The first step for getting to the battlefield from brussels is going to the gare the midi, the metro can take you there easily as it's at a line crossing. Then you must exit the station by the north gates, you'll see a big tower in front of you, go to the right under the railway bridge. Flanking the station in front of you is l'Avenue Fonsny, in its left side you'll find the buss top for lines "W" and "365" both of which go to Waterloo. More info at this
link.
The bus takes a while to get there (half an hour or so) mind that it was Saturday. I picked the W line and on route you can see some out of the way sights such as the city's medieval south gate
There are two battle related stops, the first at Waterloo Eglise leaves you at the museum in the center of the city, the second is Route de Nivelles (above) which will leave you on the battlefield itself.
The return stop is just on the other side. The bus takes rougly an hour from gare du midi to the battlefield, you can get a day ticket for 10 eur, or just two for slightly less.
We're there!
The lion's mound with the panorama to the left
As it was saturday 18 of May there were some reenactors on site, here we see the Duke with some scottish infantry
Horse artillery too
There were some regular line in the back
Plus some belgians tropping around
The panorama has a lower level with period materiel and displays
Such as this one of Hugoumont
Quatre Bras & Ligny
Movements prior to the battle
The deployments
The panorama itself depicts the french charge against the allied squares
The Moscow panorama doesn't have sound effects but is way bigger
Ney & co
French columns in the background
Red lancers charging into te teeth of enemy fire
Cuirassiers with la Haye Sainte in the back
Square of nassauers
Scottish and english squares
Wellington and his staff chilling inside a square
Horse artillery under attack (Mercer's?)
After the panorama there is a nice little climb to the mound
Farm of la Haye Sainte
Road along the allied ridge (Hugoumont is behind the forest to the left)
Feur!
French ambulance
It was quite a climb!
French reenactors
Then I went to Hugoumont by the ridge path, those forests would make any retreat difficult to say the least!
Last position of captain Mercer
The french attacked along this plain, not much cover to be had!
There is a service of horsebus if you don't want to walk
Hugoumont
Le corbeau
The brits defended this gate against Jerome's men
There is a chapel with plastic poppy wreaths
British camp
Items found on the site
Closing the gates on war? not quite
Looks familiar?
The memorial tour ends there but I wanted a bit more, so I went crossfield to La Belle Alliance, it's the old looking building in diagonal from Hugoumont and following the road from the mound, the long line of an isosceles triangle if you will.
The walk crossfield makes you feel a bit foolishly like an actual soldier marching through the battle
Keep your eyes peeled for souvenirs such as shards of rib, they may be from animals carcasses used to fertilize the fields, but you never know
La belle Alliance was the center of the french positions
Part of it is for sale should you want the game room of a lifetime!
Following the road south there are some monuments
Like l'aigle blessé
Then I went further south to try to get to Napoleon's headquarter at le Caillou. Don't do that unless you've got a bike or a car, it's as far as the center of Waterloo. After catching a glimpse of Pancenoit above I turned back
Boy, was the memorial far by this point!
A wedding
Walking the road north towards La Haye Sainte you'll see Papelotte to the right
The farm can't be visited and the walk there is quite dangerous, with there being no sidewalk and lots of cars coming up, so it's only for the most fanatic. Alternatively you can leave you car/bike around.
The ferme it's fermée so no visiting here, there are some placards though
Then I went kept on following the road north to return to the memorial, on the right you can see the hannoverian monument, and the one dedicated to the belgians further back
This pic turned out great!
Monument to Napoleon next to the museum's brasserie
Don't ask why but I actually visited the museum after doing the whole tour
Napoleon and his pawns
There is an avenue filled with uniforms and wax models
British
French
Hannoverians
Grenadier & Ligne
95th rifles
Grand Quartier Géneral
Muskets and baker rifles
Pewter models of camping scenes
The prince of Orange
Creepy Blücher is creepy
French coins found on a corpse
The exhibition concludes with these famous drawings of the wounded
Wellington's hnour sword
Some militaria including cuirasses pierced by canister
Post napoleonic Europe well in its way to WW1
The exhibit concludes with a great 3D movie using both CGI and live actors. However it perpetuates some common errors such as the french cavalry charging due to the british retreating (it actually was some ammunition wagons and wounded) and the guard advancing in hollow squares (?)
If you want even more Waterloo you can come down from the bus at the église stop, however if you're short on time don't do it as the bus takes forever to come
The deliciously small Wellington museum is on the building where the Duke passed the night with the moribund colonel Gordon
Ball at duchess of Richmond's
Ball suits
French gun
Gordon's pharmacy
Gordon is taken from the field
More bakers
Scots greys and pierced cuirass
These sabers were way thicker than I expected
Depárt
Retour
A congreve rocket, not the pinnacle of aerodynamics certainly
Post battle ruins
Civilian flags
Deathbed of the emperor
Cloak used by Wellington
'ol nosey
The Duke writes his report while Gordon breathes his last
Times of the day, filled with lots of advertisements and an account of the battle
Arthur in his late years
Young Blücher and some of his pipes
The fabulous Prince of Orange
Dutch general
Deathbed of Blücher
The most curious item on display is Lord Uxbrige's prosthetic leg
Amputating instruments
The people of Brussels took good care of the wounded
The dead are buried near la Haye Sainte
And burned at Hugoumont
Attack on the palais
Scotland forever!
Recreation of lady Butler's famous painting
In front of the museum there is a church with lots of tombstones dedicated to dead officers
Ah, those romantics...
All in all a great trip, albeit the museum is a tad expensive (24eur.) the video is really enmeshing and the place is well kept for. Compared to Borodino, Waterloo is an easier visit since its far closer to the city and you can see it all in a morning, there were reenactors too so that's a big plus for me, as I did some time in the local imperial roman group some years ago.
