Luxembourg Day 2

A belated Happy Canada Day.
As it turns out, Canada and Luxembourg have at least two things in common. The first relates to the year 1867 during which the demolition of Luxembourg's fortress walls commenced under the conditions of the Treaty of London by which Luxembourg acquired its current borders. The fortifications here had gained the envious reputation of being impregnable, and nobody outside Luxembourg really liked the fact that the Prussians were continuing to make theme more so between 1815 and 1867. The history museum in Luxembourg is one of the very best museums we have ever seen, and it's free to get in which is highly unusual. One picture I took before being politely advised that photos are not permitted in the museum brings me to the 2nd thing Canada has in common with Luxembourg. Many will recall the controversy created in Montreal when Mayor Drapeau commissioned the construction of Taillibert's Olympic stadium...well it turns out there is more to the story. The Luxembourg parliament's consideration of commissioning the construction of a Taillibert project as a possible seat of the European commission lead to violent controversy in the streets of Luxembourg. Finally, the parliament decided to scrap the idea, and guess who bought it. Of, course, the design had to be modified to meet the conditions of an olympic stadium, but there is no question that the model in the Luxembourg History museum was the progenitior of Montreal's fiasco. Small world, eh? The casemates were part of the original walled structure of the Luxembourg fortress, but could not be entirely removed without detriment to the integrity of the city. There were 23 km of passageways hewn out of the rock (the "Bock") in which soldiers and horses lived, bakers baked, etc, etc...17 km still remain in two main sections and are now considered a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Bock casemates are truly remarkable and well worth a visit. During the 2nd world war, 35000 people sought shelter therein during the bombing (presumbably the Allied bombing in 1944).