Ambassadors stationed in Stockholm are duty-bound to attend the annual Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm's Concert Hall. Everyone who matters in Sweden is invited, the men in tails or uniforms, the ladies in long gowns, bedecked with decorations and jewels galore. A solemn and impressive occasion. If you happen to be an Ambassador with a fellow-citizen for a prize winner that particular year, you're in luck, for you are then invited with your spouse to attend the gala banquet afterwards, in Stockholm's City Hall. About 1400 guests share the pleasure. If you are less lucky, you get to pick up your coat downstairs at the end of the ceremony, try and reach your car in freezing weather and go home without as much as a glass of juice. Glitter paired with frugality.
All dressed up and nowhere to go. Not long before the Nobel ceremony in 2007, I was called to my next duty station (IAEA in Vienna), and Lara and I decided to invite all the "Nobel losers" over for a dance and drinks in the ballroom of the residence. It was going to double as our farewell party. In our three and a half years it was also the only private gala party in town. We have it on video for posterity.
Here we are photographed opening the dance floor, as the band played "What A Wonderfull World", our wedding song. People remember we were beaming with happiness.
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