Balloon Festival in Chateau d'Oex

Hi Yodelers,

It's been a busy January so far, but I'm trying to come down to earth long enough to remind you about an iconic event that happens once a year in Switzerland: the balloon festival in Chateau d'Oex. It starts this weekend (the 22nd) and runs through next Sunday (the 30th). I went to see it in 2009 and wrote about it last year. If you want to know more, you can read my post here. Or visit the official balloon website here. It's really a beautiful thing to see.

Balloon Festival in Toggenburg

I will never be as cool as my younger sister. Because I do things like get up at 6.30 am on a Saturday to go see cows. But give me a break. I’m in Switzerland. That’s what people do here.

Despite the whole sister stigma, I actually enjoyed the Alpabzug in Urnaesch two weekends ago. And I’d get up at 6.30 am for a bunch of dressed-up cows again. I think a few Swiss bloggers that I saw there would agree with me, right?

Anyhow, as we talk once a week, my sister couldn’t wait to hear what stupid thing I did in Switzerland this last weekend. So I told her it was the Balloon Festival in Toggenburg. The highlight of this balloon festival is the Night Glow where the hot air balloons sit along a lake in the middle of the Alps and light up to music. This was a bit cooler in her opinion. So maybe I’m not a total loser. Yet.

A lot of other people thought a balloon fest in the middle of nowhere was cool too, as evidenced by the hundreds of people I had to fight, up to an hour and a half ahead of time, to get a prime spot along the lake for photo taking.

Twelve balloons “danced” to everything from the theme to the Lion King to live yodeling to Johann Strauss. That combination alone in one 45-minute interval was something to experience. Personally, I found that the Strauss worked the best because of the upbeat rhythm, but the live yodeling was definitely more unique. Problem is, yodeling doesn’t have such a defined beat, and a rhythm sort of helps when you’re trying to light up balloons to music. But decide for yourself. Because what do I know? I'm the kind of person that gets up way too early to see cows.

1 of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die

If any of you have a copy of the book, “1,000 Places to See Before You Die”, the International Balloon Festival in Chateau-d’OEx is listed as one of the must-sees. Being a connoisseur of all things checklist (must be my American-ness) I of course had to attend.

I was not disappointed. Over 100 balloons from many countries were represented in this festival—everything from typical hot air balloons to fancy-shaped ones like chicks popping out of eggs to an oversized bagpipe player.


I really have to thank John Seay of the U.S. for his balloon, “Western Spirit.” Its design was everything cliché that the Swiss think of when they think Americans—the balloon featured cowboys in the Wild West. If things like this continue, we Americans will never be able to escape the Swiss expectation that we are anything but cowboys.

Anyhow, during the two days spent at the festival, I realized that learning German has caused me to forget most of my high school French so I awkwardly spoke to many people in a combination of English and German, with a token French word thrown in here and there for good measure. Not surprisingly, I was completely understood with the exception of a few small Swiss French-speaking children who insisted that I ordered a sausage (that they proceeded to hand me with their bare hands) even though I ordered a sandwich. So I ate a sausage even though I never eat sausage since I couldn’t waste time with arguing, as I had to get back to freezing my hand off taking photos. I’ve posted a couple of them. Enjoy.