Maybe you remember this post about my day up in the air with a friend of mine who flies small aircraft as a hobby. Back then, we really meant for me to fly with him again much sooner, but it turned out to take more than a year before it did happen. Life does have a way sometimes to cross our best intentions, doesn't it.
Maybe you also remember this post about the tallest church spire in the world. Now combine the two posts, and you can get an idea of where this is heading :-)
On Sunday morning, I was picked up early-ish for a ride to Pattonville. The plan was to spend good part of the day in the air, and that's exactly what we did.
We happened to have use of the same ultralight plane of last year, and we also began our round trip with the same short hop to Heubach for refuelling.
As you can see, the weather was still a bit dubious when we set off, but became better and better:
We were approaching Ulm, the city with the tallest church spire in the world, where in 2014 I spent several weeks. My friend did an extra turn around the minster especially for me, so that I could take pictures from all sides! This was brilliant, and I was very grateful - I would have never thought of suggesting it myself.
While in 2014 I took pictures from the church spire, this time I was taking pictures of it :-)
The river is the Danube, by the way.
Right after that, we could see the snow-covered Alps on the horizon much clearer than before. The first picture below is the view I had when looking out on my (the right) side of the plane; the second one is the view through the front window. Normally, you don't even see the rotor blade; it moves so quickly. But the camera still captures it.
We stopped for coffee and cake (pieces of home-made plum cake, twice the size of what you get when you order cake in a café here in town!) in Kempten. The colourful plane next to ours on the grass was from France. We briefly spoke to the pilot and his girlfriend who were sitting at the table next to ours.
After half an hour or so of enjoying the sun, we got on our little plane again and took off the green field amidst daisies and dandelions. The Alps were our next goal - and that will be the subject of my next post.
What a perfect day, which ended with coffee and cake. Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteActually, coffee and cake was more at the start - the finish was a delicious meal at an Indian restaurant (my treat, as a thank you for the pilot).
DeleteWhat a fabulous treat that must have been. Lucky Librarian!
ReplyDeleteFabulous is the right word! I am indeed lucky, aren't I :-)
DeleteI am a tad envious I have to saw. By far an away my favourite mode of transport is the helicopter but a small plane like that would run it a close second. You took some super photos of the cathedral and the scenery from, as you said, a different perspective.
ReplyDeleteWait until you see the snowy mountain tops we flew by on the next leg of our trip, Graham!
DeleteThe last of the "Ulm" pictures looks almost like a model, doesn't it?
Looks like you had a super day for that kind of outing... I haven't been in the air myself since waaay back in the 1970s... And never in an aircraft as small as that one. Well done with the photos! (I'm not very good with heights myself, so can't say I'm really longing to go flying again... but I'm guessing that IF I ever had to go up in a small plane, I'd certainly like a camera to hold on to)
ReplyDeleteWe were so lucky with the wearher! And even more so considering how nasty it has been a lot of the time over the past weeks.
DeleteI am sure you would forget to feel uneasy, with such great views to enjoy and take pictures of :-)