Arriving in Geneva  almost a week before the rest of the group ..... we toodled around town for several days .... then hopped a plane to Barcelona

to get a bus to the small country of   Andorra   ( located between France & Spain ).    By the way,  road transport is just about the only way to get there .

Andorra was the only country in Europe we hadn't visited ,  so we thought we'd spend several days there.

So we plunked ourselves down in  Andorra La Vella  for our stay.

Our Hotel

View from our balcony

FIRST  BALLOON  RUN

Up early for a trial balloon run on our first full day in Gstaad.

The weather reports were full of dire warnings all across Europe ... so we were eager to get in the air while we could.

( hoping  the  weather gods would smile on us  &  permit fair  winds to blow for the festival )

One of the  "games"  balloonists like to play is  "drop the sand bag on the big  X ".       Of course, putting the X in the castle courtyard makes the game more interesting

Surprisingly  ( to us  anyway ) ... cheese making is still done by hand

I think Roy has finally found me a job as a  "cheese tapper "

Two of the fascinating crafts here are:

Decorating Pewter With Real Flowers ... and   Intricate Paper-Cut Designs

These  photos show  part of  our  "ground crew"  and one of the pilots.

Have to to give our ground crew  GOLD  STARS  for  "Hands Across The Sea"  actions.

Instead of  lolling around waiting for us to ascend  ....  they helped 20 other balloons take to the skies.

WHAT  GOOD  BOYS  !!!

Oh  Yeah ..... this is good  !!!          ( Our balloons are the 2 blue ones with the flowers on them )

"Good  To  Go "