious about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle after drinking. The repercussions for drinking and driving are severe. The limit is .5 on the breathalizer which would be equivalent to one beer.

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The Berlin zoo became famous when a baby polar bear was born and its mother tried to kill it. A man took the little bear named Knabe and raised it, going so far as to even sleep with it. When Knabe became older and more dangerous, they separated the bear and the man. A year later the man died from a heart attack. Thousands of people flocked to the Berlin zoo to see Knabe. As a result, when you drive around Berlin, you will see mini Polar Bears and around Christmas, there is a large Polar Bear downtown. Knabe is an adult now, but people still flock to his habitat to take pictures of him.

We went to the Berlin Zoo and I was amazed at how many animals they have there. The Zoo is literally in downtown Berlin. The habitats, both inside and outside, are much larger than those found in the Madison zoos (which is all I have to compare it to since I haven't been to many other zoos). They have monkey, bird, lion, and reptile houses with most of the animals being independently sponsored. We only had time to see a section of the zoo, but I know there is an Australian section. We were in the lion house in time to see them feed two lion cubs and a leopard. I also saw them feed other animals that I don't know the names to. They had an area in the basement where the bats and other animals that thrive in the darker atmospheres are housed. I got to see an Aardvark and rat kangaroos and many other animals I've never seen before. They had a monkey there that had multiple colors on its big nose, a baby orangutan, and gorillas; hippos, rhinos, and giraffes to name a few.

The grounds and cages are kept very clean. There was a gigantic playground for the kids, which was tempting for ME to play on. I'm excited to go back and see the other side of the zoo.