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Formula Breakfast
Our four-dollar breakfast at the Formula 1 consisted of some tough French bread, coffee and juice. We have sort of an on-going argument about how America sucks and France is heaven. Midori and Yai (from Japan) just got done spending a year in the States studying. They are quick to point out that French bread, coffee, pasta, air, water, people, et al are better than their US counterparts. I do my best to defend my country, but I have to admit that sometimes they are right. Anyway, I do like the coffee, but I don't have much to say about the bread.
On the Road Again
I really hadn't planned on driving that much, especially considering gas prices in Europe. However, once again, today we made Spain the goal. Somehow we would make it over the Pyrennes.
The Aran Valley
By driving rather than railing, we can go to cool places like this beautiful valley which cuts through the Pyrennes. However, it turns out that we have not escaped the tourist industry, because this area is popular with older tourists from Spain and France. At the top of the pass, we talked to a nice French couple. Now that we were in Spain, I thought I would ask them a question in Spanish, but life is not so easy. We still managed a short conversation using primitive hand signals and pointing at maps. It was fun.
More Mountain Roads
We noticed that we were close to Andorra, so we decided to cut across the mountains in that direction. Just for fun, I picked a really minor road that seemed to wind around a bit. N260 follows a beautiful little stream back up into the mountains of the southeast Pyrennes. We stopped to bath in the cool stream and take a rest. Midori and Yai tried to cool their sunburns from the day before, but I think we actually managed to get more burnt just sitting there. We made another stop toward the top. We got out and climbed a bit of a hill to get a better view. Quite impressive. We could see a few stone houses in the distance, one sheepherder with a flock of about 100, lots of green mountains, and our little winding road. Another fun siesta.
Andorra
After nearly making ourselves sick on the winding decent, we finally rode up into Andorra. I immediate thought that we had made a mistake.
If you consult the guidebooks, generally they advise against visiting this little mountain country. It seems its main claim to fame is its duty free shopping. Indeed there was a huge line of Spanish shoppers trying to get through customs so they could continue home. The streets here are quite crowded, and it is not the mountain hamlet that I had hoped for. Regardless, we found a cheap hotel and an Italian restaurant where the waitresses speak Catalan, Castellan (Spanish), French and English. I didn't know what language to say thank you in. Strange life here on the border of countries. Watched a little of the World Cup opening ceremony on TV and went to bed. Shopping tomorrow?
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