| |  Ballooning & Boating in Holland...
Not Just Hot Air! and MMA Travel will be running its inaugural Ballooning and Boating trip in Holland this summer. The trip will take in the beautiful lakes, canals and countryside of the Friesland area of the Netherlands.
Upon arriving in the Netherlands you will be picked up wither at Schipol Airport or in Amsterdam, and taken to the luxurious Landgoed Hotel Restaurant De Oude Schouw for lunch. You will be met at Oude Schouw by your host and will embark on the motor Yacht which will act as your floating hotel for the next week. The remainder of the first day will be spent leisurely crossing the Sneekermeer lake, before docking in the city of Sneek for the evening.
During the week we will spend mornings traveling the canals to various villages and cities where we will be docking overnight. Afternoons will be spent lunching at canal side cafes, touring and exploring the various villages and cities.
Our itinerary includes Sloten, a beautifully preserved village dating back to the thirteenth century. as well as Bolsvard, Starvoren, Lemmer, and Franeker.
 We will be visiting various sites of interest in these locations including the world's oldest functioning planetarium located in a beautiful canal side house in Franeker. This planetarium features an accurately moving model of the solar system, built between 1774 and 1781 by Eise Eisinga, a wool carder, and is operated by a complex series of weights, pulleys and gears. The model was built to disprove a common belief that the planets would collide resulting in the earth being incinerated by the sun!
During one evening we will take in a hot air balloon festival where you can marvel at the beautiful colors and special shapes of some of the balloons as we fly with them over the countryside.
Your Host & Pilot...
Ernie Lee, chief pilot for Not Just Hot Air! has been flying hot air balloons for over 31 years. He has flown in Canada, the United States and in Europe, where he was one of the pilots for the world's largest passenger balloon.
Ernie has a strong connection to Holland through family and friends (not to mention having taught many Dutch balloon pilots to fly!) and through this trip he hopes to share with you his love of Holland and the Dutch people.
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