Hey, Gary, why the heck aren’t you over here? The reason I had an impossibly difficult time getting a hotel room in Stockholm (thanks to Andrew Harper I got one at the priciest place in town) was because there are SIXTEEN THOUSAND doctors in town for some convention. I know, because I rode with a boatload of them this morning on my Stockholm Under the Bridges tour– the guide asked the crowd how many of you are doctors and all hands went up except mine, and when he noticed my hand wasn’t raised he asked me what I did, and when I said lawyer the entire boat booed me.

This city’s a beauty, wrecked only by the fact that EVERYTHING is so ridiculously expensive– e.g., glass of white wine 25 bucks, beer at the cheapest place I could find 9 bucks, 3-day bus pass 40 dollars, etc. My hotel is the Lydmar, definitely the hippest place in the city– standing room only at the bar and restaurant last night a 11:00 p.m.– a beautiful but ultra-minimalist inn with no sign on the front and a primo location (AW, you wouldn’t love it at all, but it’s growing on me). Yesterday ran all over town with my bus pass, hit their Old Town for dinner, then did the boat tour and some museums today. Going for a symphony concert tonight. Then it’s off to Copenhagen tomorrow.