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Park Guell, Aquarium, lunch with Sangria, afternoon nap on the grass, Japanese dinner

The Born area is lovely and I guess we still have a lot to explore. We're just unlucky that the apartment above our hotel room is being renovated and the on-and-off drilling noise in the morning is a deal breaker. So we found the Market Hotel near St. Antoni still available for the next three days per the recommendation of our guide book and got it right away. The Market Hotel has everything we asked for: hip, free in-room wi-fi, conveniently located and surprisingly affordable. 

After we checked in this noon, we worked a bit and caught the all important England vs Slovenia game in a very cool bar called Betty Ford in Raval. Luckily England won, or I wouldn't have any mood to visit the Picasso Museum afterwards. The dinner is an interesting experience: we were looking for some Chinese comfort food and went to this WOK restaurant nearby. It turns out to be an all-you-can-eat buffet that's more about getting your money's worth rather than quality Chinese food. We have given up the idea of finding decent Chinese food in Barcelona.

Running out of time and too hungry to walk around any further, we made a second visit to Sandwich&Friends (yes, their sandwiches are that good), then we picked up our GoCar near Santa Caterina Market to begin our adventurous tour on this yellow cute thing!

It turns out that the GoCar is actually a scooter with a car-like shell, there is no steering wheel at all. If you have experience driving a scooter you'd feel at home. Control is pretty simple and the staff is friendly and helpful. The built-in GPS guide is what makes GoCar tour a unique experience - the comforting female GPS voice tells you exactly where to go and it is OK to make mistakes (and we did, a few times). You will be brought back on tour easily or you could drive to wherever you like. 

We were a bit nervous in the beginning but after a short while we began having some great fun. The roads in Barcelona are easy to navigate, parking slots for scooters are plenty and free, and people's driving attitude is very safe and polite. After following the uptown tour a while, we fell off the tour near Sagrada Familia, and headed to the wrong way which led us to Camp Nou - The Barcelona Football Club Stadium, which we have already planned to go.

It was a fabulous drive to Camp Nou, we didn't realize it would be so easy and exciting! The Camp Nou Experience is totally worth the euro 17 even if you are not a football fan like me. The whole presentation of the Club's history and culture, its importance to Catalonia, and the Stadium itself all made the experience very memorable. As a geek, one would also be fascinated by their giant interactive audio-visual touch-screens in the museum. Simply awesome.

After the GoCar tour, we headed back to the city but it was too late to visit the Picasso Museum but bumped into a very cool cafe Lilipep nearby and spent a very relaxing time sipping coffee and reading there.

After staying in the old walk-up apartment in Rambla del Raval for a week, we decided it's about time to "upgrade" our experience and try out a different neighborhood. Our Insight Guide recommended a few ones so we went on Trip Advisor to narrow down our searches based on budget, user reviews and availability. As always, research pays off. We booked for this Chic & Basic Hotel in a century old building in Born and checked in today after brunch at Sandwich&Friends to receive a series of pleasant surprises. 

First off, it is as chic & basic as it claims. It's so stylish but affordable and every detail is well thought out. We love the 22 feet high ceiling, the color curtains and LED light system, the crystal shower ... and of course the free, in-room high speed Internet access. What a real treat after the past week of iPhone tethering and using paid wifi in eateries. 

In the evening we caught the Spain vs Honduras World Cup game at a nearby Mexican restaurant La Hacienda for a much-needed break from Catalan/Spanish food, and on a stroll after dinner we discovered so many cool restaurants in the area that we can't wait to try out. Sorry London, we will have to see you a few days later.

After more than 6 hours of walking in Plaza de España, Montjuic, Port Vell and Barceloneta on my flip flops today, I imagine if I come across a foot massage shop I'd be willing to pay as much as euro 100 for a massage! Glad that there isn't any such shop and we have spent the money on a seafood dinner at Barceloneta restaurant instead. The constant noise from the Harley-Davidson riders around the city certainly made today special, but if I were to choose a vehicle to tour around Barcelona I would pick a GoCar over a Harley on any given day. Maybe it would be .... tomorrow.

Last day of Sonar but with little left to see, we spent most of the day sight-seeing at Barri Gothic (part of the Old Town) after a nice brunch. 

After a fabulous lunch at Port Vell, we took a long walk along the shore and enjoyed watching people doing all kinds of things on and off the beach. The walk (and a nap on the grass) in the sun finally gave me a feeling of vacation. After sunset we returned to Sonar by Day, and went to Sonar by Night at Fira Gran Via after a short break. Sonar by Night is such an eye opener for me, I feel like I am on a different planet.

After a light brunch and catching up work stuff at a nearby cafe with free wi-fi, we headed to the art festival we came here for - Sonar: International Festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art. 

Nothing beats the feeling of getting online again! Thanks to this great article, we finally got Internet access through a Yoigo prepaid SIM card. Not only my iPhone becomes a smart phone again (Foursquare, I miss you!), I could even get online on my MacBook Pro via Internet tethering, hurray! 

The weather in Barcelona is perfect at the moment, it only gets a bit chilly after sunset (not until 21:00!). We took the metro for the first time today and it's very easy to get around to all the major attractions like La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, Hospital de Sant Pau ... in between we went to a local bar to watch the World Cup match between Spain and Switzerland, not a happy ending for the Spaniards unfortunately! 

I'm not usually a shopper, but ended up spending more than an hour at the Vincon shop. The range of contemporary design products they carry is staggering and you could easily spend a few hours there. Dining out is quite expensive though, a decent restaurant would cost at least euro 40 per head for dinner, I've decided to research more to find out some nice but affordable eateries.