Well, got home from my trip and made a few scores but cars became kind of secondary when all was said and done. It wasn't because I didn't try to
find them, they just weren't where I looked. But either way, I had a great time going around the world heading east on an 8 day trip that took me to
places I've never been before. This trip included stops in Berlin Germany, Osaka Japan, Seoul S.Korea and Beijing China. I just want to thank again those
guys that posted advice for the Osaka portion, even though they hid the HotWheels from me that day I had a great time. If a mod feels that there is too much
non-diecast please send it to the right forum, I just edited this post to show my finds and some pics. Thanks for looking!
First stop: Berlin, Germany
Checkpoint Charlie
Found this neat little Peugot dealer that had some cool cars in the showroom, even 1or 2 HotWheels or Matchbox possibilities if we're lucky
Peugot 20 Cup is the black 3 wheel car but I can't remember the names of the other 3, I'm sure someone here will know.
Brandenburg Gate
Markers in the foreground trace the path of the former Berlin Wall troughout the city with the Reichstag Building in the background.
Checkpoint Charlie
This is "Mother With Her Dead Son" which is kind of like Germany's version of the "Tomb of the Unknowns" in a building called
Neue Wache which is dedicated to victims of Fascism and Militarism. Underneath the granite slab lies the remains of an unknown soldier, a resistance fighter
and a concentration camp victim.
Altes Museum
Berliner Dom
Bugatti dealer had this heap a junk sitting there.
Here's a pic from a few miles up over the Gobi desert
Next stop was Osaka, Japan. The next picture is on approach to the airport, the hotel I stayed at is in the lower right corner with the Osaka Palace
to the left on the other side of the river.
Holy photographers batman!
You should have seen the guy I got to take this picture for me, we had some interesting version of sign language going on to negotiate this picture
being taken.
If you get a chance to check this Palace out do it, it's amazing to see the size of the stones and the way they are fitted together.
Scene from the top observation deck overlooking to the southwest
And where else does the ugly American eat who can't stomach seafood while in Osaka, Japan.....![]()
Next are pics of San Saibashi street where I found the 8 blocks of shops but not a single HotWheels, came across some TOMY cars that I knew my son
would love so there are pics mixed in.
There was also a section near this market called Amerika Mur where the youth of Japan take to any and everything American
And for dinner, where does the "ugly American" go to eat....
The next day it was onto Korea where I didn't have much time and one of the few pics I took was of the arrival party for us when we landed
Onto Beijing, China next. Got there early evening with another short stop so I got some shopping in but once again no HotWheels. Saw one HotWheels
track set with some form of chinese writing on it but the cars were nothing special that I couldn't get here.
Did get one pic of a "beautiful" sunny (???) day the morning of our departure, people in LA have nothing to complain about when it comes to
SMOG.
The next day it was time to make the long trek east home with a stop at Elmendorf AFB, AK for fuel. Got some good pics from the air with some
impressive scenery, even from 30K+ feet!
A pic of the passenger info system screen showing us where we were during that leg of the flight and the next is Mt McKinley through the clouds
Thanks for looking, how come I feel like Cliffy Claven all of the sudden??!!


