Day 13, 30 May 2008, Nice

Route

Finally!!! The pilot says we are a go for our hot air balloon flight. Now, I have a moderate fear of heights that I discovered at the top of the Eiffel Tower back in 2000, so I was a little concerned that I might have issues in the basket once we got to altitude. Anyway, we were up before dawn and headed to the field where there were about 10 or so other folks who were all going flying with us. After signing all of the requisite release forms and so forth, we caravaned to a different field where the weather was to have been more amenable to sight seeing. I think this plan backfired, though, since it was pretty foggy at our final launch field. Watching the balloon fill up was pretty cool. When they lit off the actual burner to make the balloon stand up, it was like watching a jet engine on afterburner; the jet of flame was at least 10 feet long.

We crammed about 10 people into the basket and lifted off. It didn't feel like we were ascending, though, it felt more like the earth was descending away from us. It was very wierd and cool at the same time. We ascended through about 500 feet of fog before breaking free. Once we were at our "cruising" altitude, the visibility downward was poor, but outward the air was very clear. We could see rain showers all over. Awesome. There was almost no wind, and by the time the pilot started descending, we had only traversed over about 2km of ground. We landed in a very muddy field and everyone (especially the more girty among us) got pretty dirty. We had our requisite champagne toast; got our certificates; and went back to the mas to pack and load up.

On the drive back to Nice we experienced the hardest rain of the entire trip. It was coming down in torrents and we could realistically only see about 50 feet in front of the car. By the time we got to Nice, though, the weather was clear and the temps were awesome. We checked into a very no-frills place near the airport and the girls went over to the shopping center next door while Adam and I got the car cleaned up and dropped off at the shipping agent's office. The girl at the counter, while not pretty in the classical sense, exuded a sultry hotness like Linda Fiorentino in "Jade."

We all took the bus to the Promenade des Anglais; played in the rocks on the beach; and strolled through the "Vieux Nice" area; which was nothing really to write home about. Nice is a tourist town through and through and even the old quaint parts are blatantly touristy. We had dinner at a kebab stand (I had been jonesing for a kebap the whole trip) and was very disappointed. It was nothing like the kebaps I had last year up in Alsace. I was really hoping that with all of the North African and Mediterranean influence here that they would have been better. No such luck.

We have an early flight to Paris tomorrow, then across the pond back to the good old U.S. and A.

I have to say that this trip has been less than memorable; mainly because the weather was so influential in choosing our activities. It rained some part of every day that we were here and the weather kept us from doing some of the things that we were really looking forward to.

We do love travelling with our friends, though, and that part of the trip was very enjoyable.

Let's hope for a quick redelivery...