“Gla syttande mai” translates into “Happy 17th of May”. But, what is so special about today?
Well, the 17th of May is the Constitution Day of our Nordic neighbours in Norway. It has become somewhat of a day for celebration for us in Sweden too.
To celebrate this, we would like to give you 7 not-so-known facts about Norway and wish you a sincere gla syttande mai!
- The worlds longest road tunnel
Yup! The worlds longest road tunnel is called the Lærdal Tunnel and is located in Norway. It cost 1 billion Norwegian kroner (1 USD is roughly 8,25 NOK) to build the 24,5 km (15 miles) long tunnel that connects Lærdal and Aurland. - Norway is more eastier than Finland
The town of Kirkenes [Chirchenaes] in northern Norway is farther to the east than all of Finland.
This brings us to the next item on our list: - Norway borders to Russia
The border between Norway and Russia is actually around 75 km (120 miles) long! - “Go to Norway”…
…said no one ever. Go to Hell, is something completely different! For those of you wondering: yes, there is a Hell! Hell is about a half-hour drive due east from Trondheim. - There are active volcanoes in Norway
Fear not, dear reader! This volcano is on the isle of Jan Mayen. Like, north of Iceland – mid-way between Greenland and Norway. In the middle of the Norwegian Sea. The volcano measures 2 227 meters (7,306 feet) high and is called Beerenberg. - Thank you Thor Bjørklund!
In 1925, Thor Bjørklund invented the cheese slicer. A lot of cheese in the world is sold pre-sliced, but many people still buy blocks of cheese and use a cheese slicer to get their sandwich in the morning. - Colonel-in-Cheif Penguin
Bet you thought the guy’s name was “Penguin”, right? In this case, Sir Nils Olav III is a real penguin residing at the Edinburgh Zoo. Not only is Sir Nils Olav the mascot of the Norwegian King’s Guard, but he is also the colonel-in-cheif with the military rank of brigadier. Fun fact (of the fun fact) is that Sir Nils Olav is of the species Aptenodytes patagonicus – also known as king penguin.
