Our hot air ballooning day was finally here! Braed had decided that we should go hot air ballooning in Provence and enjoy a nice hotel stay afterwards as our wedding present. We had been waiting the whole year for it to be lavender season again and were super excited that we were finally off! We woke up at 5 am so that we would be in time to meet up in the main square in town at 6 am. We were very glad that we were only a 5 minute walk in to town and not 100 kms away like another couple we talked to later. In Provence, they only go hot air ballooning in the morning since the afternoons there is often too much wind, or storms. We had called the night before to confirm that we were flying as sometimes they have to cancel due to inclement weather. When we arrived, there were a few others already there and the lady said she would take our tickets later as they were still deciding if we could take off. The pilots were all on their phones checking the forecast since there was rain predicted for around 11 am. Once they decided that we were likely ok, they said that we would drive to the take-off site, check the conditions and decide then. We all piled in to two jeeps, like the ones you would expect to see on safari or in the outback somewhere. The balloon basket was on a trailer behind one of the jeeps and we were quite excited. It turns out that we weren't quite as excited (at least outwardly) as the young group of Chinese ladies who were there as part of their Occitane employees visit. Occitane en Provence is a sponsor of the ballooning in Provence and our pilot later explained that they buy the balloon (and whatever else they wish to sponsor) and then get discounted prices for their employees from franchises overseas.

We parked right beside a lavender field which was quite exciting since we had been waiting for the lavender to be in full bloom and there were no guarantees that we would fly over it since it depended on the wind direction. They launched a helium party balloon to see which way the wind was going and make sure that we weren’t going to balloon back into the fog that we had driven through. We watched while the crew got the balloon, basket, cylinders etc. all set up. They had tea, coffee, mini croissants and mini pain au chocolats for us to enjoy while we waited. We opted out of the tea and coffee knowing that it was a while before we would return to a washroom. There were two balloons, one that held 19 people and another that held 4. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the 4 person basket. Before they started inflating the balloons, they assigned us our basket and we were extremely happy to be in the 4 person basket with a mom and her 10 year old son. Our pilot, Fernando, explained that they would use fans to fill the balloon with air and then they would heat the air to make the balloon rise. While he filled the balloon, we stood back and watched the two inflate into a balloon shape. He checked the lines inside the balloon and it was neat to see him walking around inside it as it filled with cold air. They then heated the air with bursts of flame from a gas burner which in turn made the balloon rise. It was then time for us to climb over the side of the basket to help hold the balloon down. The basket was also tied to the car beside us to ensure that we didn’t float away before the other balloon was ready. The other balloon took a bit longer to inflate since it was so much larger than ours. Once both were ready, the ground crew released the line on ours and up we floated. It was very smooth – one minute we were on the ground, and the next we were floating above it, rising slowly higher and higher!

The lavender looked lovely from the air and was a large purple patch against the green field. As we rose higher, we could see more lavender fields off in the distance with golden spelt fields beside them. Once we were high enough up and away from the other balloon, they took off as well. The only noise was the occasional blast to heat the air and we got used to it fairly quickly. We continued rising until we were about 1300 m above ground. Off in the distance, the perched town of Banon was lit up by the morning sun and Mont Ventoux rose above everything. It was neat to see Ventoux from the air because you could really see how much higher it was than the rest of the countryside. We were floating at about 3 km/h which gave us lots of time to enjoy the view. As we floated with the wind, the pilot could control the height of the balloon, or spin the balloon in a circle, but he couldn’t control the direction. Once he knew which way we were floating, he called down to the ground crew to let them know which direction we were heading. At one point he attached a camera to lines on the side of the balloon and used a pulley to lift it into place. With a remote control, he took a picture of us in the basket which we imagined would be for sale later. It was interesting to see how the scenery shifted, even at a slow speed. One minute we could see lavender and spelt fields with Banon and Mont Ventoux, and the next we were heading down a green valley with lots of trees. We passed over fields, farms, and sheep before landing in a field next to a small road. We were surprised by how quickly the time had gone by and wished we could have flown for a bit longer; our pilot said that if we hadn’t landed there, we would have been in the woods which would be problematic!

We landed first and then waited in the basket (for the weight) until the other balloon landed. They almost landed in a crop so the ground crew took hold of ropes and with the basket just a few feet above the ground, pulled it over to a better spot. It was amazing how precise they could be – if the balloon started to sink, they just heated the air a bit more so they didn’t touch down and then were pulled along. Once they were down, the pilot pulled on the quick air release string which drew in the fabric at the top of the balloon. The hot air could then escape and the balloon began to deflate. We could then get out of the basket and help push the balloon in towards the centre so that one of the guys could bundle it up. We held the bag open while they stuffed the balloon into a huge bag and then it was loaded into the trailer. The balloon itself was actually quite heavy (the canvas weighed around 100 kg and the basket weighed between 150 and 200kg) and needed several people to heave it in. We then had a toast of local bubby while perusing all the items they had for sale. Braed had wanted us to pick up the book that went with the hot air balloon ride and so we flipped through it. The book had some wonderful pictures that a photographer had spent two years shooting in order to get enough for the book. We bought that, some postcards, and the photo of all of us in the balloon even though the pilot had a funny expression on his face. We had an incredible time and were so glad that Braed had suggested Provence for our ballooning experience!

We were then driven back to the square in Forcalquier where we thanked everyone before returning to camp. We got packed up and Anoop used the huge squeegee from the showers to wipe all the leaves and bugs off of our awning which had accumulated in the four days we were there. It was incredible how many tiny bugs had dropped from the trees and were everywhere. We drove down to Volx, stopping at a sunflower field on the way. It had been a bit more impressive before the downpour, but we stopped to admire it nonetheless. We continued on to the Ecomusée de l’Olive which we had visited in 2008. We hadn’t planned on visiting it again, but had remembered their incredible shop with a huge selection of olive oils. We sampled our way around 30 of them ranging from fruité noir (fruity black), mûr (ripe), and vert (green) before selecting a few. The flavour variation between them was quite amazing and some we quite liked while others made us cringe with their sharpness.

We then headed off to our hotel, hoping that we could check in early to take advantage of the facilities for longer. We were lucky and they had our room ready for us at 2:30 rather than 4:00! The hotel wasn’t built in a traditional hotel style with several floors. It was built in a squared off horseshoe shape with rooms on each of the three sides and a pool, spa, and lounge in the middle. You could tell that they don’t usually get a lot of rain in the area because to go anywhere, you had to walk outside. We had access to our room right from the parking which was great since we didn’t have to trek past reception with our backpacks and reusable grocery store bags rather than fancy suitcases. We thought that we were on the best side of the hotel since there was a nice hedge separating us from the rest of the complex which meant that we couldn’t see the pool or lounge from our patio whereas in other rooms you wouldn’t have had as much privacy. We had our own patio where we planned to enjoy breaky the next day. We brought all our stuff into our room just in time because the skies opened up in an absolute downpour. We had thunder and lightning and so much rain that our entrance looked like a mini river. We plunked ourselves down on our 5 pillows each and flipped on the last two hours of the Tour de France. It was the Alpe d’Huez stage which we had planned on watching since we had been there in September. This was the 100^th year of the Tour de France and as something unique, they had decided that the cyclists would ride it twice! We flipped it on as the first riders were heading up for the first time and were glued to it for the rest of the stage. The scenery was amazing and wonderful to see it from an aerial perspective. The riders were going up so quickly, but you could see that some of them were in pain and the announcers kept saying who had been dropped out of the peloton (main group of riders). The finish was an incredible one with a French victory for the stage, the first of the race and only the 3^rd Alpe d’Huez victory since the 1950s. Needless to say, the announcers and everyone being interviewed were quite emotional. We flipped it off at the end and decided that we should take advantage of a few facilities before getting ready for dinner. Since it was still pouring outside, we thought the indoor spa with its mini pool might be just the ticket. We wandered over in our robes, flip flops and carrying our umbrellas to find that we had the whole place to ourselves. The water was a tad cool for a day that wasn’t 30 C, but we enjoyed it regardless. We thought we’d pop in the hot tub for a bit, but when we stuck our feet in, realized that it was set for hot summer temperatures, not hot tubbing temperatures. It was rather cool at 30C to just sit in, but I suppose if it was roasting out, it would have been just the right temperature to enjoy the jets. Afterwards, Anoop headed to the steam room while I went back to our room to enjoy a shower without flip flops or a button to push to keep the water going.

We got ready for dinner and then walked for about five minutes to the restaurant. The hotel itself doesn’t have its own restaurant, but the one affiliated with it was just down the road. I had planned on wearing my new sundress and sandals, but since it was still pelting, had to settle for my usual garb. We pondered the menu and made our selections, looking forward to the choices we had. We knew that we were in a nicer restaurant when they brought out an actual bottle of white wine when Anoop ordered a glass and didn’t just pour it from a box. To start, we both chose the melon, parma ham and mesclun salad with a grapefruit basil sorbet. It was amazing and although I’m not a grapefruit fan, it was something else to have a sorbet as part of an appy! When it had melted a bit, it mixed nicely with the mesclun and was a sort of frothy dressing. We both enjoyed the starter and thought it boded well for the rest of the meal. For his main, Anoop chose the "loup de mer" or European sea bass which had the most incredible lemony cream sauce. I went for the scallops in a creamy saffron sauce that was just delicious. Both came with a beet purée, creamy spelt pilaf, and mixed vegetables which included beans, eggplant, zucchini and cêpes (a type of mushroom). We enjoyed everything about the dishes and particularly liked that everything was local such as the spelt and types of veggies used. For dessert we both chose the “coupe terrasse” which had whipped cream, peaches, apricots, vanilla ice cream and lavender honey ice cream. The ice cream was to die for and you could tell it was homemade since it melted so quickly! We enjoyed every mouthful and thought that they could have tossed out the fruit and added in another scoop of lavender honey ice cream! After dinner, Anoop chose a coffee while I ordered a tea since I didn’t want to be awake until the wee hours. We had a good giggle when they brought out the tea selection… Instead of putting the tea bag choices in a nice basket or on a plate, they had taken the cardboard box that it came in, ripped the top off, and brought it to the table. I guess wine is more their forte than tea… Anyhow, we had a good laugh and I went for a regular tea since the mint and citrus selection had already disappeared and all that was left were the berry flavours (not my fave). Anoop asked for some heated milk to go with his coffee which they brought out, but it had curdled. He had already poured it in before he noticed so he had to ask for another one. She happily made a new coffee and heated a new batch which was also curdled. He decided to just enjoy his coffee with sugar instead! We then headed back to the hotel, fully stuffed and having enjoyed an incredible meal.

The next morning we woke up to a sunny day which was an improvement over the forecast. We made tea and sat in bed relaxing with our first cup before heading out to the patio with our second cup. We enjoyed the patio before deciding that it was time to get packed up so that we could enjoy the pool for the rest of the morning. We took most of our stuff back to the van and then claimed a spot in one of the pavilions at the pool. The pool furniture was quite amazing and ranged from lounge chairs to a bed sized lounge chair with a mattress to a few pavilions. We claimed our spot in one of them and were quite amazed – it was the size of a double bed, had at least a 4 inch thick mattress, a sun shade on top and curtains that you could pull the entire way around for complete privacy. We spread out and were glad that we had a couple of hours to enjoy the pool. We weren’t able to check out of the hotel late since they had to clean the room, but they said that we could stay and enjoy the pool until whenever. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon going from the pavilion to the pool and back again. What a tough life! At 1:30 pm the clouds started rolling in and we decided that we should probably head off anyways if we were going to do our scenic drive and get to our next campsite. We had a great stay and enjoyed every bit of it, fully spoiled like Braed had intended.

We set off to do part of the lavender route on our way to Montbrun-les-Bains. The fields we passed by were so purple they were just incredible. These were the same fields we had seen the day before from the balloon and it was great to be driving past them at a closer distance. It was amazing how far some of the fields went and you could really see the rows going up the hillside in some parts. We also drove by a huge tractor made out of hay bales as part of the advertising for the local harvesting festival. We stopped to take some pictures so that Mom can build one in her front yard with her old hay when she needs a new project. We arrived in camp and were glad they had some spaces available since it is getting to be more of peak season when some campsites are full by the later afternoon. It wasn’t one of the nicest campsites we’ve stayed in because the spots were quite narrow and there was no privacy between you and your neighbour. However, it was quite inexpensive, exactly where we wanted to be, a short walk from town, and had clean facilities, which is all we really needed when we were only there for two nights.