Waterloo 2015

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. I'd provide you some in-depth instruction on the Battle of Waterloo, except I really don't know all that much about it. But it involves Napoleon (spoiler alert - he lost!) and Wellington's coalition and lots of fighting. So we hopped a bus up to Waterloo (which actually is less than an hour from where we live) the other night to watch the battle reenactment. It included more than 5,000 reenactors, 100 cannons, and 300 horses. Not to mention the several thousand people there to watch it - most of whom seemed to be waiting in line for the porta-potties. Overall, it was a cool experience, even with a few typical glitches like long lines. And hey, now we can all say that we saw Napoleon get trounced!



I didn't take this photo, as I'm sure you can tell - my photos all stink.

Ahhh, there's one of MY photos

Standing in line - that's what we did a lot - line for the bathrooms, lines for food, etc.

Hello, family!

Doudou Festival

Every year, the city of Mons hosts the Ducasse de Mons (or Doudou). I'd like to explain it to you, but frankly, I don't quite understand it myself. There's two parts to it - well, three, if you count the excessive drinking, but two "official" parts. First, there's the procession of the shrine of Waltrude, a saint whose remains are in Mons. Apparently this dates back to the 1300s when the plague was hitting the area, they paraded her remains through town, and poof,, it disappeared. So now, in honor of that, they do this every year. But then there's second part, which from what I can tell has absolutely nothing to do with the first part - where they reenact the battle between St. George and a dragon (they call it Lumecon). So, like I said, I don't quite understand the whole thing, but judging by the crowds, the locals all seem to love it, so let's just go with it.

So this year we decided to check it out. Would we do it again? Eh, probably not - it's REALLY crowded, the St. George reenactment is a bit anticlimactic, and (most importantly to me) we had a really hard time finding food to eat, and you know that's a deal-breaker for Lydia. But we're glad we checked it out, so now we can call ourselves true Montoise, that we've survived the Doudou.



Preparing for the festival, Mons-style. Yeah, basically they'll pee in front of anyone.

Getting our Doudou gear ready

Safely away from the huge crowds during a lull in the activity

Watching the parade

St. George's battle with the dragon - spoiler alert - he wins. Not sure what you call these guys, but they haul the dragon around.

Such a Softie

Exhibit A, for the next time that Jared says that I am the softie.

Ellie: "Dad, can we have a trampoline?"
Jared: "Sure, I don't see why not."
Lydia: "What?"