Yes, finally made it to see the site of the Battle of Waterloo. It was one of the milestones in my trip, nearly missed it though. It was another one of those days that makes for a good blog post but a harrowing day.
First up I thought, let’s get out of Brussels to see Waterloo while we’ve still got the car and we are allowed to drive it. That was the first bad news of the day when we discovered someone had smashed the car window to break in. Fortunately we had left nothing in the car, but with glass everywhere and no window, it wasn’t really drivable.
While the girls shopped, I walked over to the Hertz place and they said “no worries, drop it back and we’ll swap it over for another”. The 2 kms between the apartment and Hertz was a drive the likes of which I don’t want to repeat again in a hurry. I told them they could keep the car. It was due back tomorrow morning anyway.
It was lunchtime by now and we still hadn’t got to Waterloo and now no car. Some research turned up a #365 bus that goes from the train station in Brussels right to the battlefield. We found the bus without too much trouble and hopped on.
The driver asked where we were going and where we were from (without really being able to speak English). We settled back and had probably the most exhilarating bus ride experienced for a while. An hour of precision driving followed, missing parked cars by inches, until we got to Waterloo. The bus driver let us know that the next stop was the one we wanted (my research hadn’t been too thorough on where to get off, just where to get on).
Visited the brand new and very impressive underground museum, which was finished in time for the 200th anniversary in June, so very new. Climbed the Lion Mount memorial and marvelled at the view, after we got our breath back.
What now? Home. Any idea how we do that? No. 365 bus I suppose. Where do we catch it? Let’s try over near where we got off. Any idea how often they run? Ah, might be on the hour, not sure. We can always walk back to the train station, that’s only a couple of kilometres.
Sometimes things do work out. The bus stop was where it was supposed to be, and no sooner had we got there a no. 365 arrived. And who was driving it? Our mate who dropped us off a couple of hours previously. He seemed pleased to see us. We were very pleased to see him.
What did I mean by the blog title? Check out the modern day Waterloo below. Amelia has been flabbergasted and horrified with the open air urinals dotted around. I think it is etiquette to not drop your pants while using them though. Amusing, but hardly hygienic. As you can see, they are well used, overflowing in fact.
And so ends the continental leg of the trip. It’s on the train tomorrow for London, where we meet up with Emily, and the start of the real excitement – Rugby World Cup 2015.
Here we come Blighty,
Steve J.