Today we visited the
site of the battle of Waterloo; historically very interesting. We find it strange that the French seem to regard Napoleon Bonaparte as a great national hero. He was not French and he invaded other countries; just as Hitler invaded France. At Waterloo many countries came together to finally defeat Napoleon, after which he chose to surrender to the British, who wisely kept him on St Helena under guard until he died.
We then went on to
Dinant, a beautiful little town squeezed between the Ardenne rocks and the River Meuse. We stayed at the only real hotel in the town, the
Hotel Ibis. This was the cheapest of the hotels on our tour but had the best position, right on the Meuse with a lovely riverside walk just outside. We took a river trip (the picture shows the hotel from the boat) and then had a good meal at 'The China Town' riverside restaurant. Unfortunately, the birthplace of Adolphe Saxe, inventor of the saxophone, was closed at the time we arrived. The only problems with Dinant were morning mist and the insects, feasting on our tender flesh in many places. May might be a better month.
During the 'Battle of the Bulge', a German army forward group nearly reached Dinant in the furthest push west of the battle. A lucky shot from a British tank hit the ammunition truck and caused all the precious fuel supplies to be ignited. This was sufficiently discouraging and they withdrew to the nearby village of Foy Notre Dame.
It should be noted that the British Army was scarcely involved in the Ardennes Campaign although one of the five British tanks deployed around Dinant was destroyed by American 'friendly fire'.
Labels: Travel
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