Tuesday, August 9, 2011 – Chenonceaux France rescheduled Hot Air Balloon Trip

Well, this morning the hotel owner told us the balloon trip has been cancelled due to high winds and would not be able to schedule until Friday.  We decided to drive back to Paris and check to see if we could do Fontainebleau or somewhere closer to Paris.

As we were leaving Vezelay to go back to Paris we saw this beautiful rainbow. The picture does not give it justice. It was extremely bright colors.

We drove back to Paris and since the rental car office was closed for their usual 2 hour lunch, we had the pleasure of trying to find a parking place in Paris. We found one and then was told by a neighbor walking by “No pay parking in August”. Everyone leaves Paris for holiday so there are plenty of parking spaces and parking fees are waived at the meters. We went back to the apartment and unpacked. In the meantime, Edward called the balloon company to reschedule. When they answered, they jokingly wanted to know if we could be in the Loire Valley that evening for a balloon flight that had been confirmed with good weather. We quickly looked over our maps to see how far we had to go and much to the shock of the balloon agency, we decided that since we still have the car, why not? The lady commented that she had never dealt with Americans who could be so spontaneous! So, off we went to find the small town of Chenonceaux, France. We got there a few hours later just in time to check into another small hotel and meet the scheduled flight time. We call to tell the France Montgolfieres we have arrived. They tell us they will pick us up at 6:45 pm to take us to the meeting location.

We did the sunset hot air balloon ride over the Loire Valley of France passing over chateaus, vineyards, orchards and picturesque villages. It was magnificent. A cool pleasant evening and a beautiful sunset. The Loire Valley is referred to as the Garden of France due to the large amount of vineyards, fruit orchards, artichoke, asparagus, cherry and sunflower fields.

The motorways in France are really pleasant to drive. The trucks, motor homes, cars with trailers, etc. stay in the right lane unless they are passing or have a left exit. On the toll road they have a separate exit at the main stations. I used the cruise control coming back to Paris and didn’t have to take it off but a couple of times in the really heavy traffic areas. The recommended speed is 130 km or 80 mph. A consistent 80 mph makes a trip go by fast. Also, there are very few places to get on the toll road and most entrances and exits are for food/gasoline/rest areas.

 

“Chase truck” to take us to and from the take-off and landing areas.

    unloading the gondola from the trailerEdward and our pilot Pierre.

blowing air in the balloon with fans and fire

Elaine between the 2 balloons getting ready to take off.

There it is ready to lift off!

Our Pilot Pierre giving instructions to us.  There were 14 people on board and the pilot.

Now we are lifting off tether has been untied.

View looking up into the balloon

vineyards and villages

  

Chateau de Chenonceaux – it is very unusual for a Chateau to be located on a river. 

View from our balloon to the other one that was next to us.

Our shadow on the ground.

A vineyard and the location where we met for the trip.

The village of Chenonceaux

  There were about 12 other balloons in the area around us.

 

Of course, I had to check out the propane tanks and instruments to make sure Pierre was paying attention to what he was doing.

The other balloon landing behind us.

Our first Hot Air Balloon Ride was a great success.

Edward, Pilot Pierre Barre and Elaine

Pierre gave us a Certificate for our trip:

• French: Je certifie que le detenteur de ce certificat s'est eleve dans les airs a bord d'une montgolfiere en faisant preuve de courage et de sang froid.

         09 Aout 2011. L'aeronaute Pierre Barre

• English:

  • I certify that the holder of the certificate has risen in the air aboard a hot air balloon by showing courage and composure.

    August 09, 2011. The Pilot, Pierre Barre

A map of the places they have the balloon trips

A great celebration at the end of a trip. Champagne!

A toast to a wonderful day

Elaine in a field of wild flowers.  They were so beautiful.

Sunset after a beautiful day

Dining Room of the restaurant where we ate dinner that evening.  We were lucky to find them still open – nothing else was open in the small village after 9:30 pm on a Tuesday night.

Leaving Chenonceaux I stopped to see the sunflowers. 

Thanks to all the wonderful people at Weingarten Realty in Houston, Texas for making this Hot Air Balloon Trip possible.