Hotel Esplanade
When I booked this hotel online a few weeks ago, it's location reminded me of a hotel I stayed at in Stockholm in 1998, when I was working on the Viking exhibition at the Smithsonian. That hotel was a small botique hotel right in the waterfront, and although the three other people on the trip with me were unimpressed, I remember liking it very well, even though my room was tiny.
So I did not hesitate to book at Hotel Esplanade, close to the museum and right on the waterfront. It is an old hotel, and I think it may well be the same one I stayed at all those years ago. What I like about it is that it is a weird hybrid, kind of like a bed and breakfast more than a hotel. There is no elevator for one, so that makes it like a house. But the real distinction is the decor, which is a hodgepodge of styles. There are beautiful antique pieces from the 1800s, including even the desk in my room, intermixed with cool mid century modern pieces, like my coffee table, and then 1980s style floral covered chairs and couches. Plus two Victorian end tables. This I like. I like the messy palimpsest, I like the lack of consistency, I like that you are wading into the reality of this hotel. It's been here a while. They don't have the money to hire some fancy corporate designer with an overbearing and artificial design agenda to come in and whitewash that reality away.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer things more organic, the way they used to be.
So I did not hesitate to book at Hotel Esplanade, close to the museum and right on the waterfront. It is an old hotel, and I think it may well be the same one I stayed at all those years ago. What I like about it is that it is a weird hybrid, kind of like a bed and breakfast more than a hotel. There is no elevator for one, so that makes it like a house. But the real distinction is the decor, which is a hodgepodge of styles. There are beautiful antique pieces from the 1800s, including even the desk in my room, intermixed with cool mid century modern pieces, like my coffee table, and then 1980s style floral covered chairs and couches. Plus two Victorian end tables. This I like. I like the messy palimpsest, I like the lack of consistency, I like that you are wading into the reality of this hotel. It's been here a while. They don't have the money to hire some fancy corporate designer with an overbearing and artificial design agenda to come in and whitewash that reality away.
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer things more organic, the way they used to be.
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