Comtes D`Urgell Les Escaldes

Today was my last full day in Andorra. There wasn't a huge amount to do. It wasn't snowing, but the wind was so fierce that it seemed like a sand storm made out of snow. I had a great time watching a group of cows grazing in snow up to their stomachs. Other than that I had a walk around town and spent about an hour at a ...

After a long night on a surprisingly jam packed night train, I arrived at a train station about 1km from the Andorra border. I was slightly worried about my transportation from the train station at l'Hospitalet to my destination 26km into Andorra. The cryptic information information I was able to find on the web about buses told me that there were 2 per day, one leaving at 7:30am and the other 7:30pm. This was a bit disconcerting as my train arrived ...

Le plan original était d'aller à Cahors visiter un vignoble, mais puisque l'on n'a pas de voiture (considérant que les vignes sont dans des champs et non au centre ville) on n'a pas pu y aller. J'ai trouvé sur internet qu'il y avait plusieurs grotte dans le sud donc on en a choisi une pas trop trop loin et on a acheté nos billet de train.

Tarascon sur Ariege est à environ 1h15 de toulouse donc ca se fait quand meme bien. C'est un ...

... What it does mean, we're not quite sure of yet. Still dealing with the shock and going over a few different options. All while kicking myself for not realizing this sooner. Only one thing is for certain - I'm not going to let this spoil our trip, and we're going to have to get cycling! (o.k., two things).

... Piggies!

The wiener pigs are incredibly cute. They see you coming with the food and follow along with all sorts of little grunts and squeals. If you stop, they stop. If you make a sound, they make a sound. But as with all pigs, they love to eat.

Feeding the wieners entails getting into the enclosure, walking along, and then pouring the feed in a nice long line to they can all eat without too much shoving and fighting. But all ...

... and make 2.5kg of minced pork while I pureed the liver to make pate. Fat was rendered down to a beautiful smooth lard, and sausage meat was seasoned. It was a shame that we had no sausage skins to stuff, but the meat is still great to use in patties, balls or loaves.

For a special treat for working through all the meat, Justin saved a special piece for Brian and I: the brain. Fried up with sage and butter and ...

... of apprehension before starting. Like attempting to figure out which way was up on the harness. Or when Donna wanted me to tie my security knot (walking me through of course). Then there’s the whole ‘where to start?’ when staring straight up at this seemingly flat face of rock.

Watching others you wonder ‘how on earth?’, but then it’s your turn and you preserve, slowly going up and up with each little ...

... and roads scattered everywhere - if you can find them. Driving is a very different than walking. In great contrast to the towns below, the wind howled and ice formed on the road. On foot the walk was extremely harsh and I could see why there were shephards and hikers huts dotted all around for shelter. You can see why farmers train their animals instead of caring for them themselves ...

... and bouncing off of different areas on the sides of the cave, creating new shadows and deepening depths in between. Condensation causes shimmering light and shining rocks add crystal to the chandeliers.

Finally we arrive at the Salon Noir. All lights had to be turned off and left on a rock by the entrance. You can faintly hear a few exclamations from those who have a fear of the dark as the group becomes one tight mass shuffling along ...

... into the mountains, it got much prettier. Then finally we got into Andorra. We had been told not to expect much. But I didn't really have any expectations at all, so what was there to lose? We stopped at Restaurant Don Pernil for lunch. The menus were in three languages: Catalan, Spanish, and French. I could read the French fairly well. We started with some escargot--a huge dish of them. They were quite good and not like any we'd ever had before. I can't remember ...