It’s Susan’s birthday and after breakfast in Barbastro, Spain we headed toward Andorra.  In Lleida we couldn’t find the C13 to Andorra and we stopped at a gas station to ask directions.  A nice man buying gas said he would led us to C13.  He did and off we went.  Thank you nice man. 

We had lunch in Andorra.  I told our waiter, Joseph, that it was Susan’s birthday so for dessert he brought her chocolate ice cream with a sparkler.  Then we drove through the Pyrennes mountians blanketed with snow and arrived in France.

We stopped for the night in Aux les Thermes which has a hospital built in 1260.  We are at the Le Chalet Hotel which has a river rushing past it.  Our dinner was at the hotel restaurant and it was a gourmet meal.  We told our waiter it was Susan’s birthday and he brought her another dessert with a sparkler in it and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her.  I think she had a nice birthday.  During dinner we also realized that we had breakfast in Spain, lunch in Andorra and dinner in France.

We arrived in Pamplona and parked underground and rode the elevator up to a beautiful plaza.  We walked around and found a beautiful church which cost 5 Euros to visit.  Barbara and Lola decided not to go in and went to the tourist bureau and went back to the restaurant.  Susan and I decided to visit the church and the museum and we got our monies worth.  The Cathedral D Pamplona was magnificent.  The cloister is one of the finest in Spain.  I took many pictures.  Then we met up with Barbara and Lola and walked to the bull ring where the famous running of the bulls ends.  There was a sculpture of Ernest Hemingway in front of the bull ring and he was given credit for making this event so popular.  Then we drove toward Sanguesa and we decided it was time to stop so the search was on for a hotel.  We went to the tourist office and asked where a motel was and she recommened Hotel Yamaguchi.  We found the hotel (it was out in the countryside) and the price was right so we decide to stay.  The bad news was dinner wasn’t served until 8:30 p.m. so we sat outside and started watching all the action at the round about.  What first got our attention was two car loads of policemen who pulled up and parked.  One of the policemen was holding a rifle as they chatted.  Then we saw an elderly man in an electric wheelchair whizzing around lickety split.  Next came a couple of joggers, then a tour bus.  Next was a man on horseback, a truck with a load of hat and a tractor.  We even saw several regular cars.  This was the highlight of Lola and Barbara’s day.   Finally 8:30 arrived and we thought we were going to be sitting in a lovely dining room but no we were sitting in a coffee shop.  We ordered dinner and were disappointed with the meal as everything was way to salty.  Susan and I had told the waitress earlier that it was Barbara’s birthday and had asked for something special for dessert for her.  She did bring us some great chocolate cake (without a candle) and we sang “Happy Birthday” to her.  In the morning we got up and drove to Javier Castle.  It was very nice.  Then we headed for Andorra.  Susan wants to go to Andorra.  We decided we weren’t going to make it that day so we stopped in a little town called Barbastro at a four star hotel called Hotel San Ramon de Somontano.  The ladies at the front desk have been wonderful helping us with our room, giving us information about touring the village and even came out and explained the menu to us as we sat outside and drank our wine.  Susan and I visited the old Gothic church of San Julian and Barbara decided to take a leisurely bath and Lola walked around the town.  There was a tower by the cathedral and we notice several huge nests on the top and several storks sitting on the nests.  That was exciting too.  The cathedral was absolutely fabulous inside but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures.

Monday we got up and drove to Guernika.  On April 26, 1937 Franco allowed Hitler’s Legion Condor to bomb Guernika.  Almost 2000 people died in the attack.  It was market day and the town was full of people shopping.  Hilter’s Legion Condor were practicing with their new airplanes.  The town was totally destroyed but now they have rebuilt the town.  Then we drove to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Museum and the famous dog made of flowers in front of the museum.  We weren’t planning to go in the museum and that’s a good thing.  It’s closed on Mondays.  The dog was being worked on and had scaffolding all around it.  Barbara and I took pictures anyway.  We decided to drive out of town and look for a restaurant but we were unable to find a restaurant.  We had crackers for lunch on the A8. 

In the tour book they wrote about a beautiful drive between San Sebastian and Bilbao and Susan tried and tried to find the road.  It was impossible and every road we took led us back to the A.  A word about driving:  it is difficult to find your way even with a garmin.  We stayed two nights at the Hotel Parma in San Sebastian.  It was a wonderful hotel and we had a great time.  Everyone there was so nice.

This morning we got up and the first thing we did at breakfast was wish Barbara a Happy Birthday.  Then we drove to Pampolna.

Last night we had dinner at Chez Pablo, a traditional Basque restaurant in St. Jean de Luz.  We had so much fun.  First, Chez Pablo came up to us and introduced himself.  He was a very funny host.  A young girl was on her cell phone and he said something to her and the whole place laughed.  He was a real entertainer.  Dinner was wonderful again.  We drank lots of wine and had a great last night in St. Jean de Luz.

We also drove to Biarritz and Bayonne.  The white beaches of Biarritz are beautiful to see.  We had a glass of wine and did a short tour.  Bayonne old town was great to see too. 

Today we arrived in San Sebastian.  We got here very early because it was only about 45 minutes from St. Jean de Luz but we are now in Spain.  We didn’t like the hotel The Lonely Planet and Rick Steves recommended so we drove around and found this great hotel for the same price.  We also had tapas for breakfast and lunch.  I have never had them before.  The bars set out a bunch of different little plates of food displayed beautifully on the bar and you select what you want.  You can see what you are getting.  I like that. 

About two days again we were driving on the A63 and we had an incident.  For those of you that don’t know the A roads are the freeways and the fastest way to get anywhere but it costs to be on them.  About every half hour or so you have to go through a peage and pay to be on the road.  It cost about 20 Euros to get from Mortemard to St. Jean de Luz.  We pulled into one peage and there was nowhere to put in money and you had to use a credit card.  Lola got her card out first and Susan fed it into the machine.  The machine spit it out.  Susan tried several more times.  Meanwhile a line is forming behind us.  We can’t back up.  Lola grabs another credit card and Susan tries again and nothing happens.  Susan motioned to the cars behind us to let us back up and we slowly started backing up.  Then the lady right behind us got out of her car and came up to help us.  She tried our credit cards and still nothing happen.  She pushed a button (who knew) and spoke to someone about the paege not working.  Voila’!  Two young girls apeared and we paid 1.80 Euros and after several exciting minutes the gate when up.