It’s with a broken heart that we post this blog. We have just received word that a truly amazing young gentleman in our newly extended family has tragically passed away following a terrible highway accident near Mission, BC on Friday morning. Our feelings are overwhelmed with grief as we try to comprehend this loss and our deepest thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Barcelona and Madrid:

Barcelona was a pleasant surprise for us and we would consider it to be one of the nicest cities we’ve experienced so far. Clean, safe and organized, it’s a perfect pedestrian city with mega wide sidewalks on mega wide boulevards lined with trees, shops, and filled with people. Countless restaurants, fantastic architecture, and a spectacular waterfront with miles of sandy beach. This is also the home of artist architect Antoni Gaudi and a number of his famous works are within easy walking distance of the city centre. By far the most important of his work is the Church Sagrada Familia and a trip through this basilica is truly an outstanding experience regardless of your spiritual beliefs. You can’t help but be moved in some personal way even if it’s just the architectural splendour of this structure that leaves you in awe. Not bad for a building that’s not yet finished. Construction started in 1883 and still following Gaudi’s design, they hope to have it completed by 2040. As we wandered through the organically themed Cathedral the sound of ongoing construction echoed throughout and almost made it sound alive. Sagrada Familia is now one of the top tourist attractions in Europe and Gaudi himself, who’s buried in the crypt, has hero status in Spain and is considered one of Barcelona’s greatest citizen.
We didn’t spend much time in Madrid as we camped a fair distance away in a famous little town called Aranjuex and took the train into Madrid centre. We managed to squeeze in a very interesting trip to the impressive Royal Palace and then we explored the very crowded city centre area. Known for it’s very high rate of petty street crime, we felt a bit nervous wandering about the packed downtown and we actually preferred the smaller town we camped in. Just a short walk from our campground, through beautiful Royal parks, was another splendid Royal Palace called “Chiquitren” and it was used as a spring retreat for the Spanish Royals. The Royals called it the “Farm House” but it’s not like any farm-house we’ve ever seen.
We will now be heading towards the south coast with stops in Toledo, Cordoba and Granada along the way.

Road Ramble:

I actually had a ramble topic for this blog but in light of the recent events at home I find it hard to ramble on about anything. Instead, we would like to leave you all with a message of love, especially to our children, Kristen & Erik, Cam & Lia, whom we are missing a lot right about now. Make the most of every single day and remember to hug the ones you love.