Going for a ride in a hot-air balloon is one of the optional trips offered to passengers of hotel barges. Most of the balloons are launched either very early or very late in the day when the winds are more gentle and the air more stable. It is great fun to watch the crews unload the balloon from a truck, then see it gradually inflated from the burners until it is completely filled and ready to be boarded. I didn't take the ride; it was impossible to take photos of the launching and also be aboard, but the passengers said it was wonderful drifting silently over the dark fields, the white Charolais cattle and the quiet houses.