Barceloneta

After the zoo, we took a short walk to Barceloneta beach. It was such great weather, almost everyone was hanging out at the beach area. It was crowded along the boardwalk and by the sea. Here we are at the Moll de la Marina, which is self-explanatory. It's a marina for leisure crafts, and today being such a sunny day, lots of sailboats and yachts were out.

At least it's quieter here. You can also see the famous peix (fish) sculpture in the background, next to the casino. The marina area and the beach area is really huge, with lots of space for people to do their own stuff.

After experiencing winter (though not extremely cold), I'm being to appreciate why Europeans crave for the sun so much. After being cooped up for 3-4 months of cold morning and dreary conditions, spring calls for a celebration!

This is the boardwalk that links Poble Nou, the beaches and Barcelonetta together. Great for people watching and for a great stroll along Mar Mediterrania. We parked ourselves on a bench and sat for a while, changed Russell's nappy which attracted quite a few glances and basically just chilled.

This is a view of the sea, with wide expanse of sand for sun bathers, some topless. Not too sure what the fences are for. Here Russell is intringued with a couple of sand bathers and he's off to check them out. June has got to intercept him before he starts touching them :)

And we finished off in a seaside restaurant el fresco. It's a busy little place and we took the last table on the terrace. It was extremely sunny and getting to be a little uncomfortable. The great owner noticed it and gave us an umbrella to block off the sun. We ordered fries without salt for Russell. Of course, he had his share of the great paella and calamari that we ordered. Ah, together with cold beer...this is life.