We felt obliged to complete our interest in Wellington after the Peninsular War by visiting Waterloo about 20km south of Brussels. After 150km of driving, the battle site was a major disappointment. With management handed over to a commercial enterprise at some point in recent years, it looked and felt more like a theme park. Visitors were obliged to pay for everything (even the lavatory at 0.40 cents), there was a huge amount of Napoleonic tat available for sale to the unwary at inflated prices and all the notable places attracted an admission charge. The so-called 'Information Centre' controlled access to all the points of interest in the interests of making money from the many visitors of many nationalities present (including Japanese?). We declined but got on our bikes and found the back route (by following the tourist train!) to Hougumont Farm which was a major centre of fighting in 1815. By contrast, this was pretty neglected and run down with many key features in poor repair or partially obscured. Oddly enough, this made the atmosphere much more real and historically interesting. We approached the North Gate where some very brave fighting took place - both by attackers and defenders - then to the South Gate which was largely unchanged since the battle. The farm was much bigger than we had expected and to the east was a large orchard/paddock surrounded by a solid brick wall with fenestrations which had helped the defenders frustrate the successive French attacks. We found a way in over some wire and took a picture of the neglected memorial to the French who lost there lives there. There is apparently a project to restore/refurbish the farm to close to its original condition. By doing so, proper and due tribute could be paid to those who fought there. Please, though, let it not be managed by a for profit agency.
Perhaps the worst feature of Waterloo was the starkly inappropriate conical mound rising pyramid like out of the surrounding countryside which bore a statue of a Lion and which was constructed in the 1820s at the place where the Prince of Orange, an inexperienced and immature General of just 24 years of age, was wounded. Despite the fact that he made some crass decisions during the course of the battle, this horrid monument dominates the area when other far more worthy commanders are ignored.
Disappointed and miffed, we moved on quickly. This time, back to an important WW1 area round Ypres, also in Belgium. On the way into the city, we diverted to Tyne Cot, a British Military cemetery beautifully designed by British architect Sir Herbert Baker and gained a clear but sobering view of the casualties and impact of the war near here. Subsequently, we found a quiet spot in the car park of the local hospital in Ypres which would be home for the next two nights. Ypres itself was a wonderful surprise with an imposing centre to the town with its variety of tall, distinguished and ornate buildings whivh created a sense of grandeur and a fine backdrop to the human activity at road level. After a modest clean-up, we went into town where we had an excellent meal in the Grande Place in the shadow of the famous Cloth Hall which had been completely and faithfully rebuilt after being nearly destroyed by German artillery fire in 1916. We had also been able to enjoy a beer in the adjacent tea house which had been just a pile of rubble at the height of the war.
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