Wandering the City of Light

After a ten hour flight and an hour and a half train ride we arrived in the City of Light where we will hang out for the next few days while Andy works. Not THE City of Light, as in Paris--that's next week--but Eindhoven, the fifth largest town in the Netherlands.

This is the town that Philips (innovators in lightbulbs) built, hence the moniker, City of Light. As much as I travel, I never lose the sense of wonder that crosses my mind when I step on a plane in one place and mere hours later can disembark in an entirely different country, let alone continent. We tend to take it for granted--the online printing of boarding passes, the whisking of luggage down a moving sidewalk and the ability to watch three movies and yet travel across an ocean, but it remains a wonder and privilage of our modern age to travel this easily--despite how uncomfortable it is to sit in coach for ten hours.

We're all discombobulated. Andy sped off to work while Dylan and I wandered the winding streets that make up the town center. Dylan was thrilled to find an H&M right away and I'm just glad I could get us back to our hotel without getting lost. We quickly picked up our habits developed after spending countless miles on the road: grabbing a hotel card to stash on ourselves so that we can remember where we sleep, setting up our mobile telecommunications center, and quickly adjusting our pace to that of the locals. It's good to be on the road again.