Our city and country
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Norway’s geography
Ellinor
Norway is roughly located in north of Europe. Norway borders Sweden in the east and Finland and Russia in the north. Norway is also a part of Scandinavia, which is a region that includes Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Norway is known for its long coastline. It is the second longest in the world after Canada. The coastline of the mainland is 25 148 km and if you include the islands it is 100 915 km. The mainland has an area of 323 787 km2, but there are also many islands. The biggest are Svalbard and Jan Mayen. In the north, the west and the south, Norway is surrounded by ocean. Barents Sea in the north, Norwegian sea in the west and North Sea in the south.
Ellinor
Norway is divided in 11 counties. Their sizes vary greatly. The smallest one, Oslo, covers an area of 454 km2, and the largest one, Troms og Finnmark, covers 74829 km2. There are also municipalities in Norway. They are smaller and many more then the counties; 365 in total. The five largest cities are the capital Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger and Tromsø. These cities are the most visited and have the biggest populations.
Ellinor
Norway is a country of variation. We have high mountains, deep valleys, thick coniferous forests, desolate fills and white beaches. Overall, mountains, forests and fills dominate Norway´s area. Coniferous forests for example, are covering approximately 37 % of Norway´s area and mountains are covering 7%. But as mentioned we also have other types of landscapes. If you go further north, to Lofoten, you can find white, beautiful beaches. And if you are heading just an hour towards the centre of Norway, you can have a fantastic view over deep valleys.
Sources:
Norges geografi, Geir Thorsnæs-2019: https://snl.no/Norges_geografi 16.01.2020
Norge, https://www.fn.no/Land/Norge 16.01.2020
Attractions and tourism in Norway
Amalie
Fløibanen
“Fløibanen” is a very popular attraction in Bergen, Norway’s second biggest city. “Fløibanen” is a funicular train on rails who takes you to the top of “Fløyfjellet”. Around 1,3 million people visit “Fløibanen” annually, that makes it Bergen’s most popular attraction.
The construction workers that made “Fløibanen” began building in 1914. After only 4 years of work they opened it on the 15th of January 1918. They began with 2 wagons with a capacity of 60 person per wagon. Today, the capacity is up to 100 person per wagon.
Then Now
Rallarvegen
If you are sporty or not but like to bicycle and enjoy beautiful nature, you should probably visit “Rallarvegen”. The bike path is Norway’s best bike path according to the Norwegian magazine “Reise og Ferie”. The longest route is from Flåm to Finse. This route has a length of 107 km with both ups and downs and is an amazing experience.
Rallarvegen was built in the beginning of the 1900 century. At this time Norway had a project about making a train rail from today’s two biggest cities, Oslo and Bergen. Therefore, “Rallarvegen” was a construction road for the workers.
Galdhøpiggen
If you love the mountains you should climb “Galdhøpiggen”. That is both Norway and Scandinavia’s highest mountain with a height of 2469 m. Unfortunately for some people you can’t walk up the mountainside on your own. There must be a guide with you, that you can hire for you and your group.
Lofoten
In the north of Norway, you can find the archipelago Lofoten. It is breath-taking to look at the amazing view with fjords and mountains, something Lofoten are very famous for. One other thing tourist really enjoy is to take a trip with a fish boat and a fishing trip. One that trip you can enjoy the good smelling fish and maybe see a killer whale or two. Kiting or swimming in the ocean is a most do if you visit Lofoten. At these activities you get to bath in the ice-cold water with a wetsuit who keeps you warm. If you have this opportunity you would regret missing it in the future.
Sources:
Fløibanen
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%B8ibanen . 23.01.2020
Rallarvegen sykkelrute
https://www.visitnorway.no/listings/rallarvegen-sykkelrute/111299/ . 23.1.30
Norway’s history
Amalie
1814 was an amazing year for Norway and the Norwegian people. That year we finally made our own constitution and signed it. 112 men travelled all the way to Eidsvoll, outside Oslo. This happened on the 17th of Mai, 1814. Our country was finally free and independent from our neighbour country Denmark. The union with Danmark lasted from 1380 until 1814 and lasted over 400 years. Therefore, it is Norway’s national day and today we celebrate it with eating a lot of ice cream and sausages and other good food. Many children and some adults participate in the national parades. In Oslo, the parade is a huge event at the 17th of Mai and almost everyone in Oslo is watching the happy kids and adults walking in nice clothes or our National costume called “Bunad”.
From 1814, Norway joined another union, this time with Sweden but as an independent kingdom. This happened because Danmark and Napoleon lost the Napoleonic war and therefore lost Norway to Sweden. They started whit a common king named Karl II. Unfortunately, he died only 4 years later. Then the king named Karl II Johan took over. In total, the union Norway-Sweeden had 5 kings. This union broke up in 1905. Haakon VII became the new Norwegian king. He was from Denmark.
Sources:
Unionen mellom Norge og sverige
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unionen_mellom_Sverige_og_Norge . 16.01.2020
Danmark-Norge
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danmark-Norge . 16.01.2020
Language and dialects
Ellinor
In Norway we of course speak Norwegian, but in Norway we also have a language called Sami. It belongs to the indigenous Sami people mostly living in Finnmark. Norwegian and Sami are two very different languages. Norwegian is related to the other Scandinavian languages, Swedish and Danish, which Norwegians easily understand. Sami is on the contrary a very different language related to Finnish and is not easily understood by those who speak Norwegian.
Ellinor
The Norwegian spoken language consists of many dialects. When someone talks with a dialect, they still speak Norwegian, but there are some words or letters that are pronounced differently. People with different dialects can understand each other well. Different dialects are spoken in different regions. The Norwegian written language is divided in Bokmål and Nynorsk. Everyone has to learn both in school, but usually they use only one of them later in life.
Sources:
Samisk språk, Svenn-Egil Knutsen Duolljá-2019, https://snl.no/samisk 26.01.2020
Sports
Amalie
Sports
Cross country skiing
Cross country skiing is one of Norway`s most popular sports. The reason is probably because we usually have long winters with a lot of snow. Therefore, we have a lot of opportunities to go cross country skiing and improve our skills. Also, there is a lot of famous world champions from Norway which makes it even more attractive.
Marit Bjørgen
One of them is the world champion Marit Bjørgen. With 114 world cups win she has won more than any other individuals individually. Bjørgen has also won 25 gold and 9 silver in the Norwegian championship. This is something we Norwegians are very impressed over. In 2018 she decided to retire from professional skiing at an age of 38 years. Now she can have more time with her husband and her two children Marius (3 years old) and Ola (10 months).
Johannes Høstflot Klæbo
Another famous cross-country skier from Norway is the 23-year-old Johannes Høstflot Klæbo. He participated in the Olympics in PyeongChang in 2018. After the Olympics he could happily travel home to Norway with three golden medals and the title as the world youngest male Olympic winner in cross-country skiing. His trainer is his 75-year-old grandpa Kåre, who can take Klæbo out on training session 6AM. Klæbo told the Norwegian tv channel TV2 that he is the most innovative person he knows. Something a lot of people might not know about him is that until 2009 he really wanted to become a professional football player.
Johannes Høstflot Klæbo Marit Bjørgen
Sources:
Bjørgen om lagvenninnenes gest: Jeg fikk frysninger. Ida Rasch and Yasmin Hoel, 07,04,2018
Johannes Høstflott Klæbo.
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_H%C3%B8sflot_Kl%C3%A6bo, 30.01.2020
Marit Bjørgen
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marit_Bjørgen 30.01.2020
Klæbo om morfar: – Den mest innovative personen jeg vet om. Ida Moseng, 11.11.2019
https://www.tv2.no/a/10977005/ 01.02.2020
Amalie
Handball
Both the Norwegian man and women’s team is really good. The men’s team haven’t won that much matches and championships, but they ended up in second place in the world championship in both 2017 and 2019. Contrary to the women they have won a lot more championships and medals. The last 30 years they have won 12 golden medals, 27 medals in total. Unfortunately for the team a lot of the players have needed a break because of being injured. This was a huge problem in the world championship since they did were not able to use their best players against the world best teams.
Nora Mørk
Nora Mørk is a 28-year-old Norwegian handball player from Norway’s capital city, Oslo. She is probably one of Norway’s most famous female handball player and plays for the Norwegian national team and the Romanian team CSM Bucuresti. Unfortunately, in August 2019 she got injured at the handball field and hurt her knee really bad. She was upset because it was only 3 months before the world championship, and she could not participate. In the beginning of 2018, she also was voted for the world’s best female handball player, which was huge for her.
Sander Sagosen
The world’s best young handball player is also Norwegian. His name is Sander Sagosen from Trondheim, Norway and he is the 24-year-old. Sagosen debuted for the national team in 2013 at an age of 18 and only he is Norway’s handball idol.
He is currently dating the former handball player Hanna Bredal Oftedal and followed in her steps by playing at the German handball club, Kiel. In the summer 2020 he will switch club from his current club PSG to Kiel. Kiel have a goal which is to be the world’s best team and Sagosen want to be a part of it.
Sander Sagosen Nora Mørk
Sources:
Norges kvinnelandslag i håndball
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norges_kvinnelandslag_i_håndball . 01.02.2020
Norges herrelandslag i håndball
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norges_herrelandslag_i_håndball. 01.02.2020
Mørk kåret til verdens beste kvinnelige håndballspiller. 08.02.2018
https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/mork-karet-til-verdens-beste/69434048 06.02.2020
Oslo’s georaphy
Ellinor
Oslo is the capital of Norway and has an area of 480 km2. Oslo is located in the innermost of Oslofjorden. Oslo is the only Norwegian municipality that also is a county. It´s surrounded by other municipalities, as Bærum and Ringerike in the west, Lunner in the north, Nittedal, Lillestrøm, Lørenskog and Enebakk in the east and Indre Follo and Nesodden in the south. A fun thing is that Nesodden is a half-island, which means that only a small part of it is connected to the mainland. There are many people that live at Nesodden, but who work in Oslo, so they must take a ferry to get to their work.
The city centre is mostly surrounded by woods, but also some houses. I, for example, live in the outskirts of the centre and we only need to drive 5 minutes before we are in the middle of nowhere. It also just takes about 10 minutes to drive to the city centre where shops, restaurants, hotels and theatres are available. Oslo his divided in the west end and the east end by a river called Akerselva.
Ellinor
Nordmarka is the name of the woods who encircle Oslo. It is very popular to go cross-country skiing there. Totally there are 2400 km with ski tracks in Nordmarka. In the woods, the wildlife is rich. You can find foxes, moose, wolverines, owls and many more. The highest peak in Nordmarka is Svarttjernshøgda of 716,6 metres above the ocean.
Sources:
Nordmarka, https://www.visitoslo.com/no/artikler/nordmarka/, 23.01.2020
Oslo, https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo 16.01.2020
Oslo, Geir Thorsnæs, -2019 https://snl.no/Oslo 23.01.2020
Published: Jan 30, 2020
Latest Revision: Jan 30, 2020
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