Archive for category Uncategorized
Top 10: Famous Norwegian women
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on March 8, 2011
Sonja Henie (1913-69): An Olympic and World Champion figure skater, Henie helped increase the popularity of competitive figure skating. She won the gold medal for her sport at three consecutive Winter Olympics (1928, 1932, and 1936). Later had a career in Hollywood, where she featured in a number of successful films.
Gro Harlem Brundtland (b. 1939): A Labour Party politician, Brundtland is the only woman to have occupied the post of prime minister in Norway. She is also the former Director General of the WHO (World Health Organization).
Liv Ullmann (b.1939): An internationally known actress, who has also worked as a director. Ullmann was one of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s many muses. Some of the films she appeared in include Shame, Scenes from a Marriage, Face to Face and Autumn Sonata. Ullmann received the Golden Globe for her part as Kristina Nilsson in The Emigrants in 1973. She has also been nominated twice for the Academy Award.
Marit Bjørgen (b. 1980): The undisputed queen of cross-country skiing, Bjørgen won an amazing four gold and one silver medals at the Ski VM in Oslo in March 2011, which came on top of three gold, one silver and one bronze medals she won at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year. She is the only athlete to have won so many medals in the history of cross-country skiing.
Sissel Kyrkjebø (b. 1969): Famous soprano whose combined solo record sales amount to 10 million albums, most of them sold in Norway. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Årets Spelleman, the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy Award. More about her at http://www.elusivemoose.eu/2010/11/sissel-kyrkjeb%C3%B8/
Grete Waitz (b.1953): A champion long-distance runner, Waitz won the NYC marathon no fewer than nine times between 1978 and 1988 – more than any other runner in history. She also won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, and a gold medal at the World Championships in Helsinki the year before that.
Karin Fossum (b. 1954): Popular Norwegian crime writer who started her career writing poetry, before changing genre and finding international success with her inspector Konrad Sejer series. Her books have been translated into 16 languages. Among her best are Don’t Look Back, He Who Fears the Wolf, and Calling Out For You (American translation – The Indian Bride).
Sigrid Undset (1882-1949), Norwegian novelist, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1928. Her most famous work is Kristin Lavransdatter.
Harriet Backer (1845-1932), artist famed for her colourful interiors. A pioneer among female artists not just in Norway but also in the rest of Europe, she was influenced by the impressionists. Her most famous paintings include Christening in Tanum Church and Blue Interior, among many others. Another famous Norwegian female artist is landscape painter Kitty Kielland (1843-1914)
Fishermen’s cabins at Kuvauen, Hvaler
Posted by admin in Photos and videos, Uncategorized on February 9, 2011
Did you know? A few facts about Østfold
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on February 9, 2011
- Østfold is home to Europe’s first ever marine national park. The Ytre Hvaler NP was opened in September 2009 (jointly with Koster NP in Sweden). It covers a surface of 354km2, most of it under water, and boasts unique coral reefs, as well as around 7,000 different marine species, including invertebrates, fishes, sharks and seals.
- Famous locals include Hollywood director Harald Zwart, jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek, rally driver Petter Solberg, celebrity chef Eyvind Hellstrøm and artist Vebjørn Sand, among many others.
- Gamlebyen in Fredrikstad is one of Norway’s most popular man-made attractions, visited by hundreds of thousands every year.
- Østfold is among Norway’s oldest inhabited regions, and stunning rock carving sites, burial mounds and stone rings can all be found along Oldtidsveien, between Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg.
- Wildlife in Østfold’s forests includes moose, deer, red foxes, badgers, wild boars and even wolves.
- Østfold is a popular destination with anglers. There is much fish to be caught in the Glomma and the hundreds of lakes in the county, not least in Indre-Østfold. The Enningdal River in Halden is also one of the best rivers in Norway for salmon fishing.
- Østfold counts 25 manors (herregård), about half of all the manors found in Norway. Most of them date back to the 17th and 18th century, when Norway was under Danish rule.
- Rygge Airport in Østfold was formerly a military airport. Today it is Norway’s largest privately-operated airport, and one of Europe’s fastest growing. Last year 640,000 passengers travelled to/from Moss Lufthavn Rygge. The airport is now Norway’s fifth, and Oslo second largest by passenger numbers.
Elusive Moose (the book)
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 29, 2011
I came across this book recently and just had to feature it here. I could hardly believe it when I saw the title. What a coincidence! I asked the publishers, Barefoot Books, to send me a copy, which they kindly did. And you know what? Turns out this is actually a little gem of a book. And I’m not saying this just because of the awesome title 
The book, written by Joan Gannij and illustrated by Clare Beaton, was published in 2007, and received the Oppenheimen Book Award in the US that year. It’s a hide-and-seek rhyme book aimed at toddlers and pre-school children, illustrated with photographs of lovely felt appliqués. The simple rhyming text is perfect for young children, and the illustrations are detailed enough to warrant many re-readings. The book also features some useful background info on wild Nordic animals, and their tracks. A great introduction to the king of the forest.
Elusive Moose, by Joan Gannij, illustrated by Clare Beaton. ISBN 1846860016, available from Amazon in the UK and the US, or from www.barefootbooks.com
Gamlebyen ducks win photo competition
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on December 2, 2010
I’m chuffed. One of my pix won this month’s photo competition on The Guardian travel website. The theme for November was ‘crowds’, and this picture of the ducks in Gamlebyen was the winning entry.
The resident population of ducks in the Old Town of Fredrikstad is a popular local attraction. In winter the moat freezes over, and the ducks, no longer able to find food there, relocate to the quayside by the River Glomma, where they wait for handouts from visitors and locals alike. They make quite a sight – particularly against the white background of freshly fallen snow.
‘This is a nice simple image which made me smile. The picture would work even better with the top distractions cropped of. I’d like to see just enough to know where the road ends and the hedges start, but anymore is just distracting the eye from the fun part of the photograph’, said judge Nathalie Meyer. Well, I kind of agree re. the cropping, but this is a travel photo competition, so I figured it was important to give a sense of the place too. These are not just any ducks – they are the Gamlebyen’s ducks! Great ambassadors for Fredrikstad don’t you think?
See all the shortlisted entries at http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2010/dec/01/been-there-photography-competition#/?picture=369197741&index=15
Top 5: Most romantic places in Østfold
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 16, 2010
- Going back in time in Gamlebyen: Take a walk along the quaint cobblestone streets and on the leafy ramparts before retreating to one of the many cosy cafes for a drink and a cuddle. Little wonder Gamlebyen’s recently been voted as one of the top 10 most romantic destinations in Norway by travel magazine Reiser & Ferie!
- Trip on the Halden Canal: There is something about gliding on the water on a hot sunny day, a light breeze in your hair, a glass of bubbly in your hand, the two of you leaning against the railing, watching the wake. Want to impress your date? You could do worse than a trip on the Halden Canal.
- Dinner at Curtisen: Good food, good wine, and a historic setting full of atmosphere – surely the recipe for a very romantic evening. Restaurant Curtisen, in Halden Fortress, is just the ticket.
- Finding your own secret creek on Hvaler: With hundreds of islands, islets and skerries, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Sea, sex and sun on Søndre-Sandøy (?)
- Sleeping under the stars in Vestfjella or Rakkestadfjella, Indre-Østfold: Want to get away from it all? Here you really can have a whole forest all to yourself! Set up camp by one of the hundred little lakes in the area, and you can even go for a midnight dip with your loved one
The moose hunt in Norway
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on November 2, 2010
The moose hunt is over for another year here in Norway. Good thing too – it means humans can venture back into the woods without fearing for their safety, and moose can roam freely again without fearing for their life. Here are a few moose hunt facts, by the way:
- The hunting season for moose varies from place to place, but usually lasts from the end of September or the beginning of October and until the end of October.
- Moose hunting is the most popular kind of hunt in Norway. Some 58,000 hunters took part in the moose hunt last year.
- A total of 36,000 moose were killed during last year’s hunting season.
- Hedmark in eastern Norway is the largest ‘moose county’ in terms of the number of both licences and animals killed – 9,091 hunting licences were issued and 8,055 animals were killed in that county alone last year.
- Moose hunting is used to regulate the moose population at both regional and national level.
- Each team of hunters is allocated a quota of animals they can kill. Once this quota is reached, the hunt is over for that team.
- It is estimated that between 1,250 and 1,300 moose would be killed during the hunt in Østfold this year.
- There is a kill fee for every moose killed – 465Kr for an adult moose, 270Kr for a calf.
(Statistics from www.ssb.no)