To Brussels today via Waterloo. At the site of the battlefield, a hill has been erected with an enormous statue of a lion on top. Paul foolishly climbed the 226 steps to the top and had wobbly legs all afternoon. He did however see the entire battlefield from there, including the La Haye Sainte farm. After a nice lunch at the Cafe Wellington, including a Leffe Rubis beer which really was ruby coloured and does have a fruity taste, we sat through a couple of short films, toured the somewhat silly Panorama building and drove off to Brussels. Once safely parked, we located the tourist office and got directions to the too cute Manikin Pis, passing numerous lace, chocolate and souvenir stores on the way, as well as the centre square with the magnificent Guild Halls. Then it was out through ridiculous rush-hour traffic and autoroute home. Happily our little diesel Renault sips fuel parsimoniously; it costs E1.29/L. Gas is E1.45/L.
Belgian roads aren't in quite as good a state of repair as the French ones and Belgian fuel prices are even higher than those of France. Brussels, with NATO, the EEC Parliament and assorted UN groups has entirely too may foreigners clogging up its roads and though offering lip-service to reducing global warming, doesn't seem to understand that syncing traffic lights would help.
Cafe at the battle site
Le Butte de Lion at Waterloo
The Panorama building
La Haye Sainte
Poppy growing half way up the Butte
Magnificent Guild Halls, Brussels. Yes, that's gold trim.
Manikin Pis dressed for some occasion
And of course, a Strumph!
The Manikin Pis has an extensive wardrobe, probably larger than mine :-)
ReplyDeleteThe square in Brussels where the tourist office is located is absolutely spectacular. Bonne continuation.