Very, very old house - Dovrefjell, Norway

Far to the North - Norway

Far to the North where the winter storms whip the weather-beaten coasts, you will find a long and narrow country. Here you see dark forrests with moonlit lakes, deep fjords surronded by mighty snowcapped mountains, and long rivers and cools streams cascading down the mountainsides.

Nowadays this country is covered by snow and ice only four to six mounth a year. A long, long time ago, however, there exsisted a massive glacier that brooded over the entire country for thousands of years.

Trollparken - Dombås, Norway

Trollparken, have recreated the trolls and brought them to life, giving you the opportunity to experience the story of the trolls at first hand. Here you will also meet the Mountain King himself, who will take you on a journey "from fairytale to reality" through his own kingdom.

Sunset

Watch out for drunken road workers

Immigrants subject to discrimination in Norway

Immigrants, especially those from Africa and Asia, must routinely tackle discrimination in Norway, both on the job and on the street. Some notice that no one sits next to them on the bus, and in some cases ethnic Norwegians hurl insults at them.

Williams Tamba from Liberia said he encounters discrimination most often when trying to enter nightclubs or popular bars. Doormen often keep him out, he claims. "They always find a reason not to let me in," Tamba said.

Nearly 19 percent of immigrants questioned said they'd faced job discrimination and discriminatory behaviour on public transport. More than 15 percent had experienced discrimination at bars or restaurants.

Shame on you, all Norwegian.

Trolls - Kinsarvik, Norway

A troll is a fearsome member of a mythical race from Norse mythology. Originally more or less the Nordic equivalents of giants, although often smaller in size.

Longing for the summer

Geiranger-Norway

Winterly

Blue tit (Parus caeruleus)

Winter strikes back this nigth

The winter is back in full force in Southern and Eastern Norway, where people woke up to a heavy snowfall and strong wind Friday morning.
It's suppose to be spring now.....

Easter egg

Hövringen mountain lodge - Oppland county, Norway

Mountain cottage

By the seaside

Old railway line

Viking ship

Viking ship is a collective term for ships used during the Viking Age (800–1100) in Northern Europe.

The Oseberg ship is a Viking ship which was found in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county.

The ship and its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum, Bygdøy, Oslo.

Princess pregnant again

Norway's Royal Palace announced Thursday that Princess Märtha Louise and her husband Ari Behn are expecting their third child.

The couple already has two daughters, Maud Angelica, born in 2003, and Leah Isadora, born in 2005.

An official statement from the palace said the new royal baby is due in mid-October. None of Princess Martha Louise’s and Ari Behn’s children, however, is granted a royal title

The whaling monument - Sandefjord, Norway

From 1850, a number of ships from Sandefjord were whaling and sealing in the Arctic Ocean and along the coast of Finnmark. The first whaling expedition from Sandefjord to the Antarcti Ocean was sent in 1905. Towards the end of the 1920s, Sandefjord had a fleet of 15 factory ships and more than 90 whalers.

In 1954, more than 2,800 men from the district were hired as crew on the whalers, but from the mid 1950s whaling was gradually reduced. The number of southbound expeditions rapidly decreased during the 1960s, and the 1967/68 season became the last for Sandefjord.

Royal Norwegian Navy Museum-Horten, Norway

Royal Norwegian Navy Museum - is the oldest existing museum of its kind in the world, founded in 1853. At the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum you can find many ships, including KNM Rap, the world's first torpedo boat from 1873.

More coffee anyone?

You may have heard that Norwegians are heavy drinkers - of coffee that is. Here are the facts: In 2007 we consumed 45,000 tonnes of coffee! - an increase by 500,000 kilos.

And it means that every coffee-drinking Norwegian consumed an average of 2192 cups of coffee last year.

This means that Norwegians still tops the list of coffee drinking European nations.

Surveys show that there are nearly 2.8 million coffee-drinking Norwegians, out of a population of over 4.5 million.
Black coffee is still the most popular, despite all the trendy coffee bars popping up all over.

Four times more crime in Oslo than New York

The crime rate in Oslo has been growing at an alarming rate and recent statistics show the Norwegian capital had 20 percent more robberies last year than in 2006.

Oslo had the highest rate per person in Scandinavia in terms of reported crimes, with 90 reported crimes per 1,000.

This means there were four times as many reported crimes per person in Oslo as in New York.

Stenungsund, Sweden

Karlstad Theatre - Karlstad, Sweden

Old church

'Courage' prize for polar exploration

Norwegian polar explorer Liv Arnesen is getting a special award for her exploration efforts and for inspiring people -- especially women -- to follow their dreams.

Arnesen was the first woman to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole, in 1994.

Her most famous expeditions are:
• The Bancroft - Arnesen Expedition Antarctica 2001
• Mount Everest 1996
• The South Pole 1994
• Greenland 1992
• Greenland 1991

The Year Of The Rat

1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008

People born in the Year of the Rat are noted for their charm and attraction for the opposite sex. They work hard to achieve their goals, acquire possessions, and are likely to be perfectionists. They are basically thrifty with money. Rat people are easily angered and love to gossip. Their ambitions are big, and they are usually very successful. They are most compatible with people born in the years of the Dragon, Monkey, and Ox.

I was born in the Year of the Rat.

The current year in the Chinese calendar is the Year of the Earth Rat (year of Wù Zǐ, 戊子). It lasts from 7 February 2008 to 25 January 2009. Based on traditional beliefs, some form of the calendar has been in use for almost five millennia. Based on archaeological evidence some form of it has been in use for three and a half millennia.

Small farm