Every two years in the Lorraine region of France, a tiny, light aircraft airport becomes a big deal.
People come from all over the world to visit Aérodrome de Chambley when the
Lorraine Mondial Air Balloons (LMAB) Festival hits town.
This place may sound familiar to some military scholars and to a few American veterans
because it's also known as Chambley-Bussières Air Base: A former U.S. air force base that closed down long, long ago.
Lorraine Mondial prides itself in being Europe's largest balloon festival and in breaking records. This particular festival is very competitive with New Mexico's International Balloon Fiesta.
It's almost criminal to say anything about New Mexico while attending the Lorraine Mondial festival. I know this much is true; I mentioned "New Mexico" in passing conversation and was suddenly hit with death stares from a few nearby French attendees. They may have not understood everything I said, but those two words, "New Mexico", were definitely some fighting words...
While the two festivals may headbutt each other, one thing is for certain:
LMAB continues to break world records, and 2015 was no exception!
I first learned about this festival in January of this year. I was researching one of my random historical topics of the week (The World's Fair: Paris 1900), and thought "Hmmm, I wonder if Paris hosts any air balloon shows now?"
As it turns out, they do not have any air balloon shows, rides, or festivals in my favorite city, but with a little bit of Google's help, I did stumble upon Lorraine Mondial, and I KNEW I had to go come hell or high water.
Every single one of our summer adventures was planned around this festival!
Because LMAB only occurs every two years, I knew the chance to attend in the future would be slim. To my local readers, yes, the next festival is supposed to take place in late July of 2017, however, with new region reform in France (a whole different story), the 2017 festival is a bit 'up in the air' until the local government irons out the kinks.
It is possible that LMAB 2017 may not occur because of regional council merges.
Politics. Government. Yay.
We set off toward France around 09:30 on Saturday, August 1st, and arrived around 15:00, which included an hour long lunch/fuel stop in Ramstein-Miesenbach. The flight of the balloons is not something that occurs constantly at the festival and according to the online program for the day, the 2nd mass ascent was set to take place at 18:30. The first is always at the butt crack of dawn.
The plan was to catch the 18:30 ascent, and if we were late or weather wasn't on our side, we'd hopefully catch the show the following morning.
We stopped at our hotel in Jouy-aux-Arches, France, checked-in, dropped our overnight bags in the room, and hopped back into the car.
The drive to Aerodrome de Chambley took us through quaint and quiet French towns, farmland, and wide open spaces. I sat passenger, impatiently waiting to see air balloons whilst singing "Bonjour" from Beauty and the Beast.
*Belle is my favorite Disney character and always has been. A brown eyed girl in France; obsessed with books, loves a beast, and talks to inanimate objects as if they are people (my camera is even named 'Diana Deux'. She's my second dslr, hence the deux).
I am Belle. Yup.
I cried when mom made me get rid of my pink Belle bed set when I was eight years old...
We hit signs for parking, followed a narrow dirt road for about two miles, and were directed to park in a field. We began our long walk following small groups of people wandering toward what appeared to be the event in the distance.
The festival itself is pretty dull, I can't lie. This is where I am assuming the New Mexico Balloon Fiesta beats Lorraine Mondial. Considering the parking and admission at LMAB is free (at the NM Fiesta, nothing is free), I'm not complaining.
Small tents sold beer, food, wine, and water. Local vendors promote their businesses, selling kites, crafts, candy, and champagne. We walked around a few of the tents, not highly impressed, but just to kill some time. It was similar to a Christmas market, but with fewer vendors, and no vin chaud (mulled wine).
A few light aircraft pilots had the runway before the balloon trailers moved in, so seeing bicycles with wings was pretty neato. It was nice that we weren't kept waiting, staring at an empty sky.
It was 18:00 and time to claim a spot for the mass balloon ascent. We had walked by one area, and not many folks were gathered there. To be sure of our best viewing spot, we walked back down the main path, only to find that the first place we encountered would be our best vantage point. Within the ten minutes we had wandered away, people came from nowhere and claimed the areas closest to the public barrier.
Now, air balloons do rise, but I was hoping to view everything from the ground up. I am always fascinated to see the hard work put into something, not just the end result. We settled anyway, and waited.
When the first balloon began to rise, all of the kids in the crowd shrieked. It was a snowman looking thing (or possibly a lighthouse?), and it was enormous!
Hot air balloons are crazy huge when you are standing next to them. Pretty intimidating. I know, but really.
Balloons on the ground were filling up with hot air; flat to full and floating within a matter of minutes. And finally, the first balloon removed it's tether and took flight!
One after another, balloons began to rise.
At first we counted, but it became difficult to keep count after awhile!
You would think that they move quite slow, but within a matter of minutes, a balloon is high in the sky, floating quickly away. They remind me of jellyfish...
Photographing several balloons in one frame is actually more of a challenge than I imagined it would be!
I managed to slither my way to the front of the barriers using my French manners: "Pardon" and "Excusez-moi" can get you pretty far in France.
I snapped a few photos of what was taking place on the ground now that I could see. I'll tell you that some hard work goes into flying a hot air balloon! Sure, I had seen a balloon or two floating in the skies from time to time throughout my life, but I had never seen them this close and in action.
The balloon below is a reproduction of the famous Mongolfier brothers' balloon that took flight in front of the infamous King Louis and his queen, Marie Antoinette. I was VERY excited to see it. It's not the same as seeing the original, but it's the next best thing!
We began to make our way back to the car, and every ten feet or so I'd turn around and take a few more shots. I was a little sad that our evening had came to an end, but beyond happy that I was able to attend!
The traffic on the narrow road out of the aerodrome was TERRIBLE. As if the road wasn't narrow enough, people who showed up late parked roadside and abandoned their vehicles. This meant that the traffic coming in for the evening model show, and people like us who were attempting to leave were in a predicament.
With no room to turn around, back out, or move aside, we were lucky not to sideswipe anyone while exiting. The hour and a half that it took to drive down a 2 mile perimeter road seemed endless, but gave me some chances to hop out of the car and keep shooting pictures of the last few balloons in flight. In the midst of our bad French traffic, we enjoyed a wonderful sunset. A perfect way to end an exciting day.
People come from all over the world to visit Aérodrome de Chambley when the
Lorraine Mondial Air Balloons (LMAB) Festival hits town.
This place may sound familiar to some military scholars and to a few American veterans
because it's also known as Chambley-Bussières Air Base: A former U.S. air force base that closed down long, long ago.
Lorraine Mondial prides itself in being Europe's largest balloon festival and in breaking records. This particular festival is very competitive with New Mexico's International Balloon Fiesta.
It's almost criminal to say anything about New Mexico while attending the Lorraine Mondial festival. I know this much is true; I mentioned "New Mexico" in passing conversation and was suddenly hit with death stares from a few nearby French attendees. They may have not understood everything I said, but those two words, "New Mexico", were definitely some fighting words...
While the two festivals may headbutt each other, one thing is for certain:
LMAB continues to break world records, and 2015 was no exception!
I first learned about this festival in January of this year. I was researching one of my random historical topics of the week (The World's Fair: Paris 1900), and thought "Hmmm, I wonder if Paris hosts any air balloon shows now?"
As it turns out, they do not have any air balloon shows, rides, or festivals in my favorite city, but with a little bit of Google's help, I did stumble upon Lorraine Mondial, and I KNEW I had to go come hell or high water.
Every single one of our summer adventures was planned around this festival!
Because LMAB only occurs every two years, I knew the chance to attend in the future would be slim. To my local readers, yes, the next festival is supposed to take place in late July of 2017, however, with new region reform in France (a whole different story), the 2017 festival is a bit 'up in the air' until the local government irons out the kinks.
It is possible that LMAB 2017 may not occur because of regional council merges.
Politics. Government. Yay.
We set off toward France around 09:30 on Saturday, August 1st, and arrived around 15:00, which included an hour long lunch/fuel stop in Ramstein-Miesenbach. The flight of the balloons is not something that occurs constantly at the festival and according to the online program for the day, the 2nd mass ascent was set to take place at 18:30. The first is always at the butt crack of dawn.
The plan was to catch the 18:30 ascent, and if we were late or weather wasn't on our side, we'd hopefully catch the show the following morning.
We stopped at our hotel in Jouy-aux-Arches, France, checked-in, dropped our overnight bags in the room, and hopped back into the car.
The drive to Aerodrome de Chambley took us through quaint and quiet French towns, farmland, and wide open spaces. I sat passenger, impatiently waiting to see air balloons whilst singing "Bonjour" from Beauty and the Beast.
*Belle is my favorite Disney character and always has been. A brown eyed girl in France; obsessed with books, loves a beast, and talks to inanimate objects as if they are people (my camera is even named 'Diana Deux'. She's my second dslr, hence the deux).
I am Belle. Yup.
I cried when mom made me get rid of my pink Belle bed set when I was eight years old...
We hit signs for parking, followed a narrow dirt road for about two miles, and were directed to park in a field. We began our long walk following small groups of people wandering toward what appeared to be the event in the distance.
The festival itself is pretty dull, I can't lie. This is where I am assuming the New Mexico Balloon Fiesta beats Lorraine Mondial. Considering the parking and admission at LMAB is free (at the NM Fiesta, nothing is free), I'm not complaining.
Small tents sold beer, food, wine, and water. Local vendors promote their businesses, selling kites, crafts, candy, and champagne. We walked around a few of the tents, not highly impressed, but just to kill some time. It was similar to a Christmas market, but with fewer vendors, and no vin chaud (mulled wine).
A few light aircraft pilots had the runway before the balloon trailers moved in, so seeing bicycles with wings was pretty neato. It was nice that we weren't kept waiting, staring at an empty sky.
It was 18:00 and time to claim a spot for the mass balloon ascent. We had walked by one area, and not many folks were gathered there. To be sure of our best viewing spot, we walked back down the main path, only to find that the first place we encountered would be our best vantage point. Within the ten minutes we had wandered away, people came from nowhere and claimed the areas closest to the public barrier.
Now, air balloons do rise, but I was hoping to view everything from the ground up. I am always fascinated to see the hard work put into something, not just the end result. We settled anyway, and waited.
When the first balloon began to rise, all of the kids in the crowd shrieked. It was a snowman looking thing (or possibly a lighthouse?), and it was enormous!
Hot air balloons are crazy huge when you are standing next to them. Pretty intimidating. I know, but really.
Balloons on the ground were filling up with hot air; flat to full and floating within a matter of minutes. And finally, the first balloon removed it's tether and took flight!
One after another, balloons began to rise.
At first we counted, but it became difficult to keep count after awhile!
You would think that they move quite slow, but within a matter of minutes, a balloon is high in the sky, floating quickly away. They remind me of jellyfish...
Photographing several balloons in one frame is actually more of a challenge than I imagined it would be!
I managed to slither my way to the front of the barriers using my French manners: "Pardon" and "Excusez-moi" can get you pretty far in France.
I snapped a few photos of what was taking place on the ground now that I could see. I'll tell you that some hard work goes into flying a hot air balloon! Sure, I had seen a balloon or two floating in the skies from time to time throughout my life, but I had never seen them this close and in action.
The boy child WAS NOT in the mood for photos on this day!
The first air balloon (in French, 'ballon') was invented by a pair of French brothers who made paper for a living.
The Mongolfier brothers had an interesting idea: Put together silk and wallpaper into a large egg shape, fill it with hot air, and see if it floats.
It did.
The Mongolfier brothers were eventually set to give a balloon demonstration to a bigger audience; The king and queen of France: King Louis XVI, and his wife, Marie Antoinette.
You may have heard of them?
The brothers worked with a wallpaper manufacturer, and created an elaborately decorated balloon just for the event.
The balloon was blue, had gold designs that represented King Louis, and was daintily embellished with red fabric in a swag arrangement.
In September of 1783, the king and queen and 130,000 onlookers were present when the fancy, newly crafted balloon took flight. More interesting, this flight also included the first living beings to float in a hot air balloon, but they weren't people: A sheep, a rooster, and a duck were on board!
The flight was a success, no animals were harmed, and thus the popularity of air balloons began!
The balloon below is a reproduction of the famous Mongolfier brothers' balloon that took flight in front of the infamous King Louis and his queen, Marie Antoinette. I was VERY excited to see it. It's not the same as seeing the original, but it's the next best thing!
 |
| That's a big bottle... |
The above photo may look fake, but I assure you, there were THAT many balloons in the sky! Actually, there were even more, but it's super hard to get all of them in one photo!
On July 26th, 2015 (a week before our visit) Lorraine Mondial broke it's own world record for the largest mass air balloon ascent: 433 hot air balloons simultaneously went up in the air!
I'm sad we missed it, but goodness, I could only imagine what the sky looked like on that day!
 |
| Roosters do fly! |
We began to make our way back to the car, and every ten feet or so I'd turn around and take a few more shots. I was a little sad that our evening had came to an end, but beyond happy that I was able to attend!
The traffic on the narrow road out of the aerodrome was TERRIBLE. As if the road wasn't narrow enough, people who showed up late parked roadside and abandoned their vehicles. This meant that the traffic coming in for the evening model show, and people like us who were attempting to leave were in a predicament.
With no room to turn around, back out, or move aside, we were lucky not to sideswipe anyone while exiting. The hour and a half that it took to drive down a 2 mile perimeter road seemed endless, but gave me some chances to hop out of the car and keep shooting pictures of the last few balloons in flight. In the midst of our bad French traffic, we enjoyed a wonderful sunset. A perfect way to end an exciting day.
NOTES for future attendees:
- This festival was free admission and free parking for the year of 2015. I'm not positive if that will stay the same for future Lorraine Mondial Balloon Festivals.
- You are allowed to bring in your own food and drinks. If I would have known, we would have brought a small cooler. Canned soda was about €3 per, and the food, wine, and beer were pricey, too.
- I recommend bringing lightweight lawn chairs, or even a beach-like blanket. There's not any seating other than planting your butt on a dirt field with scattered hay everywhere.
- Speaking of hay, if you are prone to allergies, bring your allergy meds.
- If you are a photog and you find a sweet spot with a great vantage point, do not move from it.
- Be prepared for crappy traffic no matter which way you came from or plan to go. We arrived around 16:30, two hours before the evening ascent was scheduled. No traffic. But leaving the event was insane, and we actually left a bit early. There were two roads out of the parking area, and each looked just as bad as the other.
- Sunscreen. Enough said.
- Weather: Even if the weather seems nice and sunny, the event coordinators CAN and will cancel mass ascents IF the amount of wind is even the slightest bit skeptical. According to the official Facebook page, a few people were disappointed earlier during the week. It was nice weather, but the wind was a bit too much to fly. Folks come from all over to visit this festival, and have left disappointed because of weather conditions.
Really, the festival was ALL about the balloons. If you plan to attend, do not expect tons of carnival rides, beer gardens, and things to do. Because I did lots of research, I was not the least bit disappointed.
Overall, we had fun! And one of the first things on my list to do when I move back to the US is to attend the New Mexico Balloon Fiesta! I have always wanted to, but more so now than ever!
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