Taste a Nobel Banquet menu at a Nobel dinner in Stockholm Sweden. Visit the Nobel Museum. Imagine what it would be like to win a Nobel Prize.
Stockholm Sweden is home to the lavish Nobel Prize Banquet and the city is loaded with Nobel history.
I earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry once-upon-a-time so there was absolutely no question, I was nerding out hard as we waited outside the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
I was positively beside myself with excitement for our upcoming tour 'In the Footsteps of Alfred Nobel' which would culminate with a Nobel Prize worthy menu...literally. We met our guide, Aviva, and were off and running for the afternoon.
Alfred Nobel's Story Told at Sweden's Nobel Museum
Our private tour of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm began with a retelling of the origins of the world-famous Nobel Prize, the pinnacle of achievement in the sciences.
In the late 1800s in Sweden, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, a revolutionary but controversial technology that ultimately made him a fortune. The story goes that he lost his brother in an explosion in his research lab in Stockholm but the media thought Alfred himself had died.
They reported Alfred's presumed death in a rather negative light focusing on the death and destruction of explosives rather than their industry-enabling potential. Alfred vowed to change that legacy.
He never married nor had any children so set up a prize to reward the top practitioners in the fields of Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine.
The Nobel Prize is one of the highest achievements that can be bestowed on a scientist. The Nobel Museum features rotating panels highlighting each Nobel Prize winner as well as some exhibits from more well-known Nobel laureates like Albert Einstein.
Finding my Academic Grandfathers at Stockholm's Nobel Museum
I was personally very excited to see a temporary exhibit at Stockholm's Nobel Museum featuring fun photographs of Nobel laureates describing their ground-breaking research.
You see, my academic grandfathers are both Nobel Prize winners. To say it another way, both my undergraduate and Ph.D. thesis advisors did their Ph.D.s with Dick Schrock and Bob Grubbs.
These two chemistry professors from MIT and Caltech won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2005 for their research on olefin metathesis.
Sure enough, there were photos of Schrock (above) and Grubbs (below) looking extremely pleased to be Nobel Prize winners. Once again, I was like a kid in a candy store...nerding. out.
We All Scream for Ice Cream at the Nobel Museum
We continued our Nobel tour in Stockholm with a pitstop for ice cream at the cafe in the Nobel Museum. How can you not love the Swedes? I'm all for eating dessert first.
We were served a finely molded and plated dish of ice cream along with coffee or tea. Is this what Nobel Prize level success tastes like?
I think that the Nobel Museum is one of the best things to do in Stockholm with kids. They had an art station set up to inspire people (children?) to draw science.
I drew some old reactions that I worked on in grad school and used the ultimate creation as a placemat for my ice cream. It felt so good to revisit my scientific roots in Stockholm.
Looking Under the Chairs at the Nobel Museum
We learned that there is a tradition at the Nobel Museum. Nobel laureates that visit Stockholm have the opportunity to sign the bottom of the chairs in the Nobel Museum cafe.
I discovered another academic connection. William Moerner (from the Stanford Chemistry Department; you can take a walk down memory lane at Stanford with me here) won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2014. I've been out of the field for a while now but was super-excited to see this. Professor Moerner had signed the chair I was sitting on.
Our Insightful Nobel Guide to Stockholm
We left the Nobel Museum and our group piled into a van with Aviva for a quick tour around Stockholm. Aviva used to work at the Grand Hotel where the Nobel laureates stay when they come to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize ceremony and she regaled us with stories of those laureates she'd met.
A PRIVATE TOUR OF STOCKHOLM CITY HALL
Our next stop of Nobel importance was Stockholm's Stadshus (City Hall) for a private tour. The Nobel Prize banquet is held here each year in the Blue Hall and once again, I was giddy with anticipation; following in the footsteps of so many brilliant Nobel Prize winning men and women.
Stockholm City Hall Council Chamber
We had the chance to step inside Stockholm's City Council chamber. Our Stockholm City Hall guide, Emma, proudly told us about how men and women are evenly represented on the council.
I wish the same could be said of the Nobel laureates who also walked these halls. The majority of Nobel laureates are older white men.
The Golden Hall at Stockholm Stadshus
We soon stood outside of a very imposing door inside the Stockholm City Hall. Emma swung the doors open to reveal the Golden Hall featuring walls covered in lavish golden mosaics.
The Golden Hall was positively stunning. Surprisingly, this is not where the Nobel Prize banquet is held but perhaps this is what inspired the golden medallions given to each Nobel laureate?
Check out the photosphere below to immerse yourself in the Golden Hall at Stockholm Stadshus.
A Blue Hall Fit for a Nobel Banquet
We lingered in the Blue Hall at the Stockholm Stadshus, the site of the Nobel Prize banquet each year. Each Nobel Laureate gets to bring a fixed number of guests to Sweden for the Nobel banquet and Aviva and Emma both told us to imagine every inch of open space filled to capacity with tables and amazing arrays of flowers.
The Blue Hall is an Italian-style courtyard. The architect originally planned to paint it blue (thus the moniker) but decided that the exposed brick was much more dramatic and impressive. Technically, the floor is a blue-ish marble so I suppose the name Blue Hall isn't totally incorrect.
SIDEWALK SAFARI SPOTLIGHT: Are you looking for other things to do in and around Stockholm? Check out Norrkoping, a town with a rich history tied to science and technology and an easy day trip from Stockholm. |
Climbing the Tower at Stockholm City Hall
We walked across the open courtyard of Stockholm City Hall from the Blue Hall to the tower and commenced a winding climb through hallways lined with intricately patterned brickwork.
We emerged at the top of the tower and looked out over sweeping views of Gamla Stan (Stockholm's old town). I could just imagine Alfred Nobel going about his business in the 19th century. Somehow I could still feel his presence in the city of Stockholm.
A NOBEL DINNER IN SWEDEN
It was finally time for the main event! I had been looking forward to our Nobel Banquet menu all day. We entered Stadshuskällaren Restaurant tucked away around the side of the Stockholm City Hall. Stadshuskällaren Restaurant caters the Nobel Prize banquet each year.
For a price, you and nine friends can dine on the exact meal that the Nobel laureates ate for any year since the Nobel Prize was first awarded in 1901.
Fortunately, for us, the rather steep price tag of 1695 SEK (about $200 USD at the time of writing) for the Nobel dinner experience was waived thanks to the generosity of Visit Stockholm who was sponsoring this tour as part of the Travel Bloggers Exchange (TBEX) conference in Stockholm in July.
We entered the Stadshuskällaren to find a table sumptuously laid out with ten place settings.
As the bubbles tickled my palate, I imagined myself in the Blue Hall toasting the Nobel Prize winning scientific achievements for the year.
The first course from the 2015 Nobel banquet was brought out and unveiled with a flourish. We thoroughly enjoyed the Turbot scallop with vegetables and egg in a brown butter sauce.
For the main course of our Nobel Prize dinner, we switched to red wine, Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2010.
The wine paired well with the roasted veal, mushrooms with celeriac, apple fruit and a
roasted celeriac juice with potato parcel. The dish was dressed table-side for added flair.
Our Nobel banquet menu concluded with a fragrant cherry blossom and almond dessert paired with i Castei Recioto della Valpolicella Classico 2008. I could just imagine the Nobel laureates savoring the taste of sweet success. I think there should be a Nobel Prize for Gastronomy!
Our Nobel banquet ended with coffee and two extra special treats. The first was a glass of Punsch (served to the Nobel laureates but not normally included with the Nobel dinner for purchase).
roasted celeriac juice with potato parcel. The dish was dressed table-side for added flair.
For the second, I was very excited to receive my very own Nobel Prize...make that a chocolate Nobel Prize. Considering that I left chemistry and academic research for a career as a project manager in Tech, this Nobel Prize tour was a great opportunity to live vicariously and consider what might have been if I had stayed the course predicted by my academic training.
Once of a scientist, always a scientist and every scientist dreams of one day winning the Nobel Prize.
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