A summary of my gallivanting around Europe over the past few weeks

[Hooahguy]

Alright so I spent a bit over two weeks wandering around Europe. I visited two (technically three) new countries, met four Orgahs, and had a fantastic time. I visited a bunch of battlefields, saw the King and Queen of Sweden, and attended the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, which was the original point of this whole trip.

I took almost 850 pictures but I obviously wont put them all up here so I uploaded what I thought was the best of the pictures. There should be around 56 of them so I will put each section into a big spoiler because 56 images is a lot.

A weekend in Stockholm:

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So I went to Stockholm for a weekend, had a fantastic time! Technically not my first time in Sweden as the farm I visit in Norway is on the border with Sweden so technically this was my third visit to Sweden, if we want to be pedantic.

So here is the Riksdag, or the Swedish Parliament.



And here is the King and Queen of Sweden! I was in Stockholm for the Swedish National Day, which wasnt much especially compared to the Norwegian National Day, but the Royal Family goes around in their carriage so that was pretty cool.

Five days in Norway:

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Same farm I have visited two times before, so this is nothing really new. Except for seven piglets that were born on the day I arrived.



I liked this picture, just a dog and his sunglasses.



Escaped pig! One of the pigs escaped and decided to start eating the mat in front of guest cabin. We eventually rounded him up and got him back to where he was supposed to be.

A weekend in the Netherlands:

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So I spent about a day and a half in the town of Amersfoort. Its a nice town, and I coincidentally was there for a jazz festival so that was pretty cool.

The main gate to the old city.



One of the jazz bands. I particularly loved these guys, a bunch of old men in pajamas!



Other side of the main gate.



I also spent a few hours in Amsterdam on my way to Belgium. Not very impressed. It was very dirty, but that might have been from last night's partying as I did arrive at around 9:00 on a Sunday morning.

A day in Antwerp and Leuven:

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This is probably my favorite shot I took in Antwerp. That is the main cathedral in the background.



Steen Fortress/castle.



A statue to the builders of the cathedral.



And my favorite picture from Leuven:

A day in and around Ypres

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I spent an entire day in and around the town of Ypres. I and another Orgah rented a car and drove around, visiting various First World War museums and battlefields, and we closed out the day at the Last Post Ceremony, which was pretty cool!

Some original trenches, as closely as they would have looked like during WW1:



The Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial. There are 12,000 Commonwealth soldiers buried here, and the names of 35,000 more who are still missing in action. I think it is the largest Commonwealth cemetery not on foreign soil. It was a very somber experience.





The Saint Julien Memorial (Brooding Soldier) Memorial, for the fallen Canadian soldiers in the war. I also wanted to visit the US memorial but we could not figure out where it actually was for some reason.



Ice cream with Trappist beer in it! It was amazing.



Cloth Hall in Ypres. it was completely destroyed in the war and was rebuilt.



German soldiers paying their respects to the dead during the Last Post Ceremony.



There are almost 55,000 names of Commonwealth soldiers listed. It was incredible to see so many names listed.

Days in Bruges, Ostend, and Brussels:

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A view from the belfry in Bruges.



A surviving part of the Atlantic Wall in Ostend.



A memorial to the Belgian soldiers in both World Wars in Brussels.



A building in Brussels that has a lot of gold on it, which was pretty cool.

And now, for Waterloo! I spent two full days there, including the day of the actual anniversary of the battle (June 18th). It was amazing to walk the battlefield just 200 years later. There was something special in the air as I watched reenactors and thousands of history enthusiasts walk around and do their thing. Just an amazing experience, even if I wasnt able to get passes to enter any of the museums, the Lion's Mound, or the encampments with the reenactors.

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Former enemies.





The famous entrance to Hougoumont Farm.



Practicing their drills.



Square formation!



Just a picture to show you how big the reenactment field was, and how many people were going to be there watching. Every seat was filled.



French lancers being all threatening.





And we are off!



British riflemen fire the first shots.



But they have to fall back to French pressure.



The French attack Hougoumont.



The French advance! One of my favorite photos of the reenactments.



Day 2 of the reenactments-

The Old Guard are marching.



But some just want to relax.



The cavalry are getting into position.





And so are the cannons.



Napoleon, or the guy playing as him, would ride around periodically to the cheer of the crowd.



So much smoke would be emitted from the cannons!



If you look really closely to the left of this cavalry engagement, you can see an Imperial Eagle.



More fighting.



More smoke!



Another Orgah did his own version of some of my pictures to make them look older:

A day in the Ardennes! I went with another Orgah down there for a day. The museum by the Mardasson Memorial is amazing!

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Here is a bit of the town of La Roche. A really beautiful town nestled in the hills of the Ardennes.



Memorial to the 101st Airborne Division. The sculptor was there tending to the statue and surrounding garden. He seemed rather proud.



The Mardasson Memorial.



So according to the map, in this direction, beyond the water tower I think, is where the 506th was deployed, made famous by the show Band of Brothers. Sorry for the dark corner, the shutter was a bit faulty.



And here is Namur, another lovely town in the shadow of a large citadel, which was pretty cool!

Hope you enjoyed!