New Year’s Eve, 2014/2015

[adrian]

Our best new year’s eve ever. Partly because of the hotel providing a fabulous event and partly based on our love of dancing.

A few bar drinks at 8.00 in the lobby area before and after dinner chatting to friends we met during our stay.

A set dinner at 9.00 in the very pretty Pearl restaurant. No buffet, all waiter service. Our own bottle of a 2010 Barolo which they open and serve at no charge. It started spectacularly with a surprise first course of a lovely foie gras in a chocolate shell. We took the duck mille feuille followed by a bisque with crab crouton and a main course of fish risotto and a chocolate mousse dessert. A class event so much better than buffet line ups and not crowded by extra outside sales to interlopers.

At 10.15 a performance by a semi-operatic male trio called il divos (but not of course the Simon Cowell creation) which is loved by the guests and gets an enthusiastic response. Very classy, very emotional.

At 11.15 an erotic dance performance by a local group of very pretty dancers kept the energy levels at high pitch up to the midnight countdown.

So dancing (to the 12 year old computer nerd DJ) didn’t start till midnight enabling us and lots of other guests to dance till around 1.30. Despite his status of computer nerd, the DJ actually kept up the energy with a hot dance mix for the full session. And despite our aging, stiff bodies we kept going with no break till the last couple to leave.

We didn’t need to drink too much. A few pre-dinner drinks of hotel liquor, a bottle of Moet purchased on the night and our own bottle of good red wine and our own top liqueurs purchased during our stay outside at a local wine merchant.

While the quality of any party depends on how much you put into it, the hotel provided an excellent experience which allowed us to make it for us into a fabulous time. Probably our best ever in many years of hotel NYE events. Loved it.