Last night's Ambassador performance in the Principality of Andorra closed out their Jazz Festival. The stage was set up in a square that was adjacent to our hotel.
This independent country has no income taxes, which make it attractive to the wealthy. We were told that audiences in Andorra are generally conservative and it is not unusual for them not to clap, and encores are a rarity. The enthusiasm and talent our kids won them over and they received their first standing ovation!!! We were told this was almost unheard of in Andorra. The performance had been well publicized and the kids were the late TV news!!
As in every town, the performance was enjoyed by the local children in attendance. We had a group of toddlers who danced the whole time and many young adults who got into the act during the performance of "Push".
Today on the way to Barcelona, we headed up into the Pyrenees Mountains where we stopped for a nature activities. It started with a hunt/hike in which we were given maps and had to find flags that were attached to paper stamps to prove you had found each one. The trails were all up hill, and by the end of it we had gone a little over a mile. It was quite a workout for most of us, but at the end we arrived at Naturlandia, an eco-tourism park that had archery, a driving range, and a dozen other pay to play activities. The highlight was the a breath taking ride down the longest toboggan ride in the world at 5.3 kilometers. It took 12 minutes for the two person sled to be pulled up to the top! Coming down the railed course was exhilarating; we approached speeds of 50 mph. The G-force around some of the turns rivaled any roller coaster I have been on. Like many traditional roller coasters there was a camera that took pictures as the riders past, and we all had a good time looking at the photo's on-screen at the end.
After lunch we headed back down the mountain and had a final stop for duty free shopping, said good-bye to Andorra and headed back into Spain en route to Barcelona . The buses were flagged to pull over at Ponts Spain at a Police check-point for a quick review of the buses travel and maintenance records and to make sure we all had our seat belts on.
As we approach Barcelona, our final destination as a group, I am grateful for the blessings of new friendships, wonderful memories of the sites we have seen, and for our safe travels.
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