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Summer is the time of year to escape New York, and the summer of 1997 had the many hot and humid days that I wilt under.

The Men Here Are Gorgeous

Tony
2004-01-28 10:31:37

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So I didn't feel too conspicuous.

The taxi driver complained about the heatwave, and I could feel it must've been pushing 80. There wasn't any choking traffic as we passed right through the city center, right by the Kulturhuset (one of the landmarks I was most interested in seeing), and down several shopping streets. But quite a few Stockholmers take time off in July and August and move house to their summer cottages. The peak vacation time wouldn't be until August, but the city wasn't nearly as crowded as it would be the rest of the year.

We pulled up in front of a beautiful old art-nouveau style hotel which actually was owned by the Best Western chain. It had nearly been demolished for some crazy reason, but in the early nineties it was completely renovated. I was a bit surprised I could afford to stay there from the look of it! But it was part of package, and it was a bargain.

The extremely handsome hotel clerk welcomed me with a polite charm, like he expected me to turn up so early in the morning. He had a room waiting for me and I could go right up, no problem, and said I could go to the breakfast buffet. So I did, right after dropping my bags in my room. My room faced the street and a beautiful park right across the road. I had huge windows that opened inward to give me a wonderful view of the Royal Library in the middle of the park. The room faced a busy street, but the predominantly Volvo and Saab cars almost never honked, I soon discovered.

After a huge buffet breakfast, I took a bubblebath and got into some fresh clothes. My wrinkled khakis wouldn't match the carefully ironed Swedes, but that was OK. I was rather tired, but as always on the first day of a foreign vacation, I was so excited to be out of the US, that the jetlag didn't stand a chance. Before long I was out on the street.

It was hot!

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