2011 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony

Saturday December 10th was the Nobel day here in Stockholm, Sweden. It is always on the 10th. Me and C had tickets to the award ceremony taking place at the Concert Hall. We were both thrilled to be here. It was just an amazing experience to be able to be here in the same room as the royal family and the Nobel prize winners. It was just absolutely fantastic from the beginning till the end.

There was a lot of both press and police surrounding the Concert Hall. Besides your invitation you also need to show id to get in. This is the place to be if you love fancy and beautiful dresses. I love to see people dressed up like this. So many beautiful dresses and hair styles. Many ambassadors in fancy and exotic national costumes.

The orchestra and the opera singer Paulina Pfeiffer. Wow, she had an incredible voice.

Princess Christina and not far from her the prime minister, Fredrik Reinfelt and his beautiful wife, Filippa in a truley magnificent sparkling red dress.


The Royal family arrived. I must say we had great seats. We were seated close to the main stage right above and slightly behind the Royal family. Princess Victoria was wearing this lovely blue sparkling dress.

The Nobel prize winners enter.

Everyone is seated.

Both princess Victoria and the Queen had elaborate and perfect hair styling. Not even harsh wind would have moved a single strand out of order.

Professor Olga Botner held a great presentation about the discoveries that Pearlmutter, Schidt and Riess made.

The table where the actual prizes were laying waiting to be handed over to the Nobel prize winners was right below me.

From left to right the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Shechtman. Then the two Nobel prize winners in medicine, Beutler and Hoffman. I almost wish Beutler from Texas would have worn his boots. Then is the Swedish Nobel prize winner in literature, Tomas Tranströmmer and next to him are the two prize winners in economics, Sargent and Sims.

The three Nobel prize winners in physics rise and are ready to step up to the center when their name is called and be awarded by the King.

Each one steps up to the center as the entire audience is standing. The King presents the prize and award and then everyone applaudes.

As the third prize winner in medicine so tragically happened to pass away just a few days before he even found out that he had received the prize his wife, Mrs Steinman, was there to in honor of her husband receive his prize. She bowed to the audience and then touched us all sitting there by throwing a kiss up into the air for her husband. I hope he can look down on this from heaven and feel pride and happiness.

The star of the evening naturally became the Swedish literature prize winner, Tomas Tranströmer. I assume it may have been his son that assisted him as he as bound to his wheelchair. The applauses he receive just seemed like they would never end. The audience kept going on and on. It just touched everyone sitting there being Swedish so much. Of course there is a special sense of pride if there is a Swede being awarded as it does not happen very often. The old man looked so happy. It was just such a pleasure to watch his excitement as he had his prize in his lap. Hoffman sitting next to him kindly helped him open the red case with the medal.

Queen Silvia wearing a peach colored dress this year. I love the color on her.

Alfred Nobel himself. The decorations were totally magnificent. At first it is so easy to overlook them but then you realize just how many flowers must have been used to dress the podium and walls like this.

All the Nobel Prize winners standing with their awards in their hands as the ceremony was about to end.

The Royal family leaves first.

A long train of people congratulating and shaking hands with the 2011 Nobel Prize winners before it was time for them to leave the Concert Hall and be transported over to the City Hall where the party and dinner are held. Hopefully some day we will get the opportunity to be part of that as well. That would be a dream come true to me. But I am so honored and so thrilled to have been part of the award ceremony. As I sat here I just felt so happy of all the wonderful and amazing moments and experiences I have been lucky to have so far in my life. This is just one of those moments I will never forget and always be grateful for having. Being here meant a lot to me.

Me and C took a walk to the restaurant where we had made reservations for the evening, Sjögräs. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and had lots to talk about.