Jun 10, 2013 - Back to Switzerland

Packed up this morning and loaded the car for the ride back to Jose's home in Switzerland. Made a nice stop in Turin, Italy for lunch and a walk through the town. A bit of a navigation problem with the GPS in Turin so we ended up driving down some walking streets. The sofas and chairs in the middle of the street gave us a clue we were in the wrong spot. Weather was not too bad but pretty cloudy high in the mountains of the Alps so the pass was closed and we missed some of the scenic route. Made it to Saint-Sulpice just before the grocery...

Jun 7, 2013 - Zurich, Switzerland--Here I am Europe!

After an 8+ hour plane ride, arrived in Switzerland! What a crazy trip through this airport moving slanted ramps that you feel you might fall off of, go up and down stairs, in and out of corridors like a huge maze, ride an underground tram to another part of the airport. Sit in airport for over four hours, then go through a passport check unfriendly Hitleriish looking guy behind a window, and go through another security check point. Now, off to Berlin! odd boring sandwich, but nice to get Swiss chocolate! Swiss lady with dog from Morocco...

Jun 1, 2013 - Happy Birthday!

Had a lovely day exploring the local town. Dennis prepared two chocolate tortes. One for Jose's mother, who loves chocolate and a second to contribute to the surprise 60th birthday party of one of Jose's friends. Enjoyed the party. It's Switzerland so everyone speaks 2 or 3 languages. We could pretty much hold our own in English. The torte was well-received!

May 31, 2013 - Morges

Slept a wonderfully long 12 hours. With the weather pretty cool and rainy, we opted to just visit Morges for some shopping and hope for a sunnier day tomorrow. Jose cooked a lovely lunch meal including deer meat and fussili de chocolat (chocolate pasta). Photo attached. Everything in Switzerland can have chocolate!

May 30, 2013 - Arrive in Geneva

Arrived in Geneva, after an 8 hour trip from Atlanta,(including two movies, Life of Pi and Argot). We did a slight splurge on the Economy Comfort seats where a little extra leg room and the free cognac was kind of nice. Jose was kind enough to pick us up at the airport for the ride to her home in Saint Sulpice. Not much sleep for us on the plane but we stayed awake with great conversation and a walk along the shore of the lake. In the bed by 7:30 local time.

May 8, 2013 - Switzerland

After a nice drive thru southern Germany along the Rhine we crossed over into Switzerland. This is the first official border crossing we have encountered as due to the EU there are no longer any check points or customs, in most cases the only reason we have known we have even crossed the border is because our mobile phones beep and we get a message from the phone company telling us we are now in another country and our phone bills will be higher. But not Switzerland, we got to the border control on the motorway and had to pay 40 Swiss...

Mar 6, 2013 - Résultats du concours !!!

Voici les résultats tant attendus du concours Gilbette - Touki : En première place avec brio : Mano avec 132 points En deuxième place : Maude avec 87 points et en troisième place : Chantal avec 78 points Bravo et merci à vous tous pour votre participation ! Nous avons reçu des nouvelles fraiches de Gilbette. Elle a enfin pu retrouver Néri au Cambodge et est repartie avec lui habiter à Bariloche en Argentine, où ils se sont rencontrés. On leur souhaite beaucoup de bonheur. Quant à Touki, il a choisit de nous suivre en Suisse et s'est...

Feb 4, 2013 - Is it Really Time to Go?

It's Monday, the Festival is over and most of the balloonists and spectators have gone home. The envelope needs to be packed back in the rainproof bag and all our flying gear collected and ready to return to the crate. We need to gather the equipment we borrowed from Alfred and Renata and make certain everything is in their great trailer for return to Frankfurt. Patrick, Gina, Silas and Eske packed all their baggage, loaded up and began their journey back to Frankfurt. Barbara left on the train for Geneva. She will fly back to Phoenix...

Feb 3, 2013 - Our Final Flight

What a beautiful day in Chateau d'Oex! There is a beautiful covering of snow and it looks like we are going to have a window of a couple of hours to have our final flight. The balloons were serenaded by THE BAND! We had not seen the band from Chateau d'Oex for several years and we excited to see that they we as crazy and wonderful as ever! They always have a new theme and this time must have been Scottish school girl! What a hoot! We were looking forward to one more flight in this beautiful valley. Al and Barbara joined Jon on the flight....

Feb 2, 2013 - Snow, Finally!!!!

Well, the temperature finally dropped and it started snowing but we were unable to fly today. It has not stopped all day and night. The glow was cancelled due to weather which is a real disappointment to the Team,Festival and to the town. Part of the group went skiing in fresh powder up to their knees and part went to Gstaad for a wonderful lunch and train ride in the snowy Alps. We have been told that there is a window of opportunity tomorrow afternoon for our final flight of the event. We are hoping for sunshine and packed powder on the...

Feb 1, 2013 - More Rain...seriously! Where is the snow?

It is Friday, our last day of competition and it has been raining all night and all day. We had a breakfast at the chalet with our DHL shipping sponsor guests! The four of them traveled from Zurich, Basel and Geneva, Switzerland to fly with us today. But, we are unable to fly (bummer for all!). They attended the pilots meeting and had a nice tour of the balloon museum and lunch in Chateau d'Oex before returning to their respective towns. The rest of the group spread out and spent the day doing lots of different things: touring Gruyere,...

Jan 31, 2013 - Celebration Day!

The day started out with an early Pilot's meeting and the valley socked in with fog. As the fellows came back from the Pilot's meeting, they saw a fox by the grocery store looking for breakfast! We were on a weather hold until about 10:30 pm when the skies cleared and the sun came out for a beautiful afternoon! It was also a very auspicious occasion! One of our crew members, Eske Carter, turned 13 years old today! We inflated the balloon and Patrick Carter took his two sons for their first Switzerland balloon flight. It was a great flight...