Potsdam, Germany

On the way to Prague, we stop at Potsdam which was once a royal city. Park the car at film museum and walk to Brandenburg gate to catch the Hop on and Hop off Bus. The bus took us round the sightseeing route and the whole journey was about 90 mins. Since we are short of time, we just visit the Sanssouci Park which is one of the many UNESCO heritage site in Potsdam and just a short distance from the Brandenburg gate.

Berlin

Arrive Berlin on the 16 September 2008. Found a budget hotel at the Charlottenburg area. This is the British area. There is a big shopping area just 5 minutes walk away. Bought a leather wallet here as it was really cheap and also try the currywurst, the hotdog is soft and nice. The next day planned was to join a free walking tour of Berlin which starts a 1.00pm but instead we went to the meeting place too early, so decided to join the 8 hours walking tour which cost only 12 euros. Our guide, Terry is very keen and enthusiastic on the history and having a history lesson is no fun, so we keep asking him to just give us the background. One of the place he took us was this old theater and outside is this giant chair, well manage to climb on it with the help of Terry and took a pics. Berlin is a nice city with plenty of sightseeing. I am very impressed with the Sony Centre and the Renaissance Hotel. Both have very modern architecture.

Hamburg

Left for Hamburg from Amsterdam on the 15 September morning and arrive at about 2.00pm. Check into a hotel in Repeerbahn which is supposed to be a red light district. From there we took the S-bahn into Hamburg town centre and start exploring. It's a nice and clean city. Its was an overnight stay here and so there was not much time for sightseeing as we are leaving for Berlin the next morning.

Netherlands

A UNESCO Heritage site in Netherlands with 19 windmills dating from the 1500s is Kinderdijk in Ducth meaning "Child's Dike".

One of the windmills is opened for visitors to get a pretty good idea about the functioning of the windmill as well as living quarters for the caretaker.

The mills drain the excess water from the Alblasserwaard polders - which are situated below sea-level - after which the water is sluiced into the river Lek. The powerful mill sails serve to transmit the force of the wind on to large paddle-wheels which scoop up the water.

Brussels 10.09.2008

The Maneken Pis is a well known monument in Belgium, but the less known on the opposite end is the Jeanneke Pis. This is the best pics I have between the two and because of the fence and the statue was a bit too high for me, could not have done better too.

Brussels

Waterloo, Belgium
A fifteen minutes drive from Brussels away is the battlefield of Waterloo which has been preserved almost as it was in 1815. There is a Battlefield building with sound effects to relive the great moments of the battle with a 360° panarama fresco of the battle. This is me, on the way down from the Lion mound. It was very windy up there and from the mound, the view of the entire battlefield, which has been preserved and remained intact to this day is very breathtaking.

Its a brand new car and left hand drive. Wow...could I drive???
Its a spacious small car with plenty of features inside including a GPS which is definately a god sent gadget. I could travel anywhere in Europe with it and won't get lost and so with it, I travelled 7 countries and 13 cities in Central Europe. Twenty-five days later I end my trip in Paris to return the car with 5400km to my name.

My Europe Trip

After researching for months, I finally made my decision to travel around Central Europe on my own as a backpacker instead of joining a tour group. While browsing thru the net, I found that leasing a car from France was much cheaper and more convenient than to travel by public transport. I finally lease a Peugeot 207 and everything was done with Peugeot Malaysia and finalize before I leave for London and finally to Calais to collect my car.