1922 Europe Journal, Part 25: Amsterdam, Brussels, and a Flight (yes, flight!) to London

Thursday, August 17, 1922 - Amsterdam

"Visited the diamond-cutting factory. Had the work carefully explained to us. Went also to the art gallery, where we saw a great many Rembrandts and Reubens. The Night Watch was one of the best known. In the p.m. we took a rubberneck ride, then went to the American Express to get money. After dinner, we paid our bill and all stood the shock well. Had an indignation meeting in our room afterward." 

     [The Night Watch or The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq is the common name of one of the most famous works by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. The Night Watch is one of the most famous paintings in the world.]

Friday, August 18, 1922 - Brussels

"Got up at 6:00 and took the train for Brussels and 7:30. Had an uneventful trip and reached Brussels at 12:30. Got rooms at the Grand Hotel, had lunch, then went to the American Express.  Got our air tickets - $15 each.  

At 2:30 we started on a trip to Waterloo. Had the King’s Palace and Court of Justice pointed out to us. Past the house where Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserables. Near Waterloo, we visited the Hougonaut Farm. It was the only farm that the French did not succeed in taking. The monument [smaller type in journal: the place where Prince of Orange was wounded] is of a large lion and is on the top of a huge mound of earth 125 ft. high. The circumference at the base is 1,012 feet. There are 226 steps to the top of it. We realized it when we got up there. The guide explained the exact position of the armies at the time of the battle. When we came down, we looked at the panorama - it is 105 yards in circumference and 14 yards deep and 10 yards high. It was painted by Doumoliu in 1911-12. After we returned, we got a taxi and took a ride about the city."

     [The Royal Palace of Brussels is the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians in the centre of the nation's capital Brussels. However it is not used as a royal residence, as the king and his family live in the Royal Castle of Laeken on the outskirts of Brussels. The facade we see today was only built after 1900 on the initiative of King Leopold II.

     Waterloo, Belgium, was first mentioned in 1102, designated as a small hamlet at the limit of the Sonian Forest along a major road linking Brussels and Genappe. 

     The Battle of Waterloo took place near Waterloo on 18 June 1815 between the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Alliance of the Seventh Coalition (UK, Prussia, Austria, others) under the main allied commanders, the Duke of Wellington and General von Blücher. The strategic location of Waterloo on a paved road towards Brussels explains why the battle took place just south of Waterloo. It was important for the allies to stop Napoleon from reaching Brussels, and Waterloo was the last settlement to cross before negotiating the forest and getting to Brussels.

     There is a memorial in the form of a statue of a lion (looking towards France) on a hill, with 226 stairs, called La Butte du Lion. Other attractions related to the battle are the Wellington Museum and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph, where Wellington is said to have prayed before going into battle and where British and Dutch plaques commemorating the fallen are now to be seen.

     Château d'Hougoumont (originally Goumont) is a large farmhouse situated at the bottom of an escarpment near the Nivelles road in Braine-l'Alleud, near Waterloo, Belgium. The escarpment is where British and other allied forces faced Napoleon's Army at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815.

     The name "Hougoumont" is derived from "Gomme Mont" which means "Gum hill". It was built on a little hill with pine trees around it, from which pine gum was collected to make turpentine.]

Saturday, August 19, 1922 - Brussels, London

"After breakfast, L. and I went to the bank to get English money and enough more Belgium to pay our hotel bill. Left our hotel about 10:30 and went to the Instone Air Line office. There we had our baggage weighted, etc. Had to pay 124 franc excess. From there we were taken out to the air station where we had to fill out cards before getting into the plane. Had plenty of time for picture taking and four-leaf clover hunting before they got the plane started. 

Air Station Brussels

Instone Air Station Brussels

Left about 12:15. There were seven of us. The journey was uneventful. The day was perfect. Landed at Croydon [town just south of London] at 3:00. It takes eight hours to make the trip by train and boat. We went 92 miles an hour and were up 4,000 feet the pilot told us. He came and talked to us after we landed. Had our passports stamped and went through the customs. We were taken to the Victoria, which was the regular stopping place for the Instone busses. 

I don't know if they found a four-leaf clover, but their flight was uneventful :)

Got a taxi from there to bring us to the Regent Palace. Got rooms o.k. The taxi driver and porters were anxious to get the gold pieces I had gotten in Brussels just this morning. 

After cleaning up, we got tickets for The Second Mrs. Tanqueray at the playhouse. It was a fine performance. Had orchestra seats and felt like nuts in our suits, but why worry."

     [Instone Air Line was an early British airline from 1919 to 1924. Along with other private airlines of the time, it was absorbed into Imperial Airways. S. Instone & Company Limited had operated a private service from Cardiff via London (Hounslow Heath Aerodrome) to Paris - Le Bourget Airport since 1919. In April 1920 it ran the service between London and Paris as a public service using the name Instone Air Line. In 1920 it was the first airline to transport a racehorse and on 1 January 1922 the company introduced uniforms to its pilots and staff; Instone are believed to be the first airline to do so. It stopped operating the London-Paris route in October 1922 due to competition. This is fascinating! I can find specific information on the plane they took - would you have taken this flight in 1922?

     The Regent Palace Hotel was built in 1914 for ‘T Lyons & Co. Ltd’ on Crown land and opened on Wednesday, May 16, 1915. At this time, it was the largest hotel in Europe with 1028 bedrooms.

     The Second Mrs. Tanqueray is a problem play by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero. It adopts the "Woman with a past" plot, popular in nineteenth century melodrama. In some searches, I can find names of actors who appeared in the play in 1922, but there is no playbill or theater information listed.]