Thursday December 10th is the big day. It's the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. We had the morning free, and did a boat tour of Stockholm. We had meant to catch the 10:30am tour, but due to lateness getting up, and needing to eat breakfast, we ended up on the 11:30. This was to have repercussions later, in terms of time to get ready. After the boat docked, we went into Gamla Stan again, to pay a short visit to the Nobel Museum. They had tuxedo'd guides that day, and we looked around a bit more and bought some souvenirs. Then we thought we'd get some hot chocolate at a place just on the square, that the guidebooks raved about. Time was running short, so we got take-out sandwiches and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was very good. Not as sweet as US style hot chocolate, and more chocolatey.
By the time we got back to the hotel room, we had less than an hour to get ready, and we barely made it, being the last ones on the 2nd bus. Everyone looked good in their finery (white tie/tails for the gents, and evening gowns for the women). We had been to the Stockholm concert hall previously for the concert. Pre-concert, we had a short visit by the director of the concert hall, who explained to us how the stage would change for the prize presentation. It was, of course, quite a different setup than for a concert. This time, instead of being on the balcony, we were in the 1st row. In front of us, on stage, after they walked in, were the king, queen and crown princess (and behind them, the younger princess and the prince). First, the royals arrived, then the laureates paraded in. Dad was the first to receive the prize. It was over pretty quickly, though the pre-prize literature speech went on rather long. The speeches are made in Swedish -- we were provided a translation in a little booklet. At the end, after the royals had left, we went up on stage and had an informal photo op with everyone.
And then it was off to the banquet, at the Stockholm City Hall. We saw this building the next day (Fri) during the bus tour of the city. It's an impressive building from the outside, and even more impressive from the inside, especially done up for the Nobel event. We were on the 1st table, near the grand stairway that everyone enters down. And I was in the 1st seat on the aile, so the king and the younger princess walked right by me (along with some of the laureates. Dad and mum walked down the other aisle). Once everyone was seated, we had the first musical interlude. It was a renaissance period piece, with big lutes and some beautiful singing. It was called "Romeo and Juliet" but was staged as a knight kills the dragon story. Once the musical interlude ended, the wait staff all paraded down the stairs. I counted 68
servers. They all take their places, and then they all do their thing. Separate groups did the wine. The courses were: a soup (lobster, quail egg, caviar), cornish hen (with mashed potatoes, gravy, veges), and dessert (a very complex construction); in between, two more acts of the musical interlude, very beautiful. Then, speeches by a laureate from each category, and then the processional out: first, the main table, then others.
Next up was the dancing. They had a live band playing walzes and other dancing tunes. We did a little bit of dancing, then wondered where dad and mum were (they had disappeared after the dinner; they were to have an individual audience with the king and queen. So we went off to find them. As it turned out, we reached where they were exiting right around the time they actually came out. Then we all made it back to the dance floor, where dad had a grand time dancing with mum. After some more dancing, we decided to take a quick visit to the Nobel Nightcap, an officially sanctioned after-party organized by students of one of the Stockholm universities (done on a rotating basis). This year, it was at the Karolinska Institute, and the secret theme was "The Body". We entered through a door manned by people with surgical masks. I'm not sure which orifice this was meant to be... Inside, there were various themed rooms (the smoking room was "The Lung Room") and a couple of dance floors (one more jazzy; one more club). Dad started getting tired after a little while, and we all left. I heard afterwards that at least one other laureate had stayed until 4am (officially, the party ended at 5am).
The denoument was Friday. After a pretty short night, we were up to catch the sightseeing bus. It tooks us around Stockhom, ending up at the Vasa museum. The Vasa is a 17th century warship that wasn't quite designed correctly, and sank 20 minutes into its maiden voyage. It was raised 333 years later and now 95% of the original ship is preserved in the museum. On the way back, the bus stopped to let out some of us at Scansen, which is sort of a theme park of historical Sweden. In US terms, it's kind of like Williamsburg, VA, in that it is a live museum, with buildings of a certain historical period and period actors doing period tasks. Scansen, however, is not just one particular historical period, but rather many. It has different buildings of different periods and a small zoo. It was quite interesting. We ended the day there in a snow shower and took the public bus back into town. We walked the main shopping district and back into Gamla Stan, getting another hot chocolate and a very good chocolate cake. Finally, back at the hotel, we had a very short rest and were out for our final dinner in Stockholm for this trip. Because we hadn't made any advance bookings, and it was a Friday, we ended up back at Rue du Pont Nouveau, which was just as good 2nd time around.
Then it was packing. And now we're done. What's left: a bit of sleep, then a quick breakfast tomorrow, then a drive to the airport and home.
It's been a great trip. Lots of memorable moments. A fantastic experience, 99.999% expection of never happening again. Really more like 100%. Which is too bad, because I'd love to do this again!
By the time we got back to the hotel room, we had less than an hour to get ready, and we barely made it, being the last ones on the 2nd bus. Everyone looked good in their finery (white tie/tails for the gents, and evening gowns for the women). We had been to the Stockholm concert hall previously for the concert. Pre-concert, we had a short visit by the director of the concert hall, who explained to us how the stage would change for the prize presentation. It was, of course, quite a different setup than for a concert. This time, instead of being on the balcony, we were in the 1st row. In front of us, on stage, after they walked in, were the king, queen and crown princess (and behind them, the younger princess and the prince). First, the royals arrived, then the laureates paraded in. Dad was the first to receive the prize. It was over pretty quickly, though the pre-prize literature speech went on rather long. The speeches are made in Swedish -- we were provided a translation in a little booklet. At the end, after the royals had left, we went up on stage and had an informal photo op with everyone.
And then it was off to the banquet, at the Stockholm City Hall. We saw this building the next day (Fri) during the bus tour of the city. It's an impressive building from the outside, and even more impressive from the inside, especially done up for the Nobel event. We were on the 1st table, near the grand stairway that everyone enters down. And I was in the 1st seat on the aile, so the king and the younger princess walked right by me (along with some of the laureates. Dad and mum walked down the other aisle). Once everyone was seated, we had the first musical interlude. It was a renaissance period piece, with big lutes and some beautiful singing. It was called "Romeo and Juliet" but was staged as a knight kills the dragon story. Once the musical interlude ended, the wait staff all paraded down the stairs. I counted 68
servers. They all take their places, and then they all do their thing. Separate groups did the wine. The courses were: a soup (lobster, quail egg, caviar), cornish hen (with mashed potatoes, gravy, veges), and dessert (a very complex construction); in between, two more acts of the musical interlude, very beautiful. Then, speeches by a laureate from each category, and then the processional out: first, the main table, then others.
Next up was the dancing. They had a live band playing walzes and other dancing tunes. We did a little bit of dancing, then wondered where dad and mum were (they had disappeared after the dinner; they were to have an individual audience with the king and queen. So we went off to find them. As it turned out, we reached where they were exiting right around the time they actually came out. Then we all made it back to the dance floor, where dad had a grand time dancing with mum. After some more dancing, we decided to take a quick visit to the Nobel Nightcap, an officially sanctioned after-party organized by students of one of the Stockholm universities (done on a rotating basis). This year, it was at the Karolinska Institute, and the secret theme was "The Body". We entered through a door manned by people with surgical masks. I'm not sure which orifice this was meant to be... Inside, there were various themed rooms (the smoking room was "The Lung Room") and a couple of dance floors (one more jazzy; one more club). Dad started getting tired after a little while, and we all left. I heard afterwards that at least one other laureate had stayed until 4am (officially, the party ended at 5am).
The denoument was Friday. After a pretty short night, we were up to catch the sightseeing bus. It tooks us around Stockhom, ending up at the Vasa museum. The Vasa is a 17th century warship that wasn't quite designed correctly, and sank 20 minutes into its maiden voyage. It was raised 333 years later and now 95% of the original ship is preserved in the museum. On the way back, the bus stopped to let out some of us at Scansen, which is sort of a theme park of historical Sweden. In US terms, it's kind of like Williamsburg, VA, in that it is a live museum, with buildings of a certain historical period and period actors doing period tasks. Scansen, however, is not just one particular historical period, but rather many. It has different buildings of different periods and a small zoo. It was quite interesting. We ended the day there in a snow shower and took the public bus back into town. We walked the main shopping district and back into Gamla Stan, getting another hot chocolate and a very good chocolate cake. Finally, back at the hotel, we had a very short rest and were out for our final dinner in Stockholm for this trip. Because we hadn't made any advance bookings, and it was a Friday, we ended up back at Rue du Pont Nouveau, which was just as good 2nd time around.
Then it was packing. And now we're done. What's left: a bit of sleep, then a quick breakfast tomorrow, then a drive to the airport and home.
It's been a great trip. Lots of memorable moments. A fantastic experience, 99.999% expection of never happening again. Really more like 100%. Which is too bad, because I'd love to do this again!
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