Spain

Arrival in Madrid

Arrived in Madrid only about twenty minutes behind schedule. I had a little trouble finding the rentacar place, but I finally got the idea that Auto Europe is the same as Europcar. They gave me a different car than I had reserved, but the bicycle fit i n the back and everything seemed to work. I was on the road by 9pm. SEAT Cordoba is the name of the car. A Spanish job. It turns out that it is actually bigger than the average car that I have seen in Europe; a lot of VW Golf types.

Driving here has been a little crazy so far. The signs are pretty easy to figure out even if you canīt read, but the speeds and the curbs are different. The first day on the highway was pretty cool, but then the next morning I went up into the Pyrennes. Saw lots of older guys trying to ride their bikes up the winding mountain road. I guess the Tour de France goes through around here, so people like to practice. Anyway, I nearly went off the road a few times. The local drivers seemed to be fine, but I found myself wishing I had something a little sportier with better handling. But I survived.

Bordeaux

I arrived in Bordeaux, France a little behind schedule on Saturday. I found the museum where I was supposed to meet my friends Midori and Yai, but the place was already closed. Luckily the back-up plan was to either email each other or meet again at 5pm the following. I had cheap food at a Chinese restaurant on the main street of downtown. Found a cheap hotel (US$20) and turned in for the night.

Went to mass at a huge cathedral and then walked over to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Pretty cool stuff there. However, five o'clock came around and I still couldn't find my friends. I couldn't seem to find an internet cafe either, so I called my un cle in the states and asked him to check my mail for any distress messages from the women. Just then, Yai walked by the phone booth.

After we caught up on things we went out for an expensive French dinner with four courses. Good stuff. I have never found really great food in France, but I guess if you pay, it is cool. Plus, if you are a cute little Japanese girl, then the waiters do n't mind that you can't speak French. The trip somehow became more interesting, because people are more willing to help Midori and Yai than a stupid American boy...

Back through the Mountains

We proceeded to drive through beaches and mountains on our way from Bordeaux to Barcelona. We really didn't have much of a plan, in fact I had originally planned on going west instead of south. Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Ran out of gas once on the hi ghway. Some nice French folks drove Yai to the station to get more gas. Got lost here and there. Eventually we made it up over the mountains into Spain.

Even then, though, we decided to stick around and go into Andorra, which sits on the border. Spent one night in the main village of this alpine town. Noisy streets and duty free shopping was all I saw at first, but the drive out to the northeast (back i nto France?) was quite beautiful. We filled up with cheap gas, passed by a some ski resorts and headed into the clouds.

Conclusion

So far, everything has been pretty cool. We may be a little over budget, but we are having fun. Driving through Spain and France gives a whole different perspective than the rail system. Midori and Yai love to point out all of the ways that Europe is b etter than America, but some things are not so different. We drove through some corn fields (like Illinois), foothills (like Wisconsin), ski resorts (Colorado?), and big cities (?). The architecture is different here because the soil is rocky (?). The r ural houses are usually made of rock with lots of rock walls surrounding. The cities have more concrete and block structures which makes everything look older and "European" somehow.

The people are different too, of course. Long siestas. Different eating patterns. Midori and Yai tell me that I dress like an American, so I try to do what I can to fit in. We keep our "Let's Go Europe" guidebook hidden in our bag. We have met a few cool people. One restaurant manager presented us with a couple shots of the local liquor, Orujo de Miel. He talked to us about the World Cup, the various languages in Spain, etc. These kind of encounters are the best. It is not always easy in the big cities, though. Today we will head back to the country.