NAPOLEON's BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WATERLOO

Napoleon was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica. You can still visit the house he was born today.

Emperor of France who rose to power in the aftermath of the French Revolution in 1799 and waged war with every major European power in a series of wars known as the Napoleonic Wars. After a series of military failures he was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and spent the last 6 years of his life in exile on the island of St. Helena.

His birthday was the reason to celebrate at the Lion's mount. Bivouacs and canons were installed and also a kitchen with open fire. The soldiers wore uniforms used during the battle and I also could see 3 white horses.

As the entrance fee was too expensive (12 to 15 € per personne) most of the people stayed outside the site and looked through the fence. It rained heavily on the first day and probably some shows had to be cancelled. I show you some pictures from what I have seen of the birthday celebration.






The few bivouacs and a tired soldier



Not many people when the "village" was built up


The soldiers exercising



Poor dog was afraid of the canons


The "cavalry" show


In front of the Panorama, you could make a tour with the horses and carriage



canons and the imperial ambulance



Saturday a few spectators in the rain



Fortunately the rain had stopped on Sunday and most of the spectators stood outside the fence



Just in front of the Lion was the only restaurant which had been redecorated and looked nice now where people could sit and have something to eat and drink.



End of Napoleon's rather stingy 250th birthday celebration. After all he has lost the battle, said a tourist !

more participants here

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND AUGUST 17

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS


WEEKEND



What a terrible weekend ! It rained non stop the whole day which was a catastrophe for organized open air festivals, and in "my" Waterloo for the celebration of Napoleon's birthday on August 15, 1769 and which should be celebrated this weekend.

The celebration should last Saturday and Sunday with a lot of shows and demonstrations of the cavalerie etc at least it was written like that in the program. After having stayed the whole day at home,  cleaning and working on my computer and then watching TV I finally had enough and went to the Lion's mound to see if despite the rain there was something going on. I really pittied the poor soldiers who had to spent the night in their bivoucas on straw with all the rain, but maybe they escaped and slept in a hotel room who knows.



What I saw was a shame. The poor tourists who had come to see some action, all what they saw was a cavalry of 3 horses, maybe 10 soldiers, and around 10 bivouacs. I took the pictures listen to the complaining public and returned quickly to my car, despite my umbrella I was wet.  Instead I watched a little crime story and then we had our supper.

On Sunday it wasn't better at least not in the morning. Apparently the farmers were happy because 32 l of water per m2 fell from heaven ! I did the same as on Saturday. Nicole and I had intended to go to Brussels but in this rain we preferred to stay home.

Around 4 in the afternoon it cleared up and the sun even came out from time to time. I thought maybe today the animation will be better and there will be more figurants, but when I arrived, it was the same as the day before.



Most of the people didn't go inside the camp,  because you had to pay 12 € per person ! No special price for seniors and only children under 6 didn't pay. They all complained that it is far too expensive and lined up against the fence and watched from there.

It was the first time that Napoleon's birthday was celebrated and it was a big flop in my opinion ! I was told that the management of the site was not in the hands of Waterloo anymore, but as many little villages around also belonging to the battle field had claimed their share, it was now an independant French management. Can't say that they were very efficient. Since I was a volunteer at the bicentenary of the battle, I had noticed the decline of the site.

We chatted a bit with the people and sat on the terrace, watching the disappointed tourists.



At home Rosie helped me to write this post.