Fri 1st August – sun 3rd
Our next destination was Brussels to stay with Tina’s cousin Ian,
the roads improved as we travelled further north. Ian later told us that the
Flemish speaking part of Belgium generally had better roads but didn’t work
very well with their neighbouring commune. He described the ridiculous outcome
when one side of the road was resurfaced and left 2cm higher that the other
lane! All to do with funding…………..
We were given a warm welcome and soon settled in to drinks and lots
of chat as we caught up. Laurence, Ian’s wife had a wicked sense of humour and
had us in stitches.
Ian's head just visible!
We caught the very convenient metro into the city centre and
immediately we were into the city “buzz” with lots of tourists filling the
streets. It was much bigger than I
expected with lots of restaurants spilling out into the streets. What a choice
of food! We strolled into an amazing shopping gallery full of the most
spectacular chocolate shops. Of course there were also lots of beer shops –
most were incredibly strong brands with monks / monasteries featuring heavily as
brewers!
chocolate heaven
We walked to the fish market and were treated to a brass band
marching past with giant puppets being twirled around – never did find out what
this was all about. Our next stop was the to be the Royal Palace but we were
distracted by another band playing in the gardens. On closer inspection they
were marching about before they performed in the band stand. We joined the
audience and sat and listened to them for 20 mins. Very relaxing.
very tall puppets
The Royal Palace was well worth visiting. The rooms are huge and I
have never seen so much gold in my life – walls, lamps, chandeliers, door
frames and much more. Too much in my opinion, I had no idea that the Belgian
monarchy lived in such OTT splendor. King Albert the first was much loved but
unfortunately died in a climbing accident in 1934. There was a very good
display of photographs and films depicting his life.
amazing ceilings
gold & more gold
Next day after another enjoyable evening of eating, drinking and
talking with Ian & Laurence (including teasing her about Brussels trying to
impose stupid laws on us – she works for the EU commission) we decided to visit
the nearby Battle of Waterloo site. We scooted over and eventually found the
site despite the absence of road signs from the main road. Initial impressions
were poor as it resembled a building site! The centre is under going major
improvements including a hotel. The tour
included 2 short films which very clearly told the story of the famous battle
that changed European politics for ever on 18th June 1815.
looking over the battlefield
217!
butte du lion
The sheer
scale of the armies and men involved was breathtaking. We of course had to walk
up the 217 steps to the top of the Butte du Lion ( lion’s mound) which was
constructed to commemorate the location where William II of
the Netherlands (the Prince of Orange) was
knocked from his horse by a musket ball to the
shoulder during the battle. It was ordered constructed in 1820 by his father, King William
I of The
Netherlands, and completed in 1826.
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