Tuesday, February 8, 2011

International Balloon Festival, Chateau d'Oex, Switzerland


Ever since I was a child I'd had a fascination with hot air balloons, but in all my travels I'd never managed to actually see one up close, so when my friend Doga invited me to go to the balloon festival with him I jumped at the chance. The International Balloon Festival in Switzerland (sometimes called the Parmigiani Balloon Festival when Parmigiani watches sponsors it) is in a very tiny town called Chateau d'Oex in a valley in between two large mountains. It was started in 1978 and is one of the older balloon festivals in the world. I did not figure out why they hold it in January, because it was absolutely freezing outside and on numerous occasions I had to shelter inside a cafe for warmth, but it was an incredible sight to see so many balloons going up at the same time and to see how big they really are in real life.















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