Light up light up

On the 8th of December 1862 a statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in Lyon as a way to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for having kept the plague out of the city gates. To honor the event, the people of Lyon put candles in their windows for the first time to honor the new statue of the Virgin Mary. It became an annual tradition.

This tradition has been extended into an annual festival in December, Fete des Lumieres, and appearantly during that three day festival the city is like a fairytale with candles, illumniated buildings, fireworks and light signals.

Unfortunately I wasn't here yet in December (well, I was in South America then, so that's hardly unfortunate...) but it turns out that the city has cool light projects year round.

The most important buildings and bridges are illuminated at night in various colors. It is really quite cool....

(As you can see Lyon has its own tiny "Eifel Tower")