Hotel Parma Pas de la Casa

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 ...

... 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 ...

... br>
Despite the dogs and the cold and wind, we did manage a little hike up past a waterfall up to a beautiful plateau area with mountains all around. Huddled behind a rock to provide some resistance from the wind, we scarfed down a bit of picnic lunch before running back to the truck for warmth. Then it was down into the town of Ax to soak our cold feet into some hot springs.

... are revealed.

This area of the Salon Noir is an amazing room with a ceiling that corkscrews upwards creating some interesting acoustics. A single clap lasts for over 5 seconds. Voices are lifted upwards and bounce around changing as they go. I can only imagine what it would be like to hear a celebration of instruments and song in a place like this. Perhaps this is part of the significance and why people returned year after year.

Niaux, Midi-Pyrénées, France 2totango

Went up to the Col de Port this morning. At 1250m it’s the big dividing force between this valley and the next. A climb of around 300m from where we are currently staying. The mountain road twisting and turning, making it almost impossible to go faster than 50km/hr. Turns so sharp you’re forced to go over the lines or slow to a crawl. But of course, if you’re going to meet a vehicle on this road, it will be at ...

... and got a pretty poor burger. after lunch we go up solana, and did that a few times, and me brian and heffo developed a T - timeout symbol every time we were tired, which would be used lots over the week. went home and had a nap, then apres ski beers, and went onthe operator based pub crawl. won a raffle for an hour of free booze in one of the bars, but didnt go. ended up in a night cliub with gav, fran brian heffo and dave went home. and me and gav stayed out till about 3

... a fine one day. Many of us workers ride the Pas de la Casa lifts without paying. A day-pass costs more than a day´s wages for us, and most of us only have a few hours free to ski/snowboard anyways. Most ski-lift employees take care of the local workers, but the Algerian isn´t one of us. In conclusion, I´d give the country of Andorra a "2" on a scale of one to a hundred. The nice suprises in Andorra come mostly from the non-Andorran things. Working in a touristy area ...

... night. We ate pasta and garlic bread and tiny niblets of delicious pork meat on bones and tart Bordeaux red wine. So, I don´t want to get fired. The night my boss saw me drinking, I had to be extra careful not to break any bottles while I worked. Any big accidents could´ve labeled me convincingly a "boozer." My job appears safe. Twenty-four hours have now passed since my night of on-the-job alcoholism, and I´m on the next schedule. "I´m keeping ...