Just updated another post but wanted to let you know that my husband did pick Barcelona to celebrate his birthday in October. Thank you so much for all of your help. This is the apartment that we will be renting.

http://www.friendlyrentals.com/en/ap...ent-1908-1.htm

it looks nice...it is as central as one can get.
Enjoy !

Agree with Danon about the apartment, love the balcony!

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with Barcelona. We went two years ago for our first visit and upon our return, we immediately rebooked for the next year. We've been to Paris ~20 times and love both cities, just differently.

There are some good book recs for Barcelona here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ona-novels.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...al-del-mar.cfm