Our First Full Day in Barcelona

[November 1, written one day later] I know a lot of people who travel far distances to join a tour group or a cruise without a stop in between. I certainly don't recommend it; we typically like 2-3 days if we've traveled overseas so we can make sure we are on the "current timezone," and we are caught up on rest. We arrived yesterday and headed right out with friends John and Sharon, getting to bed about midnight local time. Our bodies didn't want to wake up until noon today. But the sleep felt great, and the showers felt even better!
We went across La Rambla for lunch at bacco restaurant (and the second 'c' is flipped around for extra style). We each started with a delicious cream of pumpkin and carrot soup with crunchy leeks. Then for the entree, Darlene had a monkfish carpaccio and I had a veal carpaccio. Both were quite tasty, and we marveled how they cut slice those meats so thinly without their falling apart. For dessert we had a most delicious white chocolate pyramid stuffed with raspberries.
[Note: rather than putting lots of individual photos inside each posting, I will be putting up pages pf photos on the right side of the main page.]
From our first-floor window seats (remember, this is Europe, so it's the first floor above ground), we had nice views of La Rambla and all the people strolling along.  Lunch itself was about an hour and a half, so we were already into the better part of the day. I decided to go to Museu Picasso while Darlene returned to the room to rest and read. The museum was quite delightful, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit. The museum has the best collection of Picasso's formative years when he was learning from his father.
For dinner we went to Placa Reial, which reminded us of St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Restaurants line the outside of the area (between the buildings and the open area), and all of them compete for your business. We picked one that had a nice chicken and seafood paella that we split, plus we each had a Catalan salad (that could have been a meal in itself!). On the way back along the side street we found an Italian gelato shop and had a little dessert.
We strolled back up La Rambla and into Placa de Catalunya, a hub of activity in Barcelona. There's a Metro stop, lots of buses start their journeys from there, plus people just sit around and talk. One thing is clear -- we need a lot more time in Barcelona, but we knew that before we came here. We like this hotel; even the hotel lobby has a balcony that overlooks La Rambla. We sat on it, had a beer, and just watched people stroll by. Oh, by the way, the beer is free here at the hotel. What a deal!