Waterloo
Our friend, Mike Vennik, met us at the airport. His wife, Sue, was away working.
Mike took us to their home on the outskirts of Brussels.
Next morning (Mike had taken the day off), we set out on a cool, misty morning. We soon covered the short distance from Brussels to Waterloo. Here we are with Napoleon.
There weren't many people around; the tour buses hadn't started. You couldn't see far because of the mist, but we had the impression of a fairly flat countryside with a few minor hills and valleys.
The first memorial of the great battle (1815) is this green mound with the lion on its top.
We climbed the long flight of steps and looked at the area around us from the top.
Then we came down to a large 'hive-shaped' building, which held memorabilia of the fighting.
Most impressive was the painted record of the climax of the battle, with diorama in front of it.
This was installed right round the circular walls of the building.
You can see some of it in the shot below.
Building models of the battle, and charging people a shilling to come and see them, was a popular activity in the years immediately after 1815. One of these modellers, who was commissioned to build his version by the War Office, later fell foul of them because his research suggested the battle was nearly lost because Wellington was late getting there. By then Wellington was Prime Minister so the argument got hushed up!
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