Blogs from Waterloo, Walloon Brabant, Belgium, Europe

From Luxembourg, our Globus tour traveled across southern Belgium. Once again we crossed Meuse River, at Liège and then at Namur. The Waterloo battlefield is south of the town of Waterloo, not far at all outside Brussels. Waterloo is the Belgian battlefield where Napoleon met his defeat on 18 June 1815 and thus ended the Napoleonic Wars. People have been coming to visit the site of the great Battle of Waterloo almost ever since it occurred. Baedeker documents a thriving tourist industry in the 1870s. I imagined a visit would be something very much like a visit to an American Civil War battlefield. That really is not the case. The battlefield is preserved, but it is fenced off and accessible only via a tram tour. The visitor center is adjacent to the Butte de Lion (Lion's ... read more

This was a day to reorganize and get ready for the next leg of this trip. Kids slept late, Dale and I sat and drank coffee. Ghislan had already been to the bakery and bought pastries for the kids, rolls for everyone and gluten free whole grain bread for me. My bread was still warm from the oven, OMG so fresh and so good. Why can’t we find this at home? The bakery is located in a little village and Bakersfield is big. Unfortunately, for everyone but me, Elias ate nearly all of the pastries, there was nothing left for the other kids. So, off we went to the bakery shop with all of the kids so they could choose what they wanted. We took the kids to Waterloo, the site where Napoleon lost his battle, ... read more

5/3/2012 Im really starting to love Mondays. I mean, obviously nothing tops the relaxation and freedom that comes with a Sunday (along with the many delectable treats that Sonia brings back for Sunday morning breakfasts). But In terms of comparing my Mondays to a typical Monday, having the rotary meeting to just break up the day into two manageable pieces, along with the physical comfort of a massive lunch, just makes Mondays so much easier. So at 11:30, off we went once again, Myself, Eliza, Chris, and Morgan headed off the long way to meet my councellor Bruno at the normal bus stop. Then followed a nice as lunch, time to chill, and then back to school again for 3 classes. Whats been the sitch recently, is that as Chris and I have no time really ... read more

2/3/2012 Its March ! we’re so so busy with rotary activities this month, literally something that we gotta do rotary related on EVERY weekend. This weekend, its on Saturday at 9-12, at a local school hosting a carrers expo for the Vervies area. But tonight, myself, Chris, Eliza, Riley and Morgan decided to have a bit of a get-together so we could all journey there the next morning together. It started in Verviers, where we bought some supplies for the night, and went to a local bar called Beluga. We weren’t there long before we decided we could make better fun ourselves, so journeyed back to Morgans, to find an amazing meal of spag bolg and chocolate pudding her darling host mum made us…. 3/3/2012 An early start for us today, and we headed to the ... read more

30/1/2012 Today I woke up around 9 or 10 I guess, and upon opening the wonderfully pink curtains in my bedroom, I was greeted by a yard full of snow, covering all the roof’s nearby, and all in all a pretty magic looking scene. I took off downstairs and began taking pictures from the comfort of the house of the glistening exterior. Following lunch, Clara and I headed out into the snow, and took a sled around to one of the nearby hills to have a few runs down. I couldn’t resist taking a bunch of photos as the sheer beauty of masses of snow covered objects everywhere, coupled with the frosted landscape. I had a go at rolling down the hill after a demonstration form Clara, and at around this time the sub zero chill ... read more