Gaudi Barca

The son of a coppersmith, Antoni Gaudi was born in Reus, Spain in 1852. Over the course of his career, Gaudi developed a sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style which established him as the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement. With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and altered established visual order. Gaudi's characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture drew admiration from other avant-garde artists. Although categorized with the Art Nouveau, Gaudi created an entirely original style. He died in Barcelona in 1926.

Barcelona

Probably the nicest city I have ever been to. We stayed in El Call area at a nice flat. Went to Camp Nuo with father-in-law and got to see the training grounds and Mr. Ronaldinho happened to pull in at that time. Great views of the city from both the Museu Nacional Art de Catalunya and Park Guell.

Remembering Atlanta Faure

Cullera

For a few days over new year's, we stayed in a condo on the beach in Cullera which is just south of Valencia. Running on an empty beach every morning during sunrise was strange considering everyone back in Canada was freezing in the snow. haha.

Carcassonne

Our next task was to drive to Carcassonne from Paris. What should have taken 7 hours, took 13 because of the snow storms and black ice. One of the highlights of our trip was to meet up with Manuel Faure, his mum, and his daughter Anouk from Geneva (family friends of the McD's). We stayed in the Pont View hotel that had an amzing view of the old town from our window and terrace.

National Lampoon's European Vacation

Our first stop on our journey was Paris. We stayed at the wrong hotel, got separated and had the wrong car hired. We also had great food, went on the boat tour and found toilets just in time. The Notre Dame was very impressive.

Turkey vs. Man

mmmmm 24lbs of fresh turkey! - compliments from the Schofields.

Christmas with McD's

Well it was our first Christmas in England. Strange not having snow but we did have other Canadians to celebrate it with. Mom and Dad McD, Becky and Heather came for a couple weeks.