Day 61 22 May 2015 Brussels-Waterloo

This morning we went to catch a bus on the W line to take us to Waterloo.  We had to wait for 45 minutes for the bus though we missed one that we could have taken.  The internet had told us it was a 45 minute bus trip which was more like 65 minutes.   Unfortunately the Waterloo battlefield stop I expected to see didn’t come up and we arrived at the terminus of Braine l’Alleud.  Luckily we had a lovely bus driver, hyped up on Pepsi and cigarettes who helped us out, put us on another bus and had the driver told us where to get off.  The bus route has changed with the 200^th anniversary but we weren’t to know.

We were in for a big surprise, the day before they had just inaugurated the new 1815 Memorial Museum the day before and we arrived on the first day it was opened to the public. WOW how lucky is that!! It is built underground and on the approach ramp there in black stone are the list of units that fought in the battle of all the armies involved.  It was a little reminiscent, in style, from the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. 

The displays are excellent, incorporating technology with audio guides, 3D movie of the battle, moving picture displays.  It was EXCELLENT and we can claim to have visited the newest museum in the world!  I did find two errors, one relating to dates and a translation error.  Marchel Grouchy’s army was described to have had “28 000 men, 1 000 wounded and 100 firearms”.  It should have been “100 cannon”.  It doesn’t detract from the experience, we did go through faster than we would have liked as there was a lot to see today. 

It took us 2 hours to go through the museum, then we visited the Panorama, a 360 degree painting of the battle.  Then it was off to climb the Lion Mount and all of its 226 steps. This was created after the battle to celebrate the Belgian Prince of Orange.  Wellington wasn’t happy as it spoilt (altered) the battlefield. 

Luckily there were people coming down from the Lion so it gave us an excuse to stop and let them down and have a breather.  There was a tour group of rather elderly British people who also came up.  The views were good and we were lucky it was a fine day.

Yes Michael you are right, it is a small battlefield, remarkably so.    We then went off to walk part of the battlefield, photograph a few monuments and see if we could walk to Plancenoit, a small village that witnessed intense fighting between the Prussians and French behind Napoleon’s right flank.

We walked for about 2-3 kilometres along a cobbled country Belgian road that seemed to have quite a lot of traffic on it, necessitating us at times having to get off the road.  It was a lovely walk, though warm in the sun but we didn’t have enough time (or energy) to walk to Plancenoit because of the delay with the buses and getting the correct stop. They have begun constructing the stands for the 200th anniversary.  The latest information we have is that there will be 5000 re-enactors with 300 horses and 100 canons with 30 000+ spectators. 

We made it as far as far as the little hamlet of Papelotte which did see fighting in 1815.  Today is seems to be full of horse studs and a Gingko Wellness Centre which we assumed would not have sold us ice-creams.  About 4.45PM we made it back to our bus top and only had to wait 2 minutes before a bus came along.  It took 60 minutes to get back and the bus was crowded.  The driver did go through a roundabout quickly and Elizabeth almost lost her footing as the momentum swung her around, with her outstretched right hand she held on the upright as she slowly moved backwards (anti-clockwise)  to the other side of the bus, until another upright stopped her.  Luckily she wasn’t hurt too badly but it may have seen comical to the people in the back of the bus.

The bus ride home was a killer as we were on the sunny side and the bus was so hot.  It was so bad we put our hats back on.  Very few people in Europe seem to wear hats even if it’s sunny. It was big day but to see the Waterloo 1815 Museum on opening day was amazing.  My idea to come early to avoid crowds at the museums in June really paid off as they will be absolutely packed during the 200th anniversary.  Visiting Waterloo today has well and truly exceeded my expectations.