South of France Day 7

Well early in the morning our small family headed off to the Spanish border, which was about 3 hours from where we were staying. Or so we thought! We were making good time and kept seeing signs for Andorra, which is a small country tucked away in the Pyrenees. Brian had really wanted to check out Andorra and I really wanted to see some mountains, so we made a last minute change of plans and head for the hills. This was the view that enticed us away from sunny Spain. Little did we know how beautiful it was going to get!

We picked up lunch at a grocery about 10 minutes before it closed at noon! Shopping in 10 minutes on a budget with a baby in a store where nothing is in English is fun. No seriously, I enjoyed the challenge and managed to triumph! I also accidentally stole a Euro from two French ladies in the parking lot. This was before I went into the store. I needed a cart, but the carts there require a little token to unlock them and I didn't have the correct change to buy a token. So I found these ladies unloading their cart and offered them what I thought was the equivalent of the value of the token. They were very reluctant to give up their cart, but finally did. It was only on coming of the store that I realized that I'd cheated them out of a Euro! Poor ladies!

As drove closer and closer to the Pyrenees, it got irresistibly beautiful. We just wanted to stop and stare. So as soon as we came upon a view point we stopped and hopped out.




As we headed further up the road we came across beautiful mountain meadows and fields where horses grazed, villages perched, and wildflowers grew.

Then we came to the heart of the real mountains. It felt very much like what I'd always imagined the Alps to be like. I almost expected to see Heidi and Peter leading the goats down from a pasture.
This is the road that leads into Andorra. We only visited the first town on the border and we didn't like it very much. Apparently Andorra specializes in tax free shopping, so it was a bit the duty-free shopping section of the airport, but all over the town. We quickly left and ate our at a stopoff on the road next to a trickling little stream running down the rocks.


We stopped at this village (which I unfortunately no longer remember the name of) on the way back. The whole city was enclosed in heavily fortified walls.


We drove straight to Beziers to meet up with everyone else for dinner. We had decided to go out to eat to celebrate Brian's birthday, which was the next day. Most other days we were able to cook or pack our meals ourselves. They had a set menu from you could an appetizer, main dish, and dessert for a good price. Here's Brian's appetizer! It looks like a meal in itself. I don't know if you can see it, but it includes escargot (snails)! Brian said they were good, but I didn't try any.

Anthony, getting ready to enjoy his meal.

Iain, doing likewise.

Brian and I enjoying each other.