Barcelona is great, although beware of the crime in the evenings on Las Ramblas (big wide street with trees

). It's mainly pick pocketing, bag snatching etc. Last time I went, we just sat there in a street side cafe and watched about 3 petty crimes - I hope they've stamped down on it now.
As for the private messages - you will find that it is now working. The reason you couldn't reply is because your PM mail box was probably full. Please clear out some old Private Messages and also check your sent items folder.
Geoff