This is a vague and somewhat unanswerable question, but I'll take any suggestions. Thanks in advance for your ideas!

Because of work commitments, I can only get away in July and December this year. I cannot wait until December. That leaves me July. I much prefer cooler weather and if I had my druthers I'd be in Andalusia or Le Marche or Turkey in April or October.

I will be meeting friends in Paris for a week but I'm looking for another week someplace else. I'll be traveling solo. I'm definitely a museum/church/history tourist-person. I love Paris and Rome, am cooler on London. I do enjoy splashing out on food and wine.

Went last summer to Poland and the Czech Republic, which I loved, especially Krakow and Prague. It was extremely hot but not unbearable.

Any suggestions? Stockholm seems cool but is there enough for a week and is it frightfully expensive? I've wanted to visit Berlin for ages but will it be baking? Even if it's hot, I'd prefer to avoid high humidity. My not-in-summer wish list includes Spain (Andalusia and Madrid), a return to Italy, and France (Burgundy, Toulouse, more).

Stockholm has enough to occupy you for 3 weeks. Really a fabulous city. I did a 3+ week home exchange there a couple of years back and absolutely loved Stockholm. It is made up of all these islands. You spend oodles of time on boats. There are also a lot of festivals during the summer.

Just as interesting as Paris or London. All of Scandinavia is expensive but not as bad as Norway (Oslo is not as interesting as Stockholm anyway) which wins the prize in the expensive department (at least in Europe it does; try Australia for obscenely expensive).

We loved our three day visit to Stockholm and would love to spend more time there. It is a beautiful city. We were surprised how taken we were with it.

Maybe I should get a Stockholm city guidebook. The cost of Scadinavia freaks me out but it's not a deal breaker.

Europe is either ruled by "Azore Highs" or "Icelandic Lows". The weather system that dominates can make many portions of the continent either rainy, cool, and dismal fpr weeks (months?) on end - - or interminablyu sunny and hot.

In Germany there is a specific date, called the "Siebenschlaefer" where it is determined early in summer, which will predominate any upcoming summer, but this is a kind of myth. Sometimes you buy wool caps in July, and then in August you swelter - - there is no predicting. Sometimes it stays cool and tricky all summer, and some summers are "bombensommer" with heat for weeks on end - - there is no predicting. Maybe 2 out of 5 are "bombensommer" with stifing temperatures. Your guess is as good as anybody's.

We found Stockholm to be cheaper than Oslo. Find a hotel that includes breakfast. Picnic for lunch. You can eat on the cheap in Gamla Stan. We found very reasonable prices there. Also, do not miss the Vasa Museum, fascinating. Skansen was a fun way to spend the day. I think you will really enjoy Stockholm. We did the overnight cruise from Tallinn to Stockholm. Fun way to get from one place to the other.

Do Stockholm and Copenhagen and you can easily fill a week. It is expensive though, but if you get a hotel at a price you like, you can get by.

Stockholm for a week sounds lovely, or maybe Stockholm and Helsinki. (I think Stockholm and Copenhagen would be too much for 1 week, particularly given your interests, but maybe if you could add a day or two....)

or St. Petersburg -- a week there is perfect timing IMO, and if you can go in early July, you would hit the White Nights, which are AWESOME! Truly the VERY best time to visit St. Petersburg.

or maybe Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands?

Berlin has more or less the same Continental climate as Krakow or Prague.
If you want a more coastal destination, you can check out the Baltics and/or coastal Poland.
Much less of a sticker shock than the neighbors on the other side of the Baltic Sea.

If you're interested in Le Marche, you can be almost certain of avoiding excessive heat by going to somewhere at higher altitudes. We spend part of our summers in the southern part of Le Marche, where we often sleep under wool blankets in August. In the torrid summer of 2003, we fled to our house there even though it was still badly damaged by the earthquake of 1999. (It takes that long to get permits here!) We slept under blankets, with a view of the stars in our bedroom.

Our summer house is in the upper Potenza valley, which is an area that I love. It's not even really at a terribly high altitude, but between altitude, and the shade from the mountains, and the vicinity of the river, it's rarely too hot. If you were to go farther south, to the west of Ascoli Piceno, you'd find even higher altitudes.

i can tell you from bitter experience that Berlin in July can indeed be baking hot.

if that's a concern, put it on your list for December.

Berlin: HUMIDITY!!!! and that makes the "hot" feel even hotter.

Sweden is surprisingly warm in the summer, and can be baking hot.

Well, you could consider the Baltics - Tallin, Riga, Vilnius - with or without Helsinki.

Or maybe going higher? Switzerland is expensive, but there are mountains in France, Austria and Italy. Vienna was miserably hot in early August, but Innsbruck was fine.

Northern Scotland is cool in July. On the continent, a/c works well in France, anemic in Italy, and nonexistent at small hotels in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

I remember Madrid as very hot in July (30 °C and more), but very dry also, so the heat was much more liveable than most places.

Innsbruck is a fine suggestion, even better than Innsbruck is Igls, in the same municipality but much higher, like having natural AC.

Generally speaking, you would need higher elevations in mountain areas. Mountains are not enough - for example, Bolzano and Merano, surrounded by beautiful mountains, are very hot in summer - the southern side of Alps being hotter than the northern side,

<i>Northern Scotland is cool in July.</i>

As can be the islands. I went to Islay last August and had to wear sweaters.

Bolzano can indeed be very hot, but you just have to go up to Castlerotto to escape the worst heat. However, you don't escape the sun - I would choose somewhere with more trees!

I have visited Berlin five time in early- mid July in the last five years .
The year before last, it was rainy and cool for a week...it
It was never close to hot in all five visits. There is so much to see in the city,
I am thinking about going again this summer, the airfare is high but hotels are a bargain.

Stockholm is beautiful in the summer...and, as suggested, a nice combo with Copenhagen.

<Went last summer to Poland and the Czech Republic, which I loved, especially Krakow and Prague. It was extremely hot but not unbearable.>

Thinking you need to quantify "hot" because if you think Krakow and Prague were EXTREMELY hot, you have a fairly low tolerance.

That said, based on your museumaphilic personality, St. Petersburg seems perfect for you. Isn't the Hermitage alone large enough to spend a week visiting? ;-)