Eindhoven Light Route
A few weeks ago as I was biking around, I noticed that a lot of Eindhoven's streets were now lined with light displays. There were some large ones along the main roads, as well as smaller ones hanging from street lights.
My first thought was, wow, they really start Christmas early here.
My second thought was,have I been transported to mainland China, with their abundance of animated neon light displays?
See, this whale display isn't static - the splash of water comes out of the blowhole in increments, and when that's complete the mermaid appears.
But I later learned that actually this is the Eindhoven Lichtjesroute, an annual tradition marking the liberation of Eindhoven from Nazi occupation on September 18, 1944. (Side note: when I told people at home that I'd be moving to Eindhoven, quite a few had heard of the city before, because of the battle that took place here.) The path that the American and British troops took was celebrated with light displays, since Eindhoven is the city of the Philips light bulb. And that tradition continues today, from September 18 to the second weekend in October. Below is light display representing Evoluon, a UFO-looking building built by Philips, and sort of a landmark of Eindhoven.
In general I have felt that most Dutch people have a favorable disposition to Americans. A Swedish person living here, who had previously lived in the US told me that she thought the Netherlands was culturally "in between" Europe and America. Maybe it's because of this history of being liberated by American troops?
