...these last days I had the good fortune of doing an Alpine Crossing from the air. With a balloon. The AP & self were on the waiting list, but it might just not have worked out, plus it always depends on the correct wind and weather being available, of course. But on Friday, they were. And thus I conclude my year by sharing the magnificent results with you: how we got from Füssen (that's next door to where the castle Neuschwanstein which Disney pinched is) to 30 kilometres east of Venice in four hours, twenty minutes, up, up, up in the air.






Because the day was so dreamy, ours was by far not the only balloon crossing the Alps. These two started before we did:












It takes a while for a balloon to be ready for take off:





We had a partner balloon, which is the one you'll see on most of the photos, since I naturally couldn't take pictures of the balloon I was in while flying:



Off it goes:







As I said, this is the small town of Füssen:



Which has a small castle of the Wittelsbach kings nestled there, Hohenschwangau:



But better known is the castle Ludwig II had built a bit further away, to wit:








And we beginn the Alpine crossing:




Never have I ever seen a balloon from above:




This is the skiing area of the highest German mountain, the Zugspitze, right in front:






Moving on to Austria. This is the valley around Innsbruck:






The most famous pass from Austria to Italy of them all, the Brenner:




Southern Tyrolia, where I'm usually only in (beautiful) autumn, here in the middle of winter:



The Dolimiti, close and far:






Some details:



You may have seen this particular formation from below:









It's where the dwarf king Laurin resides in the local legend:



And having crossed the Dolomites, we sailed right onto the Po delta. We ended up ca. 30 km east of Venice, so before we descended, we could see the Lido and the Venice lagoon:



And here we are, going down in the Po Delta:



By now it was afternoon, which is why you see the ascending moon:




And thus, it ended, in a very wet field in the Po delta:





Have great new year's eve, everyone!