Andorra & Madrid

Dear Family and Friends,

Three weekends ago we went to Andorra. Andorra is a small country wedged between France and Spain. In Andorra you can drive from one end of the country to the other end of the country in 45 minutes. There are no train tracks. There are seven big towns. Andorra is the 16^th smallest country in the world.  It is 468 sq. miles and has a population of 85,000 people; Santa Cruz COUNTY is about three times bigger in size and population.  Andorra is in the Pyrenees Mountains. The average elevation of the country is 6,549 feet (just over a mile tall) and ranges from 2,756 feet to 9,652 feet so there are some tall mountains turning into very steep valleys. The scenery was spectacular the second day.  We couldn’t see the mountains the first day because it was snowing, but we saw a rainbow (it was special because it was created between snow and sun) (also because it was a double rainbowJ. What does it mean?! (Inside joke)).

While we were in Andorra we went to a ski resort called Naturlandia. It had a roller coaster /slide (the Tobo-Tronc) which is 3.5 kilometers long (to see it go to the link here). It was so fast. It was so long at the top there was all snow and at the bottom there was almost no snow. We also went zip lining, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, sledding, and snow tubing.

View of the mountains in Andorra

Cross country skiing in Andorra

Last weekend we went to Camp Nou (pronounce no). Camp Nou is where Barcelona Football Club plays. Barcelona has won four UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) League championships, is more than 100 years old, and has at least 150 trophies. They have 173,000 members. The stadium is the second largest soccer stadium in the world. Barcelona FC also has handball, roller hockey, indoor soccer, and basketball.

Camp Nou (Barcelona soccer stadium).  Plant nerds out there...my dad would like you to notice the turf light structures that he wants to get for his next experiment.

This past weekend we went to Madrid and to some surrounding towns. On Friday we took the high speed rail from Barcelona to Madrid. It took us two and a half hours to get there and we stopped at one station along the way. At one point the train was going 300 kilometers per hour (186 mph). Then once we arrived we went to the Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is the official residence of the royal family but is only used for ceremonies. It was built in 1755. In the Royal Palace there was a room where everything was covered in gold. Every many of the royal family has many rooms including a separate room for each person to eat lunch.  There was also an armory that had a gun that was 15 feet long. In the armory there was also armor for children.

Royal Palace

The next day we went to a town north of Madrid called Ávila, which is a town that has a wall all around the city. We got to walk on the wall. We heard a story about one time the army left and an enemy came trying to capture the city so the women took cooking utensils and torches to make noise so that the enemy thought the army was still there. Then later we went to another town called Segovia. In Segovia there was an aqueduct that was built 2000 years ago by the Romans to and is still standing. The romans used the aqueduct to transport water. They didn’t use any mortar to build the aqueduct and it had 167 arches. We also went to the alcazar (fortress) in Segovia where in the olden days they dropped boiling oil on trespassers heads.

Wall around Avila

Aqueduct in Segovia

Armor in Segovia Alcazar

On Sunday we went to Toledo, south of Madrid. Toledo is a town built on a hill for protection. It also has a natural river running around it on 3 sides which was helped with protection from attacks. In Toledo they are known for making swords and there are a lot of sword shops. One shop had a remake of Bilbo Baggins’ sword which cost 188 Euros (~$250).

Travis

View of city of Toledo, Spain (not Ohio)

Window of one of the many sword stores in Toledo