Summer Youth Camp of the DAeC at Riesa

In 2005, I visited the Summer Youth Camp of the DAeC for my first time, which has been organised by Bernd Pulzer from Thüringen for several years now. This year, the camp took place at the airfield of Riesa, which lies about a one hour drive north-west of Dresden. 40 youths and 20 organisers and helpers had come to this youth camp.

And we were lucky: As soon as we had all put up our tents, we could get ready for the first balloon flight - the weather was as good as could be at the beginning of the camp.

The flight led us in an eastern direction right over the river Elbe.

Total eclipse! ;-)

After about two hours, the flight ended in a wonderful summer's evening atmosphere.

The next day, our penguin also had the chance to rise with the other balloons - but, unfortunately, after that flight, the good weather was gone... and the rain came.

So, we had to take the alternative program for the rest of the week - excursions to Meißen, Dresden and Moritzburg were also on our schedule, as well as a visit to the noodle factory at Riesa, swimming, a river boat tour on the Elbe, a games evening, and and and...

Definitely no boredom came up that week!

Food supply was given by the airfield restaurant for all the week, however, the participants' opinions about the meals tended to differ ;-)
So, from time to time, several cars quickly turned into fast-food shacks on wheels *g*

How many kids do fit in one balloon basket? If you got wind and rain all the day, you got lots of time to check that out.

A great fun to all of the participants was the beer box climbing - the local governmental disaster relief organization (Technisches Hilfswerk, THW) had provided a crane to belay our climbers. The highest tower one managed to build consisted of 19 boxes!

Another activity that week was the building of paper balloons - four teams had taken up the challenge, and after having bought almost any tissue paper from all local flower shops, they started to cut and glue the parts. As you can see, it wasn't always easy ;-)

After the weather had cleared up again on saturday, we could launch the little paper balloons and rate them concerning flight duration and artwork.

And finally, at the end of the camp, we could take one last flight with the big balloons :-)

Our heartfeld thanks go to all the sponsors, supporters and helpers who made this wonderful week possible... and my personal thanks go to all the participants who made it unforgettable!

"Give it to me baby" ...
... and see you next year! ;-)