We arrived in Andorra in mid April, 2001. Andorra is a very small principality located in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. So small that we could not find a digital map for this page. Andorra is famous for its snow skiing facilities and its duty free shopping.

We crossed over a mountain pass of 7600 feet. Lots of snow. Spring skiers still out. Note the height of the poles (one of which appears to be growing our of Jim's shoulder) in the picture at the left. Nice markers for the operators of the snow removal equipment so they will not drive off the edge of the cliff where we were perched for this picture . The picture of Verna, below, gives some indication as to how rugged this country is.

We arrived on Sunday and our tour book told us that the town was shut down on Sundays. Having encountered this when in Gibraltar we had vowed to time our arrival in Andorra on a day other than Sunday. So much for our plans.

As luck would have it, as we arrived we noticed a tremendous number of people on the streets and the shops all open. After a phone call we had found a hotel with a vacancy and we had the bikes parked, off loaded and ourselves changed. With tarjeta de credito in hand we hit the streets. Seems our timing was outstanding. This was Easter weekend and the only day of the year where the stores are open for twelve hours, 9 AM to 9 PM. We thought we heard Betty and Wilma of Flintstone fame screaming, "Charge it!" all over town.

Andorra La Vella is quite the place to shop. It should be known, however, that most of our shopping is of the look and see variety. Verna did get a new pair of thermal glove liners though. This town has an amazing variety of goods available. We have never seen so many motorcycle accessory stores in one place. Boots. Leathers. Helmets. Clothing. Name it and claim it. The also have cameras, stereos of an amazing variety and just about any electronic item you little heart could desire. And the people had come to spend. They could not keep their money in their pockets.

Monday morning found us wandering the streets to locate a few more post cards and then we were on the road again headed east for France. It was interesting seeing all of the empty boxes stacked up in the hotel garage where people had removed their purchases from the packing.

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