Category: Andorra

Day 17: For the Love of Coffee

Living in China can be tough for a coffee lover. Our best option as far as price and size goes is, sadly, Starbucks. Most coffee shops in China make watered down, tiny cups of something that resembles coffee but doesn’t quite hit the mark.

Luckin Coffee was suppose to revolutionize coffee in China… But their prices are higher than Starbucks and their coffee is weak. They also ONLY do delivery, so you don’t have the option of bringing your own reusable mug, which I dislike greatly.

In Europe, however, we’ve been spoiled for choice. We’ve had to change the way we drink coffee, of course. In Canada, I’d order myself a 20oz Large Double Double at McDonald’s twice a day. If they had a bigger size, I would probably order it!

Can you make that a double double?

In Europe, they don’t do drip coffee. They mostly do espresso, cappuccinos and cafe con leche. And their cups are small. But delicious.

I didn’t take pictures of EVERY cup of coffee I’ve had, but I did take one of my first cup in Madrid. T’was excellent

Price is also a factor in China. Starbucks is double the price in China as it is in Canada, but it’s STILL better value than any of the local chains! You can get a Venti (20oz) drip coffee for $5 Canadian at Starbucks, but anywhere else, you pay $7 for 12oz. It’s crazy.

To get my favourite specialty drink at Starbucks, I pay more than $8 Canadian!

In Europe, we’ve been enjoying our €1.50 coffees a couple of times a day and we’ve been loving it. Today we found a coffee shop in Warsaw that specialized in coffee from all around the world. For about $3.50, I enjoyed a perfect cup of Guatamalan coffee in a cozy atmosphere.

Seen here: Cozy atmosphere

I’m done rambling about coffee now.

Correction: FOR now….

For those of you who don’t know why we’re in Poland, my favourite band, Blue October, is playing here in Warsaw tomorrow night!!!! We added Poland to our spring festival itinerary, just so I could meet the band and see them perform live!

I’m guessing tomorrow’s post might be about that….

Day 10: The Pyrenees Mountains

Before we left for Europe, we got Dave’s international licence renewed so that we could rent a car in Madrid and Barcelona. It’s opened up a lot of possibilities for us, and even allowed us to hop up to the Pyrenees mountains to see Andorra and a bit of Southern France.

The border crossing into Andorra was the most lax I’ve ever seen. We weren’t even stopped; we just drove on through and waved at the border patrol

Andorra is a tiny country, situated between Spain and France. Every restaurant we visited had menues in Spanish, French, English and also the National language: Catalan (quite similar to Spanish).

In English, we say “gorgeous”. In French, it’s “magnifique”. Spanish: “espléndido”. Catalan: “esplèndid”

Although we weren’t there for long, we definitely spent as much time as possible outside, enjoying the scenery.

The whole city is surrounded in mountains

Today’s drive to Toulouse was especially spectacular. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at a creperie run by a French Andorran, and walked through the town. The statues, I’ll admit, were a bit disconcerting..

From far, they looked like real people. We kept thinking people were just standing there watching us
The town was completely empty too… So the statues were extra creepy

Andorra may not have had a lot going on as far as tourism and history are concerned, but it sure had some views! And surprisingly…. It also has some of the best shopping in Europe!

I even got my favorite rum in the world for only 10€! They don’t even sell this stuff in Canada…. I’ve only ever seen it in Cuba!
Shopping is excellent in Andorra. They have great trade deals so many Europeans go there for the weekend to shop

I know I’m still a day behind with my writing. We don’t have cell service outside of Spain, so I have been limited with when I can write. I already have today’s post planned though…. It will be about an unfortunate adventure we hadn’t exactly planned for….

Check back soon!