If I were to describe yesterday in one word it would be flippinghotmessofanadventure. Regret it? Absolutely not. Would’ve done some things differently? Without a doubt. But we made some great memories figuring everything out. If there’s one thing I love, it’s exploring the world with my little family. And yesterday we explored the BFE of Metz, France.
Well, we drove to our hotel and dropped some of our stuff off before driving the 20 minutes out in the middle of flipping nowhere to the launch site. It was a sweltering (yes, SWELfreakingTERING) 98 degrees out and we were already pretty miserable. We thought we’d hang out in the room for a few minutes and eat some lunch that we had picked up at Cora (a huge French chain store that sells wine for dirt cheap…and a myriad of other things). Well, we’re in Europe…during a heat wave…so there is no AC in the hotel rooms. Duh, right? They put us on the top floor and it felt like a jungle in that room. I could literally hear the hoots of howler monkeys. Or maybe it was just the heat exhaustion driving me to insanity! But it was dang hot, people. I’m from Texas. I’ve lived in Okinawa. I’m telling you…it was hotter than a whore in church.
Finally, the sun began to slide into west and it actually became pleasant out. Around 8:30 the magic began to happen, and if you have never witnessed something like this, it truly is magical. The impatience and frustrations were whisked away the very moment those balloons began to rise from into the evening sky. It was just magnificent. Pictures don’t do it justice. They just don’t. The balloons were beautiful and flew right over our heads in a steady stream. One after another, they just kept coming, as if they were growing from the ground.
Info:
They do an early morning and evening launch. You can do both or just one. IMO, evening is beautiful and not as warm, but the car situation can be an issue. I don’t see it being as bad in the morning.
The festival is in the outskirts of Metz. We had a little trouble with our Garmin GPS finding the exact address, so we just put the town in and then found it fine. There are tons of people who visit, so we just followed the herd. But here is the official address in case your GPS is smarter than ours:
11 boulevard Antoine de St Exupéry
54470 HAGEVILLE
http://www.pilatre-de-rozier.com/index.asp?lg=gb
Tips:
-Bring a large blanket/quilt and/or camping chairs. The grass is pretty rough out there, and it does pay to get a spot close to the site early.
More:
Click HERE for a blog written by one of the girls whose family owns and pilots one of the balloons. They travel the world and some of their pictures are just breathtaking!!
8 Comments
Despite the heat and the mess with getting out of the parking lot, it sounds like an amazing experience! I have always wanted to go to a hot air balloon festival!
– Rachel/ With Love, Rachel
I'm stopping over from Chelsea's blog, Lost in Travels! I saw your guest post, really enjoyed it, and wanted to read more!
How surprised was I to see that your very first post on here was about Metz, France! I lived in the Nancy-Metz region when I taught English there for a year, so it's like seeing a little piece of expat-home to welcome me to your blog.
While all the other stuff surrounding it sounds bleh, wow, those balloons look fantastic! WHOA! I can only imagine what it was like actually there, with the sheer size of them. It's funny — I have NEVER heard of this event (though I guess I wouldn't have been around for it anyway) but it sounds so cool! 🙂
–Erika
http://www.chimerikal.com
Oh My God!! Those pictures are BEAUTIFUL! I bet it was so worth the heat and the wait! It must have been an amazing experience to see all those balloons flying out at the same time! Your boy looks sooo happy in that picture!! ^-^ btw, that family picture HAS to be printed and framed! So cute!
What an awesome adventure!
xoxo
http://www.inspirationsparks.com
Fellow military wife in Germany here! 🙂 i hopped over from Lost in Travels and have been enjoying your adventures. Metz looks so gorgeous! Can't wait to explore your blog!
Shannon
http://shannonthemrs.blogspot.de
Hey, I headed over from Lost in Travels too! 🙂 I enjoy reading other peoples' experiences of Germany and your blog is so diverse, I love it!
Looking forward to catching up on some of your other posts 😀
<3 Erica @ http://thebartlettsabroad.blogspot.de
That sounds brilliant! Love your photos! I too found you through your post over at Lost in Travels! We are in Bavaria currently, lived in Copenhagen previously, and I am so jealous of your time in Japan! 😀
Uhh, wow. That looks incredible. And that photo of your son with the balloons in the background….priceless! I'm so excited to find your blog – we're over in Belgium and we love the not-so-widely-touristy adventures too, but we find it's so hard to find information on all this tiny town, big events stuff. I'm putting balloons on our list (and probably copying more of your ideas..)! Northern Europe Unites! 😉
I have always wanted to go! Your photos look great!
http://polaroidsandpuds.blogspot.co.uk