Battle of Waterloo, 1815 and all that stuff

Hello Bloggers, here is our last blog from the continent

We had booked to catch the Eurostar train from Brussells to London St Pancreas so decided to stay our last two nights on the continent in Brussels. We were not able to find any accommodation in the Brussels area so end up in a self catering place just outside Brussels, in a little town called Waterloo.
Waterloo is now a thriving dormitory suburb for Brussels, but nearly two hundred years ago is was the site of a major battle between France and England (with some help from a Prussian army at the last moment).

Main street of Waterloo with museum in the house that General Wellington used as headquarters (Photo number 585)

Napolean was of course the dictator of France (for the second time) and had won many battles in the few years before Waterloo

Lions mound on site of battlefield (photo 600)
This hill, called the Lions mound was built between 1824 and 1826 on the site where Prince Guillaume of Orange (heir to the Netherlands crown) was wounded in the battle. The mound supports a cast iron lion. The lion protects the globe which symbolises the return of peace to Europe.

View from the top of Lions mound, over the battlefield (Photo 595)

The site of one of the major battles now has an information centre describing the battles that raged in those few days in 1815.

Of course in the end history tells us that Emporer Naploean was defeated by Wellington, helped by the arrival late in the day of troops commanded by General Gebhard von Blücher of the Prussian army.

We spent an enjoyable day wandering the battlefield by public transport. The next morning we caught a bus from outside our hotel into Brussels and then the Eurostar train to London to begin the next portion of our holiday.