Everyone has a sledding hill in Norway.  Ours is at the end of the street.  Especially when it’s a sunny Winters day you’ll find all the neighbours up on the hill playing with their kids.  Snowmen are made, jumps are moulded, and somehow in all the chaos, an advanced, intermediate and kiddies track appear.

It’s a [...]

The lighting of the Christmas tree is a social tradition in every city in Norway on the first Sunday of Advent.  Today was extra special for us as we got to share in Lilu’s delight.  Half way through the celebration I found myself alone in the middle of the crowd and realised how strange everything [...]

A popular Summer activity in Norway is kayaking. The coast of Norway is dotted with thousands of little islands making the perfect conditions for a smooth paddle.

Many Norwegians know what they are doing when they pick wild mushrooms. This knowledge is passed down the family during mushroom hunting trips. The hard-core mushroom hunters go into the mountain wilderness for days to get the best finds.

This week on NRK2 (the state public channel in Norway) Wimbledon has been on every night.  This might seem normal to any tennis playing country but in Norway there aren’t any tennis courts! No short grass fields with painted lines, no red clay to colour the landscape.  Why are there no tennis courts in Norway?  [...]

Alta’s highpoint is Komsa Mountain.  It may not compete in height or size with Bergen’s Seven Mountains or Tromsø’s Mount Storsteinen – well, in fact, in the post There is a Hill in Alta I thought Komsa was… you guessed it – a hill!  but apparently standing 203 metres above sea level still classifies it [...]

The Sami Easter festival has something for everyone.  Not only can you get up close and personal with the reindeer but there is a whole array of activities that showcase Sami life and culture.  The festival also includes the Reindeer Racing World Cup, the Sami Film Festival (which is held in an ice-cinema), the Sami [...]

Dance Day (or Dansens Dag in Norwegian) is celebrated all over Norway.  Every year Norway joins with the rest of the world to promote dance on International Dance Day, 29th April.  However, Norwegians love dancing so much that the closest weekend is also included and so we get to have a whole week of dancing [...]

We have kids from sunny Australia with us this Easter holidays in Norway and so have an explosion of Norwegian activities on our calendar.  One of the activities that is a must-do when you come to Norway is dog sledding.  Last year we went dog sledding in Alta, Finnmark (you can read more about it [...]

Yes, that’s right.  In the middle of winter, above the Arctic Circle, we Tromsø væringer shake off the snow and put our glad rags on for an all out Latin American celebration.  Over 14 days of concerts, exhibitions, dancing, films, food, seminars and colourful fun sure makes the winter blues melt away.  As one of [...]