Trip Report Barcelona

We spend four nights and three plus days in this wonderful city. Our son is studying in Aix. We spent the weekend there then took trains from Marseille to Barcelona. We used taxis and the subway to get around. My wife was not moving well so we could only walk slowly and limited walks to a kilometer.
Hotel Continental Barcelona. We enjoyed it. We squeezed three in a room but once we found the optimal configuration it wasn't bad. My son is 5'3" but even he found his bed too short. The room smelled bad of cleaner our first night but was fine thereafter. Our ceiling fan was loud and wobbly and since the AC was off for the shoulder season the room was not always comfortable. The fan seems like a luxury to me that we paid for couldn't use. The hotel offers a 24 hours buffet. The food is decent, You can get beer a lots of diffent coffee. I found the espresso too bitter but the coffee was good. We had four breakfasts there and one lunch. Obvoiusly some others loaded up to save money but I view a city's food as one of the top experiences. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The best part was the location. it is steps from the Catalunya park and metro stop at the top of the Ramblas. My son and I did Rick's Ramblas walk. It also super close to the Barri Gotic (I did the Barri walk myself) and so my wife was able to get to the cathedral and some shopping.
Day One was did Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. Talk about two diffent experiences! The church is a destination and did not disapoint. Plus it's so photogenic! Parc Guel was disappointing. There was pratically no signage so we were confused. There were long lines for the little houses that didn't seem to be moving. There was no one around to tell you about them. We skipped them.
Day Two- Palace of Music- another must see- the history museum "under" the cathedral, and the Picasso Museum. All were excellent. We did a guided tour of the music palace which I liked but included a useless 12 minute film. You descend 80 feet under the current city in the museum and get a real sense of the Roman city that predates Barcelona. Whether you consider yourself a PIcasso fan or not, the museum is worth it for seeing his evolution as a process and so many fun paintings. It took me less than 90 minutes but I was on my own for that one.
Day Three Casa Batlo and the cathedral. Batlo was my wife's favorite and the recorded audio tour is very good (except for the lady speaking as the house.) We went to the Boqueria near the cathedral but not much was open. I had better luck at the one on the Ramblas.
Before we left we went over to Casa Amatler. We both loved it. It is more traditional than Batlo but no less impressive.
We did all Tapas places, except for some empanadas at the food court off the Catalunya square. Tapas is not as expensive as in the states because they bive you lots to eat. We particularly enjoyed Bar Lobo near the hotel and Blavis- a five-table place that we booked a month ahead, but every meal we had was delicious. We also had chocolate and churros- mmmm.
I was impressed with both the subway (best I've encountered) and the taxis, which were cheap and fast. Traffic moved fast but there were very few horns and drivers were alwasy courteous to pedestrians.
None of us speak Spanish and that was never a problem.
Barcelona is not cheap. Every attraction- even the cathedaral costs money.