Grimstad

Inger sent me this lovely card of Grimstad, a town and municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Grimstad. Other notable places in Grimstad include Eide, Fevik, Fjære, Landvik, Prestegårdskogen, Reddal, and Roresanden.

It is a little maritime town set among many small islands (Skjærgård). There is a harbour, a long pedestrian shopping street, a small market square, a church, and a museum dedicated to the early life of Henrik Ibsen, who served as an apprentice to Grimstad’s local pharmacist Reimann, from 1844 to 1847, before leaving Grimstad in 1850. Ibsen's intimate knowledge of the local people and surroundings can be seen in his poem Terje Vigen.

The Norwegian Petroleum Museum

The Norwegian Petroleum Museum was opened on 20 May 1999. In Norwegian language the museum is called Norsk Oljemuseum. The unusual architecture has made the museum a landmark in the Port of Stavanger. Seen from the sea the museum looks like a small oil platform. The museum focuses on offshore petroleum activity especially in the North Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Museum is a museum for everyone. Its exhibits explain how oil and gas are created, discovered and produced, and what they are used for. The museum also provides information about technological advances and the way petroleum influences Norwegian society. Original objects, models, films and interactive exhibits illustrate everything from everyday life offshore to technology and dramatic incidents.

Pia sent me this card from Stavanger.

Svolværgeita in the Lofoten archipelago

Svolværgeita is a 150-metre (490 ft) tall pinnacle at the southwest face of Fløyfjellet on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. The 569-metre (1,867 ft) high Fløyfjellet is located on the edge of the town of Svolvær in the municipality of Vågan in Nordland county, Norway. The first recorded time a climber reached the summit of Svolværgeita was on 1 August 1910 by Ferdinand Schjelderup, Alf Bonnevie Bryn and Carl Wilhelm Rubenson.

The first element is Svolvær, since it is located in that town. 

The last element is the finite form of geit which means "goat", since the mountain has two "horns". The two horns are called Storhorn and Lillehorn. By descending from Storhorn it is common to jump (if you look carefully, you'll see a guy doing just that! - wow) over a 1.5 metre wide gap and land safely on Lillehorn, while viewing the town cemetery (sic!) 300 metre below.

Thank you Pia for this remarkable picture on the card.

The Arctic Circle

Now, this card is indeed very interesting. It was sent to me by Tonni who lives north of Oslo. The card shows the monument indicating the Polar Circle latitude 66° 33′  . The Arctic Circle Centre is situated by the E6 h ighway at Saltfjellet in the county of Nordland. It is also situated in a national park with wonderful hiking opportunities.

In the area around the centre, there are Russian and Yugoslavian war memorials from World War II. The centre's architecture is adapted to the surrounding nature, and a path made of marble shows how the Arctic Circle runs through the centre. 
At the centre you will find a cafeteria serving Norwegian food, a large souvenir/gift shop and an exhibition covering art, marble and stuffed arctic animals - including Europe's largest stuffed polar bear. There is an excellent movie theatre showing the multi-vision programme "Northern Norway". You will find a post office selling postcards with a special Arctic Circle seal. The Arctic Circle Centre is open from 1 May to 15 September.

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. In 2012, it is the parallel of latitude that run 66° 33′ 44″ (or 66.5622°)  north of the Equator.

The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone. The equivalent polar circle in the Southern Hemisphere is called the Antarctic Circle.

The Arctic Circle is the southernmost latitude in the Northern Hemisphere at which the sun can remain continuously above or below the horizon for 24 hours (at the June solstice and December solstice respectively). North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year (and therefore visible at midnight) and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year. On the Arctic Circle those events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June and December solstices, respectively.

It would therefore seem that the Arctic Circle marks the southern extremity of the northern hemisphere polar day (24-hour sunlit day, often referred to as the midnight sun) and polar night (24-hour sunless night). In fact, because of atmospheric refraction and mirages, and because the sun appears as a disk and not a point, part of the midnight sun may be seen on the night of the northern summer solstice up to about 50′ (90 km (56 mi)) south of the Arctic Circle; similarly, on the day of the northern winter solstice, part of the sun may be seen up to about 50′ north of the Arctic Circle. That is true at sea level; those limits increase with elevation above sea level although in mountainous regions, there is often no direct view of the true horizon.

The position of the Arctic Circle is not fixed. It directly depends on the Earth's axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2° over a 40,000 year period, notably due to tidal forces resulting from the orbit of the Moon. The Arctic Circle is currently drifting northwards at a speed of about 15 m (49 ft) per year.

Viking ship

Viking ships were vessels used during the Viking Age in Northern Europe. Scandinavian tradition of shipbuilding during the Viking Age was characterized by slender and flexible boats, with symmetrical ends with true keel. They were clinker built, which is the overlapping of planks riveted together. They might have had a dragon's head or other circular object protruding from the bow and stern, for design, although this is only inferred from historical sources.

They ranged in the Baltic Sea and far from the Scandinavian home areas, to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Newfoundland, the Mediterranean, and Africa.

The ships are normally divided into classes based on size and function. They were from 10 meters long (33 ft) to sometimes even 30 meters (99 ft).

Marlies send me this lovely card from Germany.

Svolvaer

Svolvær is the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality (9,200 inhabitants) in Lofoten, Nordland County, Norway. The town itself has a population of 4,378 as of 1 January 2006. Svolvær was separated from Vågan as a town, and municipality of its own, in 1919 - but it was again merged with Vågan January 1, 1964. The place is first mentioned in 1567 ("Suoluer"), but it is probably much older.

Svolvær is located in Lofoten on the south coast of Austvågøy, facing the open sea to the south, and with mountains immediately to the north. The most famous mountain, Svolværgeita, was first climbed in 1910. Svolvær is partly located on smaller islands, such as Svinøya, connected to the main island by way of the Svinøy Bridge. Sheltered by the mountains to the north and west, the Svolvær area has less fog and experiences somewhat higher daytime temperatures in summer than the western part of Lofoten, but the same mountains also create more orographic precipitation on rainy days (weather forecast). Precipitation is heaviest in autumn and winter; October averages three times as much rain as does June. Svolvær has an average frost-free season of nearly 6 months. My friend Sissel sent me this lovely card.

Land of the Midnight Sun

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the north of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the south of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours, mostly north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. The number of days per year with potential midnight sun increases the farther poleward one goes from the equator. Although approximately defined by the polar circles, in practice midnight sun can be seen as much as 90 km beyond the polar circle, because the sun is a disk and not a point, and the exact latitudes of the farthest reaches of midnight sun depend on topography and vary slightly year-to-year.

Where is the Land of the Midnight Sun? The sun shining at midnight in the arctic or Antarctic summer is known as the midnight sun. Norway is popularly called the “Land of the Midnight Sun” because this phenomenon has been more frequently observed in that region by visitors from western Europe and the United States. The description would be equally applicable to other high latitudes above the Arctic Circle, such as northern. Russia, northern Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland, where in midsummer the sun does not sink below the horizon at any time within the twenty-four hours of the day. Instead of setting as it does in our latitudes, the sun in these regions merely goes around and around above the horizon, being part of the time in the north. In Iceland, for instance, during June and July, daylight is perpetual and a person can read a book by natural light at any time of the night. Within a distance of about four minutes of arc from the North Pole the sun rises and sets but once a year; in other words, the year is composed of one day and one night, each six months ‘in length. The number of sunrises in a year increases from one at the Pole to 365 at a short distance south of the Arctic Circle. Strictly speaking, only the northern part of Norway lies within the domain of the midnight sun. Similar conditions with the seasons reversed exist in the Antarctic. On March 21 the relative positions of the earth and sun are such that the latter illuminates exactly one-half of the surface of the former, and on that date night and day are equal in length in all parts of the world. Three months later, when the earth has completed a fourth of its circuit around the sun, the North Pole is turned toward the sun and the South Pole away from it. Another three months later the days and nights are once more equal in length everywhere on the earth. By December 21, when the earth has completed three-fourths of its circuit around the sun, the South Pole is turned toward the sun and the North Pole away from it. Of course, the land of the midnight sun is also the land of midday night. In the far north and the far south a person can observe the interesting phenomenon of a sunrise and sunset at the same time. This card sent to mr by Sissel depicts the Land of the Midnight sun appropriately.

Viking Alphabet - Runic alphabet

Little is known about the origins of the Runic alphabet, which is traditionally known as futhark after the first six letters. In Old Norse the word rune means 'letter', 'text' or 'inscription'. The word also means 'mystery' or 'secret' in Old Germanic languages, and runes had an important role in ritual and magic. Here are some theories about the origins of runes:

• The alphabet was probably created independently rather than evolving from another alphabet.
• Runic writing was probably first used in southern Europe and was carried north by Germanic tribes.
• The Runic alphabet is thought to have been modelled on the Latin and/or Etruscan alphabet.

The earliest known Runic inscriptions date from the 1st century AD, but the vast majority of Runic inscriptions date from the 11th century. Runic inscriptions have been found throughout Europe from the Balkans to Germany, Scandinavia and the British Isles. The Notable features are the direction of writing in early Runic inscriptions is variable. Later they settled down into a left to right pattern, and the Word divisions were not generally recognised in Runic writing, although one or more dots were occasionally used for this function. Elder Futhark is thought to be the oldest version of the Runic alphabet, and was used in the parts of Europe which were home to Germanic peoples, including Scandinavia. Other versions probably developed from it. The names of the letters are shown in Common Germanic, the reconstructed ancestor of all Germanic languages. This nice card was sent to me by Kristiny from Norway.

Nærøyfjord fjord

The Nærøyfjord (or Nærøyfjorden) is a in the municipality of Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. The narrow fjord is a branch of the large Sognefjord, and it is featured on the "Norway in a Nutshell" daytrips for tourists. The 18-kilometre (11 mi) long fjord is only 500 metres (1,600 ft) wide in some parts. This part of Norway is without a doubt, one of the most scenic areas in the world. The river Nærøydalselvi flows down the valley Nærøydalen into the fjord at the village of Gudvangen, near the highway. Since 2005, the Nærøyfjord has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has also been rated by the National Geographic Society as the world's number one natural heritage site along with the Geirangerfjord. My dear friend Merja sent me this card.