Define "Express"

All righty then. So as I was saying, we picked up our car at Sants (Estació del Sants) and headed out of Barcelona mid-morning. I think we had arrived at the station before 9, so I guess I learned to allow lots of time for paperwork processing when picking up a car. In Spain.

I thought the French border was only about 18 miles north of Barcelona, but as I look at my map now and Google it, I'm seeing that it's a bit farther. I don't remember the trip to the border taking 2 hours. I'm pretty sure we took the expressway: the N11. Getting to the N11 was a tad hazardous, but we held our collective breath and off we went.

I was very surprised at the lack of security at the border. It seems there was a customs station but nobody stopped us. We just breezed right across. Our first stop was a rest area, where I was alarmed to discover the toilet seats were missing. That made for an interesting experience.

I'm sorry to drag this out. I really am. But I'm having a coffee machine crisis. Well, at least we're over the border, eh?