Andorra - Snowball fights and duty-free shopping?

So the dream, but like everywhere in Europe, the snow was only lightly powdered over a few peaks; individual slopes covered by snow cannons. Oh, by the way, 'Europe'! Andorra may have the Euro, but it does not belong to the EU. So be careful! ... turn off calls and roaming, otherwise it'll be expensive! And even the duty-free shopping is more of a fantasy than it's worth. In short, Andorra appeared just as gray to me as it did on my first drive-through 15 years ago. The houses are made of natural stone - actually quite pretty, just very dark. That makes it look rather ... gray amidst the gray rocks. There are no flowers or snow or fresh, delicate green, in fact it even rained on the first day... Signs of homesickness?!?!?! Micha's dream of a powder snow course shattered against these very gray rocks ... peeeng! The ski school sold us a powder snow course with great optimism, and fortunately, Micha was the only participant, so he could race down the slopes with Diego from Argentina ... and he wasn't alone. Because Diego couldn't pull powder snow out of his pocket and the experienced skier didn't want to hear any advice. 2 hours of fun for 200 'bucks' - no wonder Michi can get grumpy and so I had to present 'the complaint' in my bumpy English. I succeeded. Maybe it was also Michas' angry look... in any case, we got our money back.

But in the end, not everything was gray! On the 2nd day, the Spanish warm sun came back, the hotel was pure luxury after 6 months in the Vito, the staff here as friendly as in a commercial, and the food was super delicious, sauna and pool were never crowded, and we had a wonderful view from the window. We went hiking, even with snowshoes. Since the signage was more like Spanish, we kept straying off the beaten path - finally a little off the slopes. For my sweetheart's birthday, we had the desired peaceful day with plenty of time for shopping (shoes are unbeatably cheap here, like in Spain). And so we were not at all bored and could really enjoy the 7 days at the hotel.