Seeing the real Switz - Chateau D'Oex Balloon Festival

We went to Chateau D'Oex on Saturday to see the balloon festival. A two hour drive along the lake and up into the mountains. I would hesitate to say that the balloons were worth it, as we managed to missed one mass ascent just as we arrived and we missed a second about half an hour after we left. We did get to see some leaving the ground and we saw plenty in the sky.  The big one thought it was fabulous, whilst I'd have loved her to see the mass ascent, unfortunately there are competing needs of a children that sadly meant we need to leave - the trip home, unlike the trip over, was two hours of peace accompanied by gentle snoring from them both.

The weather was amazing, we left Geneva in grey yuckiness, but arrived in beautiful blue sunshine. Where we parked the car was still in the shadow of the mountain and the difference in temperature between sunshine and shade was great enough that the little one cried continuously from getting out the car until she warmed up in the sun. The tears could also have had something to do with her throwing up in the car just ten minutes before we got to the balloon festival! Well, at least we found out her limit; two hours, topped off with 15 minutes of tight and twisty down hill action. Nonetheless, post tears both the girls had a good time.
My favourite balloons were the miniature balloons, only about the size of a small truck, which couldn't carry passengers, so of these were left off and I am fascinated to know how they are retrieved.
The whole journey was fantastic though to see a bit of real Switzerland, we had beautiful sunshine, we saw people Nordic skiing, I heard French, Italian and Switzer Deutsch all being spoken in the same place, and in Chateau D'Oex we saw lovely traditionally styled houses. It was good to get out the city and see a bit of the country, the first time we have done that, so despite missing two mass ascents we had a pretty good time