14. I Saw My Waterloo

A cool and rainy Wednesday here in Belgium, even with some hail, so we drove over to Waterloo in Belgium to tour the Waterloo Battlefield Museum about the Napoleonic Wars. Yup, with David we do them all. 

It was another interesting museum which had been renovated in 2015 to reflect the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. We went on a tour with the guide which was quite entertaining. He was dressed in full French military regalia and he was a wealth of knowledge on the times, and had a flare for the dramatic as well. We felt rather sorry for him as the tours run on the hour and they are offered in French, Dutch or English. He had to tell the history in French for the first 2/3 of our group and then repeat it in English for our tour which took him a long time. He was quite detailed and very good at his job. The museum has excellent displays to explain the war including 3D films to make us feel like we were a part of the battle. It also has a Panorama room which is a completely circular old building and an artist has recreated the battlefield scenes in a panoramic painting. I’m not sure how long it took them. At the entrance to the whole museum there is a diorama that took the artist 30 years to complete. David also took advantage of the opportunity to hike up the over 200 steps to the Lion’s Mount (or Butte as they call it in Belgium). I took pictures of him doing the hike up and down. The origin story of this big hill was that King Willem of The Netherlands realized there had been so much public response to the Battle of Waterloo that he wanted to do something to put his stamp on the war. So he had a big hill constructed to honour his son who was injured there during the war (he survived). Even when Belgium separated from The Netherlands, they continued to keep Lion’s Mount as a memory of the war. 

The Lion’s Butte

And true to form for me, there just happened to be an ABBA exhibit called “Waterloo” in the Battle of Waterloo museum. It was quite a pleasant change to be looking at something so lively and fun. It reminded me of the visit to the ABBA museum in Sweden with David, our son-in-law, and grandson. And yes, I did strut a little stuff grooving to the tunes. 

We also had time to visit the In Flanders Field Museum in the town if Leper (also known as Ypres). I’m so glad that we took the time to do this. It was a great museum recording the First World War from the Belgium perspective. It’s also in an incredible building. We hadn’t yet seen this side of the communities and we were treated to some spectacular architecture. The museum is located in the old Grote Markt. This is a phenomenally huge building in the centre of town that has a very large cobblestone pedestrian square. The building itself used to be a Cloth Market. Hard to believe that they sold cloth here when you think of the tiny places that currently sell fabrics. There is a Belfry at the top of this building and David climbed up another 250 steps to get to the top of that while I watched a film about the war. 

We really like the architecture of the building with all of the gables.

Pour mes petites enfants: This is a lego model of the Grote Markt. 

The Grote Markt where the In Flanders Fields Museum is located.

And of course, In Flanders Fields The Poppies Grow…

There have been lots of motorcyclists while we have been in France and Belgium. Tonight there are four of them staying in our B & B. Tomorrow is an anniversary of the ANZAC Australia and New Zealand regiments participation in the First World War and apparently these older English Gents are here to partake in those celebrations. Just like the laws in California, here motorcyclists can zip along in any lane beside a car so they are actually sharing your lane with you. You really have to keep your wits about you to be sure you see them zipping alongside. You appreciate their noisy machines in this instance.