Today let’s explore the size of Norway. Prior to this trip, my knowledge of Norway was the following: it’s far up North, near Sweden, near Switzerland (it’s not), and it has a lot of snow. Although my assumptions were ignorant, they were not as bad as other American assumptions. The girls from Gjendesheim hut informed me that some Americans had thought Norway was a town in Germany. At least I knew it was a country. Anyways, I had no clue to how big it actually is until I started driving on these weekend trips. In all reality, Norway gets duped on its size on maps due to the circular earth's projection on a flat 2D map. Here is the fairest 2D map I could find.
For those too lazy to look at a map after that introduction, Norway is relatively narrow and super duper long. I estimate that no matter where you are in Norway, you are no longer than a 4-5 hour drive from an ocean. The first week here a local proudly remarked that if you put a tack in Norway’s southern town, and rotate the rest of the country 180 deg, the other end would go as far south as Rome.
The footprint of Norway is good to know and all, but what impresses me most is the coastline. Here are the numbers that I’ve been able to find on-line:
840 miles = CA coastline
1,590 miles = Norway mainland coastline.
15,088 miles = Norway coastline including fjord indentations and island coasts = 60% the distance of the earth’s circumference
The only countries that beat the coastline length are Canada, Indonesia, Greenland, Russia, Philippines, Japan, and Australia (in that order). The US is right behind it, so perhaps we need to work harder on making Puerto Rico a state.
Anyways, that’s the geography lesson for the day.
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