Are you singing the Abba song in your mind? Well, if you weren't and you are now, please accept my apology.
These sweet potatoes have nothing to do with Waterloo, but on our way to Waterloo, we first went to Brussels. I couldn't believe our luck at this market! Real sweet potatoes.
And check out where they came from! All the way to Belgium form Oak Grove, Luzianna. Population 2,000.
Then we had lunch at a Spanish restaurant. In case you don't know, this is paella. It's a Valencien rice dish with vegetables and meat. We got the original Valencien and at this restaurant it had chicken, mussels, calamari with some green beans and red bell pepper. I passed on the mussels and calamari, but the rest was really good.
You may not know that the little, yet famous town of Waterloo (pop. 30,000) is in Belgium. It's just outside of Brussels and about an hour from our house. This was the first sunny day we've seen in a while so we decided to get out and enjoy it. After our nice afternoon in Brussels, we drove over to see where the Battle of Waterloo was fought.
On June 18, 1815, the Battle of Waterloo decided not only the fate of France and its emperor Napoleon I, but also the future of Europe. The Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated in this famous battle by a multi-national army including the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, and Austria.
This defeat put an end to Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French.
The site of the battlefield, where 48,000 men lost their lives, is dominated by a large monument called the Lion Mound. The mound was built using earth from the battlefield itself and commemorates the location where William II of the Netherlands was knocked from his horse by a musket ball during the battle. It was ordered constructed in 1820 by his father King William I of The Netherlands.
The lion, cast of iron, symbolizes courage; its right front paw is on a sphere signifying global victory.
Sunset at Waterloo
Each year in June, there is a re-enactment of the battle and I hope we are able to attend this year.
The Oak Grove Sweet Potatoes are kind of a big deal in this part of Louisiana. There is a new processing plant there which brought lots of new, decent paying jobs to the area. And of course the LSU Sweet Potato Research Station is here in Winnsboro.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog, Karen. Keep up the good work.