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Norway shares its latitude with Alaska, Greenland and Siberia - but compared to these places most of Norway has a mild climate. The Gulf Stream is a powerful Atlantic ocean current, which transports warm water from its origin in the Gulf of Mexico towards the shores of Norway - thanks to the Gulf Stream the temperature difference between southern, coastal Norway and northern parts of continental Canada is on average almost 30°C in January - even though they're at about the same latitude.
Norway's climate shows great variations - from the southernmost point, Lindesnes, to the northernmost, Knivskjelodden (no, the North Cape is actually *not* the northernmost point!) there is a span of 13 degrees of latitude. (The distance is about the same as from southern Norway to the Mediterranean!) The average annual temperature varies from 8°C along the western coast, to below freezing in the mountains. In Bergen, on the western coast, you may pick snowdrops and wood anemones in early March - while there was still a record-breaking 240 cm of snow on the ground in Tromsø (in northern Norway) in the beginning of May 1997. (I live in Tromsø now, and how I miss spring in Bergen...!)
In the coastal areas of southern and western Norway the winter is short and usually quite wet - sleet and rain is more common than snow. The inland areas can get very cold indeed, and the lowest temperature ever measured in Norway is -51,4 °C, in Karasjok in the far north. The coldest months of the year are January and February, the warmest is July - the highest recorded maximum temperature is 35 °C. (Even northern Norway can occasionally get temps above 30°C, thanks to the midnight sun - but daytime temps in the 10-20 range is the norm.) Leave a Comment
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In summer you can see the midnight sun in the regions to the north of the Arctic Circle - during this time the sun never drops below the horizon, and is visible both day and night.
As mentioned previously, a large part of Norway is situated to the north of the Arctic Circle - and the further north you get, the longer the season of the midnight sun. In Tromsø, at around 70° N, the sun doesn't drop below the horizon for two whole months - between May 21st and July 21st.
Many people living in the Arctic tend to sleep less in summer - when it's sunny outside, a barbecue or a football match at 02 in the morning might seem like a perfectly reasonable idea - when it never gets dark you don't feel as tired, so you'll have to look at your watch to know when it's bed-time! :o)
Some say the midnight sun isn't all that special - and yes, it *is* the same sun as the one you'll see in Bratislava, Bangkok or Buenos Aires ;-) - but I really do think seeing the sun shine all through the night is a pretty special experience. Leave a Comment
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Norway is a very long, narrow country - and a quite large part of it extends to the north of the Arctic Circle, at 66° 33' N. To the north of the Arctic Circle you will experience the polar night during winter - and the midnight sun in summer. During the polar night, the sun is continuously below the horizon - and the further to the north of the Arctic Circle, the longer the polar night lasts. In Tromsø, at approx. 70° N, the polar night lasts for two months - from November 21st to January 21st.
Many people think it stays completely dark during the whole polar night - but there are actually some hours of soft, bluish daylight in the middle of the day (At least in mainland Norway, on the islands of Svalbard it is darker). When the weather is nice and the sky clear it gets quite light - with beautiful, glowing, reddish colours on the sky to the south. Leave a Comment
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 by FletteMette
Notes come in denominations of NOK 1000, 500, 200, 100 and 50, coins come in denominations of NOK 20, 10, 5 and 1, and 50 øre. There are ATM's everywhere (called Minibank in Norwegian.) All major credit and debit cards are widely accepted - some tourists are surprised by the fact that even taxis accept credit cards.
Banks are closed Saturdays and Sundays, and as a rule of thumb opening hours are 09 - 15.30 Mon - Fri, except Thursdays when many banks are open until 17. Some banks close at 15 in the summer months.
Oh, and tourists often wonder why some coins (1 and 5 nok) have holes in them? Simple explanation: to make the coins easier to recognise for the visually impaired. Leave a Comment
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 Æ as the a in cat...;o) by FletteMette
The pronunciation of these vowels is approximately like this:
Æ as the a in bad
Ø as the i in first
Å as the a in ball
The Norwegian and Danish languages are very similar, especially when written - but the pronunciation differs quite a lot. Norwegians, Danes and Swedes usually understand each others languages pretty easily, even though studies have shown that Norwegian speakers generally understand both Danish and Swedish much better than Swedes or Danes understand any of the other languages. Leave a Comment
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 Fjord - a Norwegian word used
in English!:o) by FletteMette
Bokmål is quite similar to Danish, which was used for official purposes when Norway was under Danish rule (1397–1814).
Nynorsk ("New Norwegian") is modelled on the Norwegian dialects, and most spoken dialects are closer to nynorsk than to bokmål. Nynorsk was developed by Ivar Aasen, who travelled throughout Norway in 1840-1850, gathering information to build a Norwegian written language closer to the spoken dialects.
Some sample sentences, just to show you that the difference between bokmål and nynorsk is quite significant:
Nynorsk: Eg kjem frå Noreg. Eg heiter...
Bokmål: Jeg kommer fra Norge. Jeg heter...
English: I come from Norway. My name is...
Norway has hundreds of clearly distinct dialects - and none of them are completely similar to any of the two written standards...:o) In the various dialects, even a word such as "I" differs considerably - people from different parts of the country would refer to themselves as jæi, eg, æ, e, æg, i, je, jæ, æi... but all Norwegians are able to understand every Norwegian dialect. (However, the only accepted *written* forms of "I" are the bokmål jeg and nynorsk eg.) Are you confused yet...?:o) Leave a Comment
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You will probably notice buildings with grass, wild flowers, shrubs and sometimes even a tree or two growing on top of the roof - the traditional grass roofs are most commonly seen on old buildings in the countryside, but even today some houses are being built using this technique.
A large number of cabins in the mountains have grass roofs - this way the cabins are somewhat camouflaged in the terrain. The grass roof provides excellent insulation, and it keeps the house warm in winter and cool in summer - it is energy-conserving, and very environmentally friendly. And it does look quite picturesque!:o) Leave a Comment
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 Viking ship by FletteMette
The vikings were skilled navigators and sailors, and sailed to new lands to the north and to the west of their homelands. The vikings founded settlements on Shetland, the Faroe Islands, the Orkneys, Iceland and Greenland - there was even a viking colony in Newfoundland, 500 years before Columbus rediscovered America.
Not all the people of Scandinavia at that time were vikings - a viking was someone who sailed out to plunder or to trade. Most scandinavians stayed peacefully in their own country, they were hard-working and poor farmers & fishermen.
There's a large Viking Age exhibition, including several ships, at the Cultural History Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo, and you'll find that most (if not all) historical museums in Norway will have a Viking Age exhibition. The viking ships in the exhibition at Bygd?y were found in burial mounds - the great viking leaders were buried in their ships.
And, contrary to common belief, no Viking ever wore a horned helmet..;o) Leave a Comment
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The lovely Fjording - Norwegian Fjord Horse - is a quite small, compact breed of horse, native to Western Norway.
It's classified as a pony following international rules - but in Norway, it's a *horse*!:o) Even if it's not that big, it's fully capable of carrying an adult. The colour of a fjord horse is always light, with a dark dorsal stripe. The thick mane is usually cut quite short, the hairs stand upright - the center of the mane is dark/black in colour, while the rest of the mane is white.
The strong, tough, muscular fjording is one of the world's purest & oldest breeds, it has probably been selectively bred for over 2000 years - this was the horse of the Vikings, who used fjordings in battle, and as farm animals. The fjording handles the steep, wild terrain of Western Norway with ease, and can access areas where it's not possible to use tractors. Today lots of riding schools have fjord horses, as it's a mild tempered, very friendly horse, suitable for kids. You'll also find that lots of fjordings are used for tourist transport, especially in Western Norway. Leave a Comment
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The Norwegian Forest Cat - skogkatt - is, in my *totally* unbiased opinion, the most gorgeous breed of cats you'll ever see.
The skogkatt is a very old, natural breed, and its characteristics are adaptations to the cold climate of Scandinavia. The skogkatt has a *very* thick coat, the outer layer is quite coarse, glossy and fairly waterproof while the woolly, dense inner layer insulates well. The skogkatt is a very large, muscular, long-limbed cat - adult males can weigh up to 10 kgs while the females are much smaller. The cat's ears have quite heavy tufting, often with lynx-like tufts on their ear tips. The tail is very long and bushy - and you'll often see the skogkatt snuggling up with the thick tail wrapped around its body on cold days... :o) These cats also have big paws (with heavy tufting between the toes!) - much like snowshoes...;o)
The skogkatt is a very friendly, kind, gentle, highly intelligent, lively and curious breed - and it is of course very popular in Norway. You'll see lots of Forest Cats around, and even more Forest Cat - mixes (like my beautiful Sofie!:o). Leave a Comment
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