Monalia's World

Happy Birthday Mark

Because Mark’s birthday is 2 days before New years Eve every year, I try to make it into a big, fun adventure. Last year we were in L.A. and celebrated with a big party at our pad there, as seen in this a recent blog. The year before that we celebrated by staying at the fancy Hotel W, near our pad at the beach.

This year I came up with the idea: let’s spend Mark’s birthday through New Years at the 5 star hotel made famous by Woody Allen; Casa Füster. It is located only a few blocks from our Partners In Rhyme headquarters in Gracia, but staying there provided a unique and enchanting view of our neighborhood.

Let me start with Mark’s birthday on the 29th: we invited 3 close friends to celebrate Mark’s actual birthday with us. We listened to cool Bill Evans style jazz, ordered room service, had a great time.

Birthday friends posing on terrace.

Festive Views from our room

Our suite had a sauna and a jacuzzi, so we spent the 30th pretty much ordering room service and making use of all the bells and whistles of our hotel. Here are some photos of and from the hotel. Many landmark buildings, such as Sagrada Familia, Tibidabo, Gaudi’s La Pedrera, others, can be seen from the rooftop terrace. The hotel itself is the work of the architect Lluis Domenech Muntaner, a modernist contemporary of Gaudi, and was built in 1908. Casa Fuster itself is an emblematic designer hotel. But its the views that are to die for, in my opinion.

TERRACE VIEWS:
1) view of Tibidabo 2) Passeig de Gracia. In this shot you can see the Hotel W. You can also see how close the beach actually is from Gracia. The ocean in the background is where we live in Barceloneta.

1) You can see people milling around on the rooftop of Gaudi’s La Pedrera in this photo. 2) Passeig de Gracia leading to Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas. if you know your architucture, you will notice Gaudi’s Casa Battlo in this shot. It really blends in with the other eccentric buildings.These views make me fall in Love with Barcelona all over again.

Eccentric Skyline of Bcn.

above – Snaps of and from the Hotel Rooftop terrace show landmark buildings and a beautiful skyline

1) You can see the Sagrada Familia in this shot 2) Modernist architecture of Casa Fuster is characteristic of my adopted city.

More shots from and of the hotel:

On New Years Eve we invited some friends from our barrio to come celebrate with us.

The new year rushing out.

Dancing into the new year – what an auspicious beginning to 2015!