We spent a very pleasant few hours visiting the Battle of Waterloo site just outside of Brussels Belgium. We didn’t make it here in 2018, so we were very happy to make the out of the way trip today.
We saw a couple of demonstrations, one on the use of the flintlock, which was the weapon of the time, and the one of a canon. The canon was the smallest they would have used with 6-pound balls. The other canons shot 8-pound, 10-pound and 12-pound balls. Both demos were very interesting; here are the videos.
The only monument on the site is the Lion’s Monument built just 10 years after the battle.
There are 226 stairs to the top, and I made it!!
The view from the top was beautiful.
On my way down, I ran into a bag piper who climbed all the way up blowing his pipes. He didn’t have to pull himself up with the handrails or anything!
Peter took a video of me coming back down.
Then we spent a little time in the museum. Not much new as we’ve seen so much about the battle, but it had some nice models.
There was also a 4D movie, but there were no chairs, only leaning rails, so we took a pass. Then it was back to the car for what should have been a 1-hour drive to Ghent, which is our home for the next 4 nights. We got stuck in traffic around Brussels and then again just outside of Ghent, so it actually took almost 90 minutes.
Our host, Tine (pronounced Tina) was here to great us and show us her remarkable flat. She actually lives here when she’s not at her boyfriend’s house so there is much more here than we usually see. After being crammed into a tiny Holiday Inn Express room for the last 4 nights, we’re going to love the extra space. Here’s a video I took of the penthouse apartment.
Getting the car into the garage was a massive pain in the butt, so I’m not moving it again until we leave on Sunday. So, tomorrow we’ll take the train for a day trip to Brussels. It should be fun.
As always, thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to follow our adventures. Love to all.
What a wonderful flat. Glad you have four days to enjoy and use public transportation. Nice views from the balconies.
I read all the time about the bad experiences people have with Airbnb flats. We’ve stayed in more than 50 and other than the couple of issues we had in France, we have always found them to be wonderful. Some better than others, of course, but overall, we’ve been very pleased. Our favorite part is being able to make our own meals. Especially traveling for so long, it gets boring, not to mention expensive, to eat out every day.