All right; admit it! Many of our senior readers then in uniform sought wartime romance and/or overnight companionship when off duty. Later, when working careers required travelling alone, they continued their wandering ways. Although it wasn’t flaunted as it is today by Hollywood and reality TV, way back then no-tell-motel trysts were just as popular.

The rented romps in those days were considered naughty, even illegal, and many hotels had house detectives to keep everything kosher. However, determined couples always managed to get together for nature’s most natural activity.

A USA Today story recently cited one Manhattan hotel that actually encourages such goings-on. It’s the Flatiron Hotel (www.flatironhotel.com), which charges from $145 to rent a room for up to four hours during the day.

The manager now even boasts that the quick... er... er... turnover permits the hotel to make more money than when renting rooms for the traditional 24 hours at similar prices. Figure the math: $145 x 4 is much more profitable than $145 x 1. 

For more information about how ... er ....er... widespread this practice is, go to dayuse-hotels.com

Believe it or not, the downtown Vegas diner actually lives up to its in-your-face (and into-your-ticker) name. Huge multi-layer concoctions named Single through Quadruple Bypass Burgers. The Flatliner Fries are cooked in lard. To top off the heavy meal are double chocolate butterfat malts and many other similar fat-cat, thousand-calorie items.

When you enter the place, you’re met by waitresses dressed as nurses, the sexy Las Vegas type, of course. They help you into a hospital gown when you sit down to order. The gimmicks work, and the diner is a popular tourist gimmick, as well as attracting local heavy eaters.

If you’re the type who loves to wolf down huge helpings at buffets in Vegas and/or aboard cruise ships, the Heart Attack Grill is worth a visit on your next Vegas trip. Additionally, if weigh in at 350 pounds or more, you’re entitled to a free meal.

However, be sure you understand the reality behind the hype. Just recently, a grossly-overweight customer staggered out onto Fremont Street and died of a real life-ending heart attack. There was at least one other similar incident.

A Heart Attack Grill ad boasts of "a burger to die for.” When you order a calorie-loaded meal there, be aware of the truth behind the slogan. For more information, go to heartattackgrill.com

When we were in the beautiful city on one of our enjoyable visits several years ago, we could see many tourists taking photos while their heads and shoulders were covered with flapping pigeons. There were vendors all around the crowded gathering place of Piazza San Marco selling little cups of feed for the tourists to use in attracting the birds.

Those typical Piazza scenes won’t be happening any more. The city fathers of Venice have determined that the messy birds leave too much of what pigeons always do throughout the Piazza, and on many people’s heads and clothing. The new law bans vendors from selling pigeon feed on the Piazza and forbids everyone from feeding the messy birds there.

Actually, when we visited several years ago, we discovered she’s not a bonafide mermaid, just a nude metal girl with what look like real legs resting on a blanket. The famed sculpture in Copenhagen harbor, based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, is actually a copy of the 1913 original.

The first cast of the statue is now kept at a secret location, which is probably for the best. While on public display, the mermaid has been too often defaced, vandalized, decapitated and blasted with explosives, sometimes by angry political nutcases.

You can pay a tribute to the author of the mermaid tale by visiting the Hans Christian Andersen statue in New York's Central Park. For those of us who can remember, the Danish story teller was portrayed by Danny Kaye in a 1952 movie musical. At the park, kids and grown-ups can climb on the Anderson sculpture for fun and photos. For more information, go to .centralparknyc.org