Vacation

From: Dan
Activity_Date: 5/14/01
Remote Name: 24.8.188.224

Comments

I thought what I would do is recapitulate Sharon's and my trip to Europe and attach links for pictures to show a little what we did for 3 weeks.

When we got off the plane and drove into France the weather looked reasonable, but cool. We spent one night there before we headed into Switzerland to stay in a time share for a week. When we arrived in Switzerland our time share was in the mountains in a place called Val d'Illiez near the city of Monthey on the east end of Lac Leman (Lake Geneve). Weather in the beginning was a little less than desirable. Because where we were staying was 5300' we were snowed on for the first few days. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/SnowChamp.JPG http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Champoussin.JPG When the weather cooperated we found a couple of paragliding schools and hooked up with this great teacher, Gilbert. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/GilbertDan.JPG He took us up to a mountain launch that he uses for instruction. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/SharonMonthey.JPG The two other pilots besides Sharon are Frances, and Christopher. Sharon took off doing a foreward launch and had a great flight. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Sharon.JPG I had not done a foreward launch in a year and I had to admit that I was apprehensive. Here we are the representitives of California and I felt like a first time pilot. It went off without too much of a hitch and I was in the air. Whew! As you can see I am on my way to the lz. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/DanMonthey.JPG

We did this a couple of times and then went for lunch. Our guide, Gilbert, treated us to fondue. Later we went to another site a couple of days later and I flew in an almost no wind launch conditions over Lac Leman. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/DanVouvry.JPG The lz was lined by 15000 volt power lines for the train, and a water way for boat parking. Actually it was pretty easy to land as the field was wide and about the lenght of a football field.

Our second week took us to Austria, my favorite of all the countries we visited. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/AUSTRIA.JPG We visited the cities of Innsbruck which was next door to the tiny town of Axams where we stayed. We drove up to the Zugspitze, one of Sharon's favorite places. I mentioned that in one of our previous postings. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Zugspitze.JPG Innsbruck was beautiful and quite a charmning town. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Innsbruck.JPG

Our flying adventures in Austria were actually in Northern Italy. It feels like Austria in Italy because in the very northern part everyone speaks German. The story goes that Hitler to gain Mousilini's favor gave him the southern part of Austria. Most of the inhabitants still feel as though they are Austrian. The town of Rodeneck (about 70 km from Axams) was where we went. We met with this German instructor, Claus who was teaching a week course to give his students the equivalent of a p2 license. Here is Sharon and Claus standing in front of their Ford that he leaves there. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Rodeneck.JPG Claus says he does not worry about anyone stealing it, because it is on its last legs. He said even the Yugoslavians don't want it.

Launch was in the mountains and at 4500' plus altitude. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Launch.JPG It was a very easy launch with good cycles coming up the hill most of the time. Here is Sharon after she launched heading to the lz which is about 1500 meters below. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/SharonRodeneck.JPG Afterwards we had dinner with the group. The food at this place was some of the best we ate. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Dinner.JPG Two meals a day and a place to sleep ran about $25 per person. We should have stayed there.

We took a trip to Salzburg one day in between our flying. This is Mozart's home town. It is one of the more beautiful cities we visited. Out in one of the squares downtown, there was this giant chess game taking place. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Salzburg.JPG

After our week in Austria we made plans to travel through Italy on our way back to Geneve/France. We made last minute changes and decided to come back through Austria to fly in France only. BTW I have plenty of Italian Lira I would glady exchange for US$'s.

One comment on driving. The Europeans really drive much better than any Americans. I have always considered myself to be an agressive driver, but comparied to our European counterparts I am very passive.

Most of the posted speeds are between 120-130 km/h and like us here in the USA you can add another 10-30 km/h to the posted speed. The only time you better pay attention to the posted speed is when they ask you to slow down below 100 km/h. Then of course there is the Autobann in Germany where there is no posted speed. I tried not to scare Sharon too much but in Germany I was doing 180-190 km/h and Mercedes after Mercedes would pass by me going at least 40-50 mph faster. I would assume they were going somewhere around 150mph.

We went back to Switzerland where we had flown before, and the weather was overcast and cold. We stayed there a couple of days and flew one day. We decided to go to France to Annecy. The sun was clearing when we got to Annecy and while driving in the countyside along the lake Sharon noticed some paragliders in the air. We drove over to the area and found the lz and noticed there were at least 25 wings in the air most of the time. The site was mostly dynamic with some thermals. We found launch and it was quite a happening site.

Families were watching husbands fly, with children in tow. The sites here have carpeting covering launch. This was thick carpeting in good shape covering an area two to three times the area of Chief's launch. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/LaunchAnnecy.JPG http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Annecy.JPG http://members.home.net/dkeyser/WingsoverAnnecy.JPG

It was quite an event as you can tell by the pictures. Sharon and I stood by and watched for at least an hour. This was a very intertaining place. While talking amongst ourselves a pilot came over and asked where in the States we were from. Turns out he is an instructor in Aspen, named Dick. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Dick.JPG He ended up showing Sharon and I the sites in the area and gave us advice on where to spend the night. Great guy to meet.

He encouraged me to launch, as Sharon was not happy with 20 other pilots in the air. So I took off and ending up flying for about an hour and gained about 1800' above launch. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/MeAnnecy.JPG I choose a time to land when it appeared there were hardly any pilots landing. I did some spirals and got down only to find 3-4 other pilots trying to accomplish the same thing. It was a little dicy as there is no set approach pattern being followed by some pilots, but all ended up well.

From there we went to the other launch where Sharon flew with the guidance of Dick to help her find the lz and the end of the lake. The air was very bouyant that time of night (8:00pm) and Sharon flew for 35+/- minutes.

The next day was our last full day before our plane was to leave. We went back to the place where Sharon flew the night before. Sharon opted not to fly so she drove. It was another beautiful spot to fly. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/HiLaunchAnnecy.JPG The wind was a little cross and weak but my forward lauches by now have been perfected by much practice. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Mehilaunch.JPG My ride was not as long as Sharon's the evening before because there was zero lift and I was down in 10-15 minutes.

Sharon and I took off for lunch and the weather was starting to overdevelop. We opted to go to Geneve to get a hotel to spend our last night close to the airport. On our way to Geneve we stopped at a cable car in the town of Saleve next to Geneve. When we first came to Geneve our first day we saw paragliders flying along the ridge we stopped at next to the top where a cable car would take you. We talked about just riding the cable car as there were no wings in the air. However within 15 minutes one after another paraglider was launching. We talked about flying and finally both of us took our wings up to the top. Sharon had not made up her mind to fly but once she got there she said she would.

It was ridge soaring with small thermals. You could stay up forever if you wanted. But I flew for about 30 minutes +/- and decided to land because we still had to find a place to stay for the night. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Geneve.JPG I took my camera with me a took a picture of the city of Geneve from the air.

When I landed Sharon was very glad she flew as you can tell. http://members.home.net/dkeyser/sharonGeneve.JPG The lz was about a mile plus from where we parked our car but again the hospitality of the local pilots no matter where we were flying gave us a ride back... http://members.home.net/dkeyser/Ride.JPG

Dan