Waterloo Battlefield

This historic piece of land and the battle behind it all is incredible. So educational and I do recommend you to check out the museum. The movie and information center is worth the time. Not much to see as there is to learn but you will be left with an impression on the scenic view from the Lion Mound (Le Butte Du Lion).
The 200 plus steps up the mound is challenging for someone who is not fit but worth the effort. Simply beautiful.

There is not a lot to see but if you watch the movies played in the visitor center (not free) it will make it a bit more impressive to see this battlefield…
(When I went there, there was so much fog, I could not really see it… Loser…)

Ein wirklich historischer Platz.
Nach dem ich das 360 Grad Panorama mit den Gemälden der Armeen angeschaut hatte ergab sich ein
interessanter Rundumblick vom Hügel des Löwen.
Man kann sich ein bißchen besser vorstellen wie sich hier vor 200 Jahren 200 000 Mann gegenüber standen.
Das Panoramagemälde hat mich übrigens ein wenig enttäuscht. Die Farben wirkten blass, das ganze Gemälde irgendwie unscharf.
Im Kino und Wachsfigurenkabinett war ich nicht.
Das Café Wellington direkt vor Ort war übrigens in Ordnung. Feine belgische Pommes und auch sonst
eine große Auswahl.

On the afternoon of 18 June, 1815, the allied armies under the Duke of Wellington ended the Napoleonic Wars, Empire, and Era with a massive and decisive defeat of the French Emperor’s forces here. The battle was the last of its kind, a major set-​piece engagement between professional cavalry, artillery, and infantry corps of similar size and experience and led by some of the most brilliant military minds in history.
As turning points go, the event marked the end of French and Britsh rivalry on the Continent, and was the last time either would square off with the Prussians as allies. Within 50 years, the US Civil War would bring on the first massive waves of mechanization and trench warfare. After Waterloo, it would require a stretch of the imagination to find anything brilliant or heroic or romantic in the many ways we find to kill each other.
Today, you can take the quick option and visit the Butte de Lion, or you can spend an afternoon tracing the routes of the battlefield. There are memorials and vistas all over the ridge that stretches 4 km south from the Lion (the British lines) and then east across the N5 to Napoleon’s farmhouse headquarters. The area is all working farmland now, but crisscrossed with paths where the Belgians come to stroll with their pets. We used to ride bikes around here as children.
In winter, the winds can be daunting, but in summer, with all of the historic scars long healed, this is one of the many beautiful landscapes of Wallonian Belgium.