Yes, I slept like a rock (as usual). I get up about 9:00, and after the usual formalities I make a cup of coffee (I make instant, using the Folgers that I have been carrying with me since last year). I have a Chinese style cake that my friend H had given me in Berlin to bring to C. Although it was a bit strange at first, it is pretty good and I have a second one. I then work on this journal, and then go to the internet café. I have an email from my friend G, who lives in nearby Andorra, so I phone her. Am I going to come and visit? When? Well, what is good for you? How about today or tomorrow? OK, might as well be today. So, without much planning I put my toothbrush and razor in my pocket and head for the subway. I take the train in Sants-Estacio, the train and bus station, and I find the bus office for buses to Andorra. The next bus leaves at 4:00, arriving in Andorra at 7:00. OK. I have a couple hours. So I have lunch in the train station, and then go back to the bus station at the appointed time. And, promptly at 4:00 the bus pulls out and we are on the way.
As we leave the city I can see that this part of Barcelona is not like where I am staying. Instead, it is an ordinary modern city with ordinary modern buildings and streets. Is it only in La Rambla and Barrio Gothic that there the really wonderful old buildings and plazas? I guess I will find out as the week goes by.
I am riding a bus of the EuroLines bus company. The bus is a modern, quiet, and comfortable bus. At least it is quiet until they start playing a movie on the vide screen. It is a lousy American movie dubbed in Spanish, and I am amazed at such a poor choice of movie being shown on an afternoon bus. It is a murder movie with lots of violence and sex, rated a strong R. Even though I do not understand most of the dialogue I can still follow the movie quite easily, and the story just made one squirm. Luckily the ride was about 3 hours, and the movie only about 100 minutes, so we still had some quiet time.
But otherwise the ride was really nice. We went northwest out of the city, onto an expressway, and then slowly made our way up the hills and mountains. As the city gave way to the countryside the road followed a river. First we were going up hill, and then we crested and went downhill, and then as we got closer to Andorra we went uphill again. It was very beautiful, with the mountains, the trees, the old farm houses, even in the cool and drizzly weather it was scenic. We arrived in Andorra at about 7:00. It was almost dark outside. My friend G was waiting at the bus station. We first walked into the town center. I wanted to see what I could before it got too dark. There were lots of people out in the streets. Andorra is near to ski resorts, and it is still ski season, so there are lots of skiers and visitors from France and Spain. The shops are open late, but tomorrow, Sunday, they will be closed because it is a national holiday here.
We eventually go to what G says is a very well known Andorran restaurant and I have a very good dinner. I order Dorado al Sal (?), which is fish baked in a salt cake. After cooking the salt is stripped away, and the fish is tender and white. Very tasty. G has sauteed squid, which are OK, but neither she nor I like them as much as the fish.
After dinner we walk back to her car. Now it is drizzling, and as we get closer to the car it starts to rain harder. But we make it without getting too wet. We then go to her apartment. G has a nice two bedroom apartment, and 3 dogs (2 Golden Retrievers, and one small mut). The dogs are all excited when I come in, but within a couple minutes they are under my feet begging for a scratch. We sit and talk for a while, and I help her to do some clean-up work on her computer.
G phones one of her friends, and we decide to go out and meet her friend and go to a night club. So, at 11:30 we leave home, drive into town, pick-up her friend M, and then go to a small salsa disco. I don’t know how to dance salsa, but the music is good and not too loud, and between G, M, and another friend E that we meet there, I am kept busy on the dance floor. We finally leave the club at about 2:30! As I am getting ready for bed I realize how smoky the place was--my clothes reek of cigarette smoke! Ugh! I hand them up and hope they will air out over night. As you might guess, I sleep like a rock again. In the guest bedroom it is very quiet and dark.
I sleep until almost 10:00 AM. The dogs' barking woke me at 8:30, but I just rolled over and went back to sleep. G is already up. I have some coffee and juice, and we are ready to head out by about 10:45. We are both hungry. Most restaurants are closed, even McDonalds! We find a large place named Viena that is open. They have sandwiches, but that is OK, I have a ham and cheese with lettuce and tomato on a long roll, grilled, and a café con leche. A decent breakfast!
I want to see the snow mountains, and so we head north of town to Esampes, where there is a cable car that takes you to the top of the ski mountain. The tickets are 9E each, but they are well worth it! The ride up takes a good 15 or 20 minutes, and is incredibly scenic. At first we pull away from the small town, and we go straight up the mountain, over the trees, over some farms on the mountainside, past the tree-line, and all the way to the top covered in snow. Lots and lots of snow. When we get out of the cable car and go outside the building the brightness of the snow is almost blinding. The sun is shining brightly, and all around is pure white snow!
We walk around a little (it is kind of tricky, and I have to make sure I do not get in the way of skiers coming off the chair lift and heading back downhill), and I take lots of photos. It has been a long time since I have been on a mountain in the snow. Perhaps 1985 or so in Lake Tahoe? Almost 20 years? After a nice visit we get back into a cable car and head back down. The ride down was just as exhilarating as the ride up. When the cable car lurches forward out of the terminal building and out over the mountain you almost feel like you will fall, but of course you do not. It is great fun!
After making it back to the bottom we walk to the car and head for La Seu de Urgelle, a small town about 20 miles south in Spain. I came thru it yesterday on the bus. G says we will go there and have lunch. The drive is very nice, and after about 45 minutes we have arrived and are walking around this charming small town. In the town center there is a plaza with trees lined up that have been recently trimmed. Adjacent to the plaza is an interesting metal sculpture of a horse. A couple blocks away we walk thru a street market (G things this is only on the weekends). We eventually have lunch at an Italian restaurant, and I have a very good spinach pizza. Thin crust, lots of spinach with pine nuts, very good!
By now it is about 4:00 PM. We drive back to Andorra and go to the bus station. I go inside and inquire about the next bus. It will leave at 6:00, so I reserve my seat. We have about an hour before boarding, so we walk around the area and into a nearby park. The late afternoon is very pleasant, and lots of families are in the park, with the little boys all kicking footballs (soccer). Yes, they start young here! But the time passes quickly and soon it is time to say goodbye and I go back to the bus station to get my bus. G was a really great hostess and guide, and Andorra was a very nice place to visit! Thanks G!
The ride back to Barcelona was quite pleasant. I was in the front seat, so I had a good view of the roadway and the scenery. The mountains were really incredible, and as the sun set the sky became very pretty. The snow white tops of the mountains became orange/pink in the last rays of sun.
Thankfully there was no movie today, and no music. Just nice and peaceful! Unlike yesterday's bus which went the entire distance without any pit stops, this bus did stop about 30 minutes outside of Barcelona (a passenger requested that we stop). But we got back to the bus station at about 9:15, and by 9:45 I was back home.
K, C's daughter, had just got home from her weekend out of town, and C's friend A was also there. So it was nice to greet them and be greeted, and I sat down and ate my KFC that I had picked-up down the street. I also had a slice of mushroom pizza that C had made (if I had known I would not have bought the KFC; oh well). It was good! A soon left, K went to bed, C and I talked for awhile, then I phoned Mom and spoke to her for a while, then C went off to bed, and I stayed up and worked on this journal until I was caught up right now! It is almost 1:00 AM and time to go to bed! Good night!
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