The Adventure Continues...

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We have spent much of the last two days wandering aimlessly around Belgium. Poor decision making, inaccurate GPS and confusing signage have made our trip here an "adventure". Nevertheless, it has been fun and we learned a lot about travel here.

After leaving Bruges, our idea was to visit Ypres, the site of some of the worst fighting of WWI, and then head to Brussels. However, we entered the wrong destination for our trip and ended up at the Flanders Field American cemetery about 40 km in the wrong direction. It was a serendipitous choice. The museum was modern and told the story of American involvement in this little corner of the war. It was touching and personal. The video literally brought tears to our eyes.

We then headed for Ypres which is a lovely town on its own but has a war museum which is fascinating and state-of-the-art. It was supposed to take two hours but we literally had to pry ourselves loose after four hours to continue our trip. We stopped at the Passchendaele battlefield where over 500,000 men were casualties during a four month period in 1917. The land is still scarred by the battle after over 100 years.

We then headed for Brussels. After a disastrous experience, we can only say "NEVER DRIVE A CAR IN BRUSSELS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES". Confusing signage, no reliable GPS service, twisting streets, one ways, dead ends. Our mistake was holding on to our car for additional day to make a trip down to Waterloo Wednesday. We simply could not get to our accommodations. We ended up parking in a public lot and walking to our apartment.

The apartment is right on the Grand Place and close to everything. Restaurants abound, people watching great. Good choice if not luxurious.

Yesterday morning, with great fear and trepidation, we headed off for Waterloo site of Napoleon's last battle and arguably one of the most important in modern history. More on that later today.

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