How did you love the Olympics! So much fun. The good sports, the bad sports. The explosive crashes, the tubular boarding, the .001th of a second difference between Gold and Silver. Never a dull moment.
The folks here where I am agree, they have been to every Summer and Winter Olympics since 1976 and never won a medal, but they have so much fun they keep coming back with the hopes of one day getting that medal.
Though having a bit of advantage of having both summer climates (300 days of sunshine) and winter paradise nestled in the mountain ranges, average elevation of 6200 ft, and highest at 9652 ft. I think their weakness is in numbers - only around 85 thousand strong to train. Though tourism boosts their numbers to 10.2 million ANNUALLY! Because of the tourism and the tax haven the numbers are growing. Who wouldn’t want to live here? And live they do! They have the 2nd highest human life expectancy in the world.
Charlemagne himself granted a charter to these mountain folks in return for fighting the moors. And for many years they were ruled by the overlords of other countries. Countries often fighting over rulership of this tiny place. Wanting to look tough when the tough needed showing, they declared war on Imperial Germany during World War I, but did not actually take part in the fighting. It remained in an official state of belligerency until 1957 as it was not included in theTreaty of Versailles.
Tucked away in a little corner they have been isolated from mainstream for a while, but because of the tourism increase they are coming out of isolation. And they aren’t afraid to go big. In fact there are 2000 shops, that is more than 1 for every 40 citizens! But that’s all shoved in their one.. yes one… city, the capital. The rest of the country is postcard perfect. Warning though, this may not be the case in a few years. Greed and uncontrolled development risk spoiling the views.
There may be only one town, but there are at least 6 ski resorts. Skiing and shopping. Should be their slogan. Wait, someone just showed me one more… SPA… Ahhh. This health spa, is the largest one in Europe, covering six thousand square meters. The features include inside and outside lagoon, saunas, Jacuzzis, a grapefruit pool, an Aztecian pool, Indo-Roman baths, cascades, bubble baths and warm marble slates.
Ok so the three S’s are only the Highlights. Some of the lowlights are hiking, rock climbing, fishing, mountain biking, canyoning, pretty much anything you want. Rough lowlights eh?
G42! Oh yeah, I’m in one of the two MAJOR bingo halls. I’m so going to win.
I found an LDS church here, and did some investigating. The first member baptized was Marlize Gomez Lima in 1992. At the time there were 5 members living here. Now there are 58. They got their own chapel in 1994
I think we should start over with the scores. Just thought I would get that out there. This was easy to answer when you gave us the name of the first member of the church. I didn't realize there were so few members or so few citizens!!
ReplyDeleteAndorra--a country I have a personal connection with. When I was doing volunteer library work in El Estor, Guatemala, I met and hung out with a Guatemalan guy, a German guy, and three nice girls from Andorra. At this point in my life I'd never heard of Andorra. We had many adventures together. One time we went canoeing, and I didn't realize I should have brought a swimsuit. They offered to lend me a bikini and couldn't understand why I didn't want it or couldn't change there on the spot. Anyway, one interesting fact is that they called female friends "Tia" (aunt) as a term of endearment.
Andora is my guess thanks to Marlize Gomez Lima in 1992.
ReplyDelete#1 Sale e pesce (salt and fish) in May is a gastronomic festival that lasts two days that celebrates Andora and its commercial activity through two aspects characterising its territory; the earth and the sea.
#2 The nearest airports are Genoa GOA Cristforo Colombo and Nice NCE Cote d’Azur. which is over 700 miles!!!
#3 Before 1994 members had to travel 84 miles to go to church in spain.
Answer: Andorra
ReplyDelete-St George’s Day (St Jordi)is a traditional holiday with traditional gifts of roses for women and books for men.
ReplyDelete-Right now the weather is 31 degrees.
-It's about half the size of New York City.
Andorra?
ReplyDeleteLate, but here: the Principality of Andorra.
ReplyDelete1. Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence in female Andorran population is about 30%.
2. Their national anthem is: El Gran Carlemany (http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/el/El_Gran_Carlemany)
3. There is a perfume museum to enjoy there.
4. Some of their favorite dishes include: cunillo (rabbit cooked in tomato sauce), xai (roast lamb), trinxat (bacon, potatoes and cabbage) and escudella (a stew of chicken, sausage and meatballs).