Weekend: Brussels, Part 2

We covered a lot of ground in this short weekend. The whole focus was on the Grand Place, but there was more I wanted to see and do with the kids. After we took the train back to Waterloo, we stopped in at Delhaize (grocery store) to pick up some lunch. We grabbed some incredible sandwiches and a salad, along with raspberries and carrots. Grocery store meals are the way to go for us when we travel as a family. Usually, we’ll do one meal out a day and the rest is just basics from the grocery store.

After our little picnic, we drove 20 minutes away to the Hergé Museum. Hergé was the creator of the beloved Tin Tin comic stories and characters and the museum was so fun and inspiring for my comic and art-loving kids. We already have some of the books, but in French, so I bought several books in English while we were there so the kids could get to know Tin Tin better. They absolutely fell in love and it makes me so happy.

We drove back to Waterloo to finish the day at the Butte de Lion monument and museums. The Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the final fall of Napoleon. Fifty thousand soldiers died and the whole area was left decimated. The large monument gives the best view of the surrounding countryside and the museums are really well done…but there’s just one thing that seemed off to my kids. Napoleon merchandise and books and costumes and replicas were everywhere, and he’s the one who lost the battle!

When I visited the monument in 2002, I don’t remember the underground museum, or paying to climb to the top of the monument. Now when you visit, there are several sites to see and it is about 23€ per person. It was crazy hot, the end of the day, and my kids just weren’t up for it. So we took some pictures and I made them listen to me tell the stories of what happened there. This battle and its outcome completely changed Europe, solidified Britain as an ally, and even shaped battles and goals into the 20th century in the First World War and in WWII.

Observation from an officer at the end of the battle:

22 June. This morning I went to visit the field of battle, which is a little beyond the village of Waterloo, on the plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean; but on arrival there the sight was too horrible to behold. I felt sick in the stomach and was obliged to return. The multitude of carcasses, the heaps of wounded men with mangled limbs unable to move, and perishing from not having their wounds dressed or from hunger, as the Allies were, of course, obliged to take their surgeons and waggons with them, formed a spectacle I shall never forget. The wounded, both of the Allies and the French, remain in an equally deplorable state.

— Major W. E. Frye

And and interesting tidbit — scavengers came to the battlefield immediately after it ended to take anything valuable. Teeth were in high demand. So many teeth were extracted from those who had died to be made into dentures in Britain that they were called “Waterloo Teeth” for many years. They were in demand because they came from young, relatively healthy young men.

While there are a few mass graves, there are incredibly very few skeletal remains that have been found. This is because bones were scavenged, ground up and used as a fertilizer.

We ended the day with McDonalds, which I know sounds lame but the kids are keen to visit McDonalds in each country we visit to see what’s different on the menu. There was a chicken Big Mac, and the Happy Meals came with the usual plus a vegetable (cherry tomatoes or a side salad) and a dessert (Lu chocolate biscuit). The kids loved it, of course.

We had a six-hour drive in the morning to get back home to Germany, but it was Sunday and I wanted us to stop at a church for Sacrament meeting before we hit the road. I looked on the meeting house locator and we drove just 20 minutes to a Branch in Nivelles. The kids weren’t thrilled with it all being in French, but I promised to translate and they knew it was important to me. I was so overcome with emotion as soon as we sat down. To hear prayers and hymns in French again felt like a beautiful gift. After the Sacrament was passed, a woman stood at the pulpit to speak and share about a message from the last General Conference. I was stunned. I recognized her name, Berengère, and her beautiful face from when I lived in Brussels in 2001. She had invited my over to dinner and I remember watching her make a green salad and mixing in a large dollop of mayonnaise. It was delicious and she was so kind. The tears just flowed for me. I marveled that I could understand all that she was saying in a language I haven’t spoken consistently in so long.

I was touched by her evident deep connection to God and the Savior. She shared how she had questioned at a time in her life if God loved her and that she remembers a vivid dream she was given where she saw Jesus as he was sitting with and surrounded by children. He scooped up rich soil and held it, cupped in His hands and she understood it to represent herself — that He was holding her. A small plant began to grow as He was holding it and He drew it in to hold close to Himself. She shared that she knew so powerfully in that moment that she was a daughter of God and that He loved her, and that the Savior loved her.

I will never forget it.

After she spoke, a man stood up to speak and I was amazed again. He introduced himself as Frère Vannuvel. I just couldn’t believe it! His wife, Martine, had stepped in to take me to medical appointments and stay with me back in 2001 when I had broken both of my feet. She was sick and so she wasn’t at the meeting, but I spoke with him afterwards and have his email to be able to get in touch. I have lost touch with so many people I so loved, that made such a different in my life from my time in Belgium. This was before social media days.

All of this just felt like a warm embrace from heaven, just for me. What are the chances that I would just happen to connect to these people I knew once before? God is aware and is in the details of our lives. I keep seeing all the evidences pile up all around me in my own life and in the lives of those I get to know as well. It is undeniable and something that just leaves me in awe.

I’m so glad we took this trip!