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Spin a “tippe top” on its hemisperical base–it wobbles until it flips over to spin on its stem. (Animation with better explanation ) |
Physicist Anders Barany (Nobel Museum) is one of the world’s top experts…on tippe tops! Frank and I first met him in 2003, and within minutes Anders and Frank were on the floor taking a bunch of tippe tops out for a spin. It was with great pleasure we saw him again today at a Nobel Museum reception for the newest prizewinnners.
The reception was part of a long, topsy-turvy day, that began at 8 a.m. with the arrival of Frank’s aunt and uncle. Their hotel room wasn’t ready, but the Grand Hotel kindly furnished them with a “resting room” until it was. We strolled off into some glorious Nordic sunshine and found a small ice-skating rink already open for business. Sanity and jet lag soon led us home again to the hotel.
A few more fragments:
- Frank looks handsome in a tailcoat, and the people who rent them can tell just by looking at you what coat will fit you.
- Stockholm looks lovely from the top of a television tower, but cellphone reception is surprisingly bad there.
- The Nobel Museum store sells beautifully detailed “Nobel medals” made of gold foil with chocolate inside.
- Lots of people here ask Nobel laureates for autographs.
Our day ended with great pleasure and some more sanity at the hotel’s Franska Matsalen, where we managed to have a wonderful family dinner that included Frank’s “Nobel attendant” Cecilia Ekholm ( in her real life, a foreign service officer) and Roland Zuiderveld of SVT 2. (Remember Roland, the Swedish-cultural-television interviewer whose arrival at our house I live-blogged?)
Frank needs the computer and I need some sleep. (I’m luckier than Frank here.)
And tomorrow’s schedule is even more of a whirl.