Standing on Top of the World

On Friday, we (my college buddy, Lenore Ralston) and I went to Andorra, which is a small country ("principality") in the Pyrenees mountains.  As you all know, the Pyrenees are the mountains between France (to the north) and Spain (to the south).  The Pyrenees are "in" both countries.  And the Pyrenees, easily as high as the North Cascades and Mt. Hood (Portland), are stacked in two "waves" as you come from the north.  Andorra is tucked into the narrow valley between the waves of mountains.  And, since there is no "pass" in the first wave of mountains, you just drive up and over the mountains.  I mean OVER--we were higher than snowfields and the timberline for much of the climb.  If Lenore hadn't let me drive, it would have been a bad scene--somehow, driving all those hairpin curves was NOT too tough on my (usually carsick) stomach.  It took 5 hours from Carcassonne to arrive at our destination, a small B & B style holtel called "Parador de Canolich", which sits in the middle of the mountain range at an altitude of 1635 meters (that's over a mile high).  We could see weather changes happening in the valley below us (clouds, which were below us, moving all day long). The quiet, the fresh air were wonderful and inspirational as well--I got the outline done for both of my writing projects; at which time, Lenore swore that there was steam coming out my ears (literally?!)  It rained the Saturday (our full day there), but that was perfect for writing, too.  When we stepped out of the car at the hotel, it felt like standing on top of the world.  Andorra uses Catalan as its primary language, though our host and hostess use Catalan, Spanish and French.  It's nice to know that a country somewhere is intent on preserving Catalan.  Looks like Spanish sometimes, sounds a bit French sometimes . . . "x" is an sh sound, like Portuguese.  All in all, it's another world--and you can literally stand on top of it!

Then yesterday, we descended the mountains to the east and arrived in the resort town of Collioure on the Mediterranean Sea--the town which Matisse, Dali and Picasso all called home at some point in their lives.  What a bright, sunny contrast to Andorra!  Lovely in its own way.  It felt good to arrive at home in the early evening.