Three mermaids of Norway

Drøbak is a small city lying in the Oslofjord. Oslofjord is a bay in the South East of Oslo, Norway. The city is very beautiful with lake like water view of the fjord. The fjord serves as a water road for all the ships and boats to and from Oslo. Last week, I had a visit to this place again as it was summer. A girl is reading while resting on the rock rooted deep down the water. Three mermaids with different poses are sitting on a rock lying adjacent to Drøbak Aquarium. But this mermaids statue is not popular compare to a statue of 'the Little Mermaid' of Copenhagen harbour in Denmark.

Roses for you!

Roses are the symbols of love and beauty. Roses are gift to lover, God and even soul and spirit. May be due to its colour, symbolic meaning and softness, it is used as national flower, national symbol and commercial trade mark by many countries and people. The colour of roses symbolises different meaning. It may be love, friendship, peace and so on... It is you to decide which rose you like among the following four ones. The pictures of these roses are taken from the rose garden at Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway.

Agricultural landscape of Norway

With green fields of wheat and potatoes, one might be confused whether Norway is an agricultural country or not. I am also not sure but due to its physical and climatic condition, it might be not. The arable and permanent cropland is also less than 3% of the total land area. The crops like barley, wheat, oats, potatoes and hay for animals are only grown during summer while thick snow covers whole land during winter. I came to know that Norway exports milk, fish and meat products and imports fruits, vegetables, and grains. The landscape pictures with wheat and strawberry fields are of summer. Fruits like apples and cherries are seen along the road sides and in home gardens but no commercial production of them.

Rhododendron: Gurans in Nepali

I have three posts on general information on Rhododendron. If you are interested on scientific nomenclature, here is it.
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Rhododendron L.
Species: (depends, e.g., arboreum)

Local name: Lali gurans in case of the national flower of Nepal which looks similar to the first picture in structure but has the colour like to the second picture.

I came to know that Rhododendron is being protected and conserved through local initiatives. Click here to see the activities of that project and to know the names of different Rhododendron flowers with the help of picture.

Rhododendron from Norway

Rhododendron is widely distributed species (growing from Northern to Southern hemisphere) though higher diversity is found in Himalaya. The flower is also cultivated as ornamental due to evergreen nature of plant and different shapes, size and coloured flowers. These are the snaps of some of the ornamental Rhododendrons in Norway.

Rhododendron - Nepal's national flower

Rhododendron is a beautiful flower with different colours and shapes. The Greek translation of Rhododendron means 'Rose tree'. However, Rhododendron may be small shrub to tall tree (up to 12 m). The hills of Nepal are coloured red, white or pink during the blooming season of Rhododendron. This flower also got national recognizing as national flower in Nepal. The genus and species which is dark red in colour is Rhododendron arboreum which is called as 'Lali Gurans' in Nepali. I will be posting the pictures of different Rhododendrons from Norway. Sorry, I don't know their species name.

Oslo in May 17

May 17 is the national day of Norway. The current constitution was adopted on this date so it is being observed as constitution day or national day since 1814. Norwegians gather at the main city center to celebrate the day in their typical dress, flag and cheers in their face. In different places, children perform parades with the school band through the local community. Parents and other people cheer up the children's activities on the day. Here are some of the pictures from Norway's capital, Oslo. The day was cold with snow and rain but there were many people to celebrate the day.