Rampe

To finish off my trip, I got off the bus to the airport in a field just outside a town to the south of Brussels called Waterloo. In 1815, this was the site of the final battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Waterloo, in which the allied army led by the Duke of Wellington inflicted a crushing defeat on Napoleon Bonaparte, condemning his fate to be exiled to Saint Helena for the remainder of his life.

This was the third-bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars and so, to memorialise the fallen soldiers, an enormous mound was created topped with a steel statue of a lion looking out over the battlefield, protecting a globe with its paw.

Today, a delightful little museum can be found next to the mound which gives a really good overview of the background to this battle, from the French Revolution to the rise of Napoleon and his wars of conquest across the continent. It also houses an impressive 360º panorama in which the key aspects of the battle are painted in great detail, as well as a lovely restaurant where I ate some Belgian meatballs - Boulettes Sambre et Meuse.

The view from the top of the mound was fantastic - you can really see why this part of the world is called the Low Countries; there are no hills for miles so you can see Brussels and other, further cities on the horizon! It was a nice way to end the trip - sat in the shadow of Belgium's national animal looking out over this country which, while it admittedly still feels like an artificial smorgasbord of Dutchiness, Frenchiness and quite a lot of Citizen-of-the-Worldiness, I'd like to think I understand a bit better now than I did a few days ago.Read more