Later that day....

That first afternoon in Barcelona we walked down to the waterfront and got our first views of the Mediterranean up close. I had been commissioned by my sister-in-law, Nicole, to collect sand from the beaches. So that was my first quest!

My quest fulfilled....Nicole's first bottle of sand!!
Along the way we saw this unusual car that I was sure my brother Josh would be able to identify...

As we wandered down along the water we came to a bunch of these entrances to restaurants...they actually sit under the road along the sand, but you enter them from these elevators up on top...very cool! Oh and yes, the giant copper fish sculpture overlooks the main waterfront area.

The restaurants were all so enticing, each one with its own mood, and all with open air seating along the Mediterranean...we just had to eat somthing at one of them. We wandered up and down inspecting the overpriced menus.....

We finally chose one, and I must say, had the some of the worst service ever...not just because the waitress was completely inattentive (unlike Paris, even when we kept flagging her down, she never came over)...but also because our food was wrong and then after waiting over an hour we were served completely cold nachos! We had her take them back....at least we saved a buck...

Looking at the interesting people, the blond girl and the guy with her were dressed in beautiful, and obviously very expensive clothing. She sat there for most of the time smoking a cigar...


After a late snack we wandered back to the main shopping area, Las Ramblas, where they even sell animals outside!!

Then we went to dinner at a fabulous and beautiful restaurant. That would be our last dinner before we boarded the ship, so we splurged a little :) We sat by a window that overlooked the shopping area.Our beautiful and wonderful tasting desserts....all I have to say is that Europeans know how to do dessert!Mine was a mint and green apple iced sorbet over sweetened mascarpone...wow!!The funky hanging sculpture in the stairwell inside the restaurant.

Barcelona restaurants require you to drink bottled water (the water there is not good to drink, unlike Paris) so that ran up our tab quite quickly, everywhere we ate. An American lady seated next to us at this restaurant explained that to us. I had thought they were just trying to rip us off, which isn't surprising since that is my usual assumption!