11 Jul 2016

WEEKEND REVIEW July 11 - HOUGOUMONT FARM

The wonderful weather Claudie had brought with her in her suitcase continued and we went to to the Anderlecht market.



Before we walked around and bought 4 Kaftans, we had this Durum a Turkish speciality. It was enormous, and I first thought it was for two people ! Then we returned home, but before we stopped and Claudie went to the hairdresser.

The next day my son arrived with Toby to celebrate my birthday. They came without my DIL who spent the weekend with a friend.  Toby's new hobby is playing football (soccer) ! He probably watched some Euro 2016 matches and was also influenced by the school. He was never interested in football before.



First thing they did was buying a football suit for Toby with the stockings and shoes.



Then fully dressed he posed for his Dad. The whole afternoon they played and he was actually very good. I don't understand anything of the rules and don't know the players either, which of cause was a big handicap for a grandma !



Claudie and I watched them from the terrace



In the evening we went to the Brasserie "L'orangerie du Prince" which I love so much and Toby had a lot of fun with the old machines of the farm and the hey balls. The meal was delicious, the photo shoes Claudie's plate, it was a sucking pig, and she loved it very much !

On Sunday we went to the Hougoumont farm where each weekend a show with Waterloo battle soldiers should take place. On the program was written "Artillery". In expectation of a wonderful show with historical uniformed soldiers, we approached and heard the first canon shot



Toby was first afraid, but then he watched closer and played with the soldier's kids. The whole show contained 5 soldiers, a little canon and 3 shots !





While the tourists went away quite disappointed, we chatted with the soldiers and had a drink with them.



For the first time we could visited the little chapel





This  wooden crucifix survived an inferno during the Battle of Waterloo. It had been stolen and had then been rediscovered in a Belgian flea market after a four year hunt by Interpol !

The 400-year-old cross from the chateau at Hougoumont escaped some of the battle’s most intense fighting

The cross stood in the château’s chapel which was burned during intense fighting between French soldiers and the Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots Guards.



The farm



and tea time !

From there my son and Toby returned to Amsterdam and we went home. It had been a very nice weekend !







more participants here




13 comments:

  1. My youngest son played what you call football but we call soccer.

    Coffee is on

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  2. I see plenty of sunshine.

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  3. It is nice to see you enjoying the sunny weather. I'm glad you had a nice birthday weekend with Toby and Dario. He is much taller than Fox.

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  4. It looked like a beautiful trip.Thanks for sharing the nice pics.

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  5. Toby looks very handsome wearing the football suit! I have no idea about the rules, either, but it must be fun to see him play!
    Wow, Interpol was after that crucifix. Interesting it showed up in flea market instead of underground market :-)

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  6. Happy birthday. You must have really enjoyed the nice weather. Grandma must learn a few names of football players so she can have some discussions with Toby :)

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  7. Fun day out and glad to see Toby enjoying himself.
    How nice that Claudie is visiting you, it's an annual affair now. :)

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  8. happy belated birthday greetings. You will need to do a crash course in the rules of football to impress Toby.

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  9. The event wasn't very prepared but we had such great time with all the people on place, soldiers, women, kids and tourists ! I think Toby had great time with the little boy who was with the soldiers !

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