A visit to Waterloo

Determined to show my dad more of the sights here in Belgium, I dragged him along to the town of Waterloo. Just a 15-minute drive from Tervuren, we arrived at Butte De Lion, a monument built in 1826 by the Dutch and located on the actual sight of the famous battlegrounds. Since I needed some refresher history lessons, my dad and I sat through two excellent films depicting the Battle of Waterloo. I know it sounds boring, but surprisingly, it was very interesting! For those of you who may not remember the details, Waterloo was the battlefield where Napoleon was defeated on June 18, 1815 by the united forces of Britain, Holland, Hanover and Prussia. This battle sadly carried great loss -- by the end of the day, more than 45,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. We learned that the dead were buried in ditches of the actual battlegrounds.

After watching the films, we proceeded to ascend Butte De Lion (226 steps to the top) for a view of the battlefields. This monument was built to commemorate the piece of land where the dutch general William of Orange was wounded. The peak rises to a height of 147 feet and is surmounted by a 28 ton iron-cast lion.

Dad's new knee seemed to be in tip-top shape as he climbed to the top without any problems. My legs were sore for a few days -- either because I am out of shape or because I literally ran most of the way up trying to escape the swarms of gnats on the mound. In fact, coming down, I made it down in record pace with no hands! One hand was holding my scarf over my face and the other trying to shoo the gnats away. I bet not many people have come down that fast w/out holding onto the rail. Did I mention how much I hate bugs?!

Also included in our tickets were a visit to the Panorama de la Bataille -- a 360-degree panorama of the battle and the Musee des Cires (waxworks museum). The museum was neat because it contained authentic memorabilia from the actual battle. It even displayed skulls unearthed from the foot of the museum of actual soldiers killed at Waterloo. In addition, the museum told the story of the days leading up to that fateful day.

After more reading, I found that there are a few more sights that I'd like to see in this town, so I'll have to make a note to stop here again. I must say that to actually see and be in the spot where this significant battle took place was really an amazing experience.