A Three-Hour Tour

My esteemed travel colleagues and I crossed into Andorran territory from Spain at 1:00 pm; it was drizzling and just plain grey outside.  Luckily, the temperature hovered in the mid 40s Fahrenheit, so we didn't have to worry about freezing precipitation.  We found a large parking lot near the French post office and started walking toward the main street, Av. Meritxell.  The tourist office we walked by was closed, the shops we walked by were closed; Andorra was closed...The Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza was open, and the front desk receptionist was happy to give us a map of the town. 

Due to the sake of convenience, we opted to dine at the local KFC/Pizza Hut for lunch.  Our margarita pizza and pepsi were fantastic, holding up to the typical American fast food standard.

  After refueling, we meandered around the Pyrenean capital.  For some reason, we avoided the old town and stayed around the more commercialized area.  St. Julia Perfumeria sat on every corner - their doors were open, inviting the only four tourists in town to come in and sample their tax-free perfume. 

Escale, the local department store was also open for business, and a tidy little bakery greeted us as we walked through the front doors.  We decided to have an afternoon snack - a custard pastry will do the trick.  A ticket dipenser dutifully churned out tickets for patrons, and as we were gawking at the display and pondering on what to choose, a nice Andorran local said to us, "You have to take a ticket."  It was a very kind gesture that was misconstrued by yours truly, but at least she was trying to help.

  I wonder if she had any recommendations for our pastry choice?  The rest of the department store was full of items in which to purchase:  watches, perfume, clothes, newspapers, sporting goods, pet items, one rack of postcards...No other country trinkets were to be found.  How am I supposed to get my Andorra patch for my international backpack?  I'm foreshadowing a bit, but I'm going to guess that ebay will have one when I get home... ;)

In a nutshell, we accomplished what we set out to do in Andorra - take some pictures and walk around the town.  We had no interest in skiing or shopping, but it's a good thing, because we were able to neither.  I'm still not sure if we were in Andorra la Vella at the wrong time of day, since many Andorrans still practice the ritual of siesta, or if we were Andorra for the wrong season; nonetheless, we came, we saw, we conquered "The Pyrenean Country."