Bath, England 07 07 99 copyright 1999 bryce and palazola architects and associates, inc.800 357 7567

When I booked the Royal Crescent hotel, The Hotel sent me an email stating that they Had a Balloon and wondered if Janet and I would Like to take a ride in it. I immediately replied "Of course!!!" The most exciting part was the take off and landing. We had to Jump in on departure and then with the burners roaring Terry asks: "do you really want to do this?" we scream back: "absolutely!!!" he rips the rope free, and we're going up and rocking only so slightly from side to side until we stabilize, then it gets boring, with nothing but the beauty of the landscape to concern us. The landing is again exciting, as Terry made us face away from the direction of landing, so we couldn't see the end of the trip. The basket touches the ground on one edge, and it drags along the ground for a few seconds, then falls over and we're all laying atop each other laughing and that's it. We climb out being careful to avoid animal droppings, and it's over- a magnificent evening of sailing over towns and landscape and hearing the dogs bark and the kids yell up to us, and the wind blowing us along at 12 kts at 2000 feet above ground level. This is far better than at 8,000 to 20,000 feet above ground level and at 500 kts, which we are all used to as we arrive by jet.