Karl Johan’s gate is Oslo’s main street, and if you follow it to the end you end up at the castle of Norway, where the king and queen of Norway lives. The street is named after a union king called Karl III Johan, and he came from Sweden. 

Akershus fortress is one of the most significant fortress in the Norwegian history. It is over 700 years old. The king and queen of Norway used to live in the Akershus fortress, but they moved to the place they live in now.  

The Parliament building is called “Stortinget” in Norwegian. The Parliament passes by 169 representatives, selected by our 19 counties. The Parliament’s job is to decide the laws of Norway. Our prime minister, Erna Solberg, is the “leader” of the Parliament. The Parliament opened up in 1866. 

Sætre gård is a building in Sætre. It was built in the 1700s. It is one of the oldest buildings in the area. It was used to export ice to other countries. Since 1861, the Sæthre family has been the owners of the building. Today, the Sætre gård is a restaurant.   

Sætre gård is a building in Sætre. It was built in the 1700s. It is one of the oldest buildings in the area. It was used to export ice to other countries. Since 1861, the Sæthre family has been the owners of the building. Today, the Sætre gård is a restaurant.   

Sætre exists because of Dyno Industries. Alfred Nobel helped with Dyno in Sætre. Dyno used to produce explosives. People moved here because of Dyno. Since then, production of explosives has stopped. There is a discussion about if there should be a museum there. It is unlikely as there is a large danger that an explosion could happen.

Håøya is a large island that is located in Oslofjorden. It is the largest island on the inner part of the fjord. It is next to Sætre.

Stikkvannet is a pond located in Sætre. There is a stream that flows from the pond and towards the fjord. There is a cabin next to the pond. It is very popular to ski to stikkvannet during the winter. Stikkvannet is approximately 5 kilometers away from Sætre.

Fjords are something important to Norway. Fjords are commonly thought of as Norwegian landmarks. Oslofjorden and Drammensfjorden surround Hurum county. Hurum county is a peninsula. The fjords are very beautiful. Oslofjorden is very important to Oslo (the capital of Oslo) because it makes transportation. The fjord is basically a busy trading center. The fjord connects Oslo to the ocean.

Engenekollen is a large hill located next to Sætre Elementary School. It is popular to walk up the hill from the side that is not as steep. There is a fantastic view from the top.

Mørkvannet is also a pond located in the Sætre area. Unlike Stikkvannet, it isn’t to common to ski there. Common activities there are rowing  and fishing. 

In our spare time, Norwegians tend to go to their cabins. The cabins are often small, and have no electricity or water. So it is kind of travelling back in time to the old days.My parents thinks it so beautiful to go there, because it reminds them about their childhood.  Personally, I have a cabin in Hemsedal, and i don’t understand why we have them, because you go around for days with nothing to do. And it’s really popular to go to your cabin at the winter to ski, but I’m not a big fan of that. It’s really just standing at two sticks sliding at snow. 

Oscarsborg fortress: 

Oscarsborg is a beautiful fortress which is important to Norway's history. The island is placed in the oslofjord. It’s made to protect Norway gets Oscarsborg Fortress is a very popular tourist destination, with many cannons and stuff from the war. It was built in 1840, which makes it one of Norway’s youngest fortifications. When the war started, the fortress shot and sank the German ship “Blücher”.

The main symbol of this festival is Mari Jaia (Miss festival).

On Christmas eve, in Bilbao, and in all the Basque country, the one that carries the gifts is the Olentzero, who is the Basque Santa Claus. He comes from the mountains and carries a bag with gifts and coal. We also put the gifts under the Christmas tree. 
Another very important date at Christmas is New Year’s eve.On that night we eat 12 grapes one for each clock strike. After that, people usually leave their houses and go partying until early morning hours. In these parties people usually dance, ate, dance and have fun.

On the 5th of February we celebrate Santa Agueda.It is a Basque festival to remember a girl called Agueda. She didn't want to have sex before getting married and a powerful man tortured her by cutting her breast.  On Santa Agueda’s day, we sing the song that tells Agueda’s story, marking the rhythm with sticks. 

If we speak about ordinary holidays, we must mention Christmas(2 weeks) , Easter(2 weeks), Carnival(one week)  and summer holidays (2 months).

As everybody that comes to the Basque Country says, we, the Basque people, always celebrate things by having big meals with family and friends.

Some of the most famous dishes in Basque cuisine are cod ( a type of fish)which is often eaten in a red pepper sauce, squids in black sauce, “porrusalda” (potato and leek chowder), “marmitako”(potato and tuna chowder),rice pie and grilled T-bone steak (type of meat). As a dessert you can taste Basque Gateau, rice pudding , rice pie , milk curd with honey ,custard, and “pantxineta”(puff pastry and cream tart ).

On holidays we haven’t got a special meal.In each house each family eats what they want.For example, in Libe’s house on special days they eat prawns.

If you want to eat these things in Bilbao I invite you to try these restaurants:”Bistró Guggenheim Bilbao”,”Coppola Bilbao” and “La Tagliatella”(Italian restaurant).

You can also go to The Rivera market, which is a group of restaurants and a market in the same building.There are some restaurants above the market.In it you can shop for fresh fish, meat, and in general all kind of fresh food.

Bilbao is tourist city.

On 1511 it transformed into a  commercial town and at the end of the  XIX century into an industrial town.
 
The port of Bilbao:The historical port was located in what today is an area called the Arenal, a few steps from the Casco Viejo, until the late 20th century. 
 

The most famous and important buildings in Bilbao are the Guggenheim museum, Iberdrola tower, Cathedral of Santiago, Arriaga theatre, Fine Arts Museum and the San Mames Stadium.

  Bilbao has been an important city in many historical events.One of them was The Battle of Bilbao, which  was part of the war in the north, during the Spanish Civil War.

-Saint Jacques way pases near Bilbao.

 In 1973 there was an economic crisis that affected the industry. They wanted to rebuild Bilbao for it to be a more commercial and habitable city. 

-Gernika peppers.

-Basque Gateau (A traditional pie).

-Txakoli (typical basque wine).

-Txakoli (typical basque wine).

-Honey.

-Carolina (a meringue pie)
and more…

Local Street Markets and Important shops:

-In Arrese, Bertiz and Gernika (Are cake shops, bakeshops and coffee shops) you can buy Basque Gateau, Butter bun and carolina for example.
- In all bars you can find  butter buns.

- At the supermarkets you can buy gernika peppers, txakoli and honey.

 

 Basque rural sports: At the beginning they weren't sports, this activities were things that the farmers did in their   everyday life, nowadays they are sports.

  

Wood chopping: It consist in cutting tree trunks faster than the opponent. This rural sport is  usually practised at the village squares and in “frontons”.


Stone lifting: Stone lifting in basque (harri-jasotzaile)  in which stones of various shapes and sizes must be lifted off the ground and onto the shoulder. 
Tug-of-war: Two teams of 8  have to try dragging the other team over a line pulling on the rope.
Basque pilota: It consists of hitting with the hand a small ball made of leather  against a wall. 
Football

Athletic: Is a Basque football team,it  is the most important in  the Basque country. This team is the only team that plays only with players from the Basque country.
Basketball

Bilbao Basket: Is a Basque basketball team, Bilbao basket has a strong rivalry with Baskonia basket, another Basque team. They have often got to the finals but they haven't won anything. 
Architecture:

José María Chapa Galínde: This architect was born in Bilbao, he designed the tower of BBVA that is in the centre of Bilbao.

Pedro Ispizua Susunaga: This architect was born in Bermeo a village near Bilbao and he designed the Rivera market ,a building near the old part, the building of the tiger  near the river was designed by him too.

Writers

Miguel de unamuno: Was a Basque novelist, poet, and philosopher.
 
Famous sportsmen
Rafael Moreno "Pichichi" was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward.He played for Athletic Bilbao during the 1910s and 1920s. 

 

There are many sports that are known here in Sætre and here is some of them;

Gymnastics:  Gymnastics is a men's and women's sport that requires balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, endurance and control.

Gymnastics works on  developing the arms, legs, back,  shoulders, chest and abdominals muscle groups.It typically involves the women's events of vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Men's events include floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.

Scouts: The scouts is a sport where you work on your knowledge of nature and things you need to to know to be able to have a successful trip. There are at least ten people in our school who goes in the scouts. We have a lot of trips during the year. My old group Isbjørn (Polar bear) made it to the Norway cup. Now Ciaran and i are leading our own scout groups.

Football/soccer: Football/soccer is the most popular sport here in Sætre. Most people (mainly boys)  has their favorite team and plays in a Football club. The club here in sætre used to be good but everyone quit it and joined another. there are none my age that play in gråbein, ( the club in sætre) they all have joined another football club.

HAndball - Handball is the sport that nearly all the girls play.  The sport is very popular in Norway and maybe the second most played sport in Norway. 

Music/ Artists: There is one really famous person who lives here in Sætre, his name is Morten Harket. Morten sings in  A-ha! and has famous songs. An example is Take On Me.  This is his house, I walk past it to school every day.

THE KON-TIKI MUSEUM: This museum is located in Oslo. Here you can see different things from the famous expedition of Kon-Tiki. The main exhibits are especially adapted for children. Since 1950 nearly 20 million people have visited the museum.

Dubbing of Movies: We don’t dub the movies here in Norway, but we make some Norwegian movies.  There was one  movie that was abit famous it was  called trolljegeren/ troll hunter and it was made here and it was so famous that it got dubbed to English and many other languages.

Architecture:

Here is our municipality house.                              

This building is located in the centre                      

of Sætre:                                                                                                           

Here is the Opera House in Oslo. This building is very popular for                                                                             tourists: 

Here is the Astrup Fearnley Museum 

in Oslo:  

Famous Norwegian Authors: There are probably not any Norwegian writers you know about, but recently there was a film made about the norwegian book Snømannen (Snowman). The book is written by one of the most famous norwegian writers called Jo Nesbø.  He was born the 29 march in 1960 (57 years old). He has written loads of famous books f.eks.  Snowman (2007), The RedBreast (2000), The Bat (1997) and many more.

Famous Instruments in Sætre and Oslo/ Most known instruments:  Guitar, Piano, Violin, And  many others.

Sætre is a really small town, especially compared to Oslo. Oslo is the biggest town in Norway, and it is also Norway’s capital. Sætre is 45 minutes away from Oslo, if you drive.

Everyone in Sætre lives in a house, but as normal some houses are bigger than others. As I said, Sætre is a small town with 2 kindergartens, and 1 elementary school, and 1 junior high. We don’t have a high school in Sætre, the closest one is in Røyken and it’s 15 minutes away.

There is around 4000 inhabitants in Sætre, and in Oslo there was 634 293 inhabitants in 2014. They haven’t updated the website since 2014 so that was the closest time to 2017 that I could find.

This is Sætre’s city flag:

And this is Oslo’s flag:

Living in Sætre/Oslo

It’s hard to explain how we live because it’s probably really similar except around winter. It’s not so hot in the summer, but it's cold in the winter. 

We love living in Sætre because everyone knows each other. But in Oslo it’s not the same. We got to beaches in Sætre, and a lot of beautiful locations. It’s also beautiful places in oslo, and a lot of art.

By Julia

The Winter is very cold, and it’s a lot of snow. In Oslo the whole city if lighting up, and we have a christmas marked in Oslo too. On winter vacation we norwegians usually go skiing and we ice skate on the ice. It’s quite fun to be in Norway when it is winter, except the cold though.

In the Spring it’s not cold, but not warm either. There are many flowers, and a lot of colour in the nature. On easter vacation we also go skiing, and we also celebrate easter. I love Spring and easter!

We Norwegians claim that we have the best summer, the temperature is usually about 15-20 degrees. Not that warm, but warm enough for us. On summer vacation many Norwegians go to other countries, and some are on boat vacation. 

In Autumn, it’s quite cold in Norway, we actually have snow now! And there are leaves everywhere, and the trees are so beautiful! On autumn vacation some go to another country, or we stay home! But it is quite chill actually.

Made by Ronja.

Our breakfast, lunch and dinner: We in Sætre eat breakfast home before school and we starts on school early at the morning. For lunch we make lunchbox with bread and ham, cheese, jam, liver paste, brown cheese or butter. Some people have dinner rests in their lunchbox. Most of the people in Norway eat varied dinners, like fish, spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, burger, taco and a lot more. It's also normal to have things to the dinner like sauces, dips, potatoes and things like that. 

(In primary School(6-12) and Junior high school(13-16) you usually starts at 08:30 and leave school at about 14:00. At high school (17+) you usually leave school at about 15:00 and most workers quit their job at about 16:00-17:00.)

 

Norwegians breakfasts and lunches often consist of a slice of open sandwiches, Dark sliced bread with meat, jam, cheese etc.. In primary School(6-12) and Junior high school(ungdomsskole)13-16) you usually leave school at about 14:00. At high school(videregående) (16+) you usually leave school at about 15:00 and most workers quit their job at about 16:00-17:00. 

Christmas Eve in Norway is a time for families to come together, eat and celebrate. Aswell presents are often exchanged and the kids puts a bowl of food, often porridge(grøt) for Santa Claus to eat.The gifts are sometimes brought by Santa Claus(Julenissen in Norwegian). Present are also brought by the small gnomes called: “Nisser”. Children pick up the presents from under the Christmas Tree and read the cards that's on the presents out loud. One of the most famous things about Christmas in Norway is the big Spruce Tree, a christmas tree that Norway gives to the UK every year. The tree is given as a present to thank the people of the UK for the help that they gave to Norway during Second World War. The christmas tree stands in the middle of London and often hundreds of people come to watch when the lights are getting turned on.

Halloween tends to be in the end of October. In the halloween eve we tend to get dressed out, and knocked on different doors and ask for candy. Halloween is originating from the catholic all saints day.

Easter is an important time for us in Norway. If you are friendly, maybe the easter bunny comes and give you a easter egg under your bed. We celebrate easter because Jesus was hanged on the cross. We got eggs to remind us of  the ancient egyptians. Sow the eggs are our symbol.   

May 17th is Norway’s Constitution day. This is because the 17th of May in 1814 the Norwegian Constitution were signed. Now children often walk with their School, kindergarten or family in a parade. Every School district arranges it’s own parade. The biggest parade of them all is the one in Oslo, the parade gets several kilometers long and includes several schools and kindergartens, the parade passes the royal palace where the king and his family greet the people.  It’s also normal to sing songs while you walk in the parade.

-Guggenheim Bilbao
 The Guggenheim museum of Bilbao is a contemporary art museum ,designed by the Canadian architect Frank O.Gehry.It was inaugurated on 18th October of 1997.This year it has celebrated its 20th  anniversary with a  light and music festival  outside the museum at night!!!

Puppy is a sculpture made by the  American artist Jeff Kons  in 1992.It represents  a puppy, a West Highland white Terrier.It is made of   steel and covered by natural plants,that are replaced  when they stop blooming.Its dimensions are 12400 x 9100 x 8500 mm.

-Portugalete bridge:

This bridge is famous because it is a suspension bridge that can  transport cars, lorries and etc… The architects of this bridge were Alberto De Palacio and Elissague. It was constructed between 1887 and 1893.and was opened on 28th july of 1893.

Nature builds:
 

Oma forest:   Oma forest is a work of art created by Agustin Ibarrola, a Basque sculptor and painter in the natural reserve of Urdaibai. It is also known as the "painted forest". It was created between 1982 and 1985. It consists of a set of trees painted with many colours and drawings.

 

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe: Is located in Bermeo. Is similar to an island.  On the top of a rock where there is a Hermit. The highest height is 79 metres. Near Gaztelugatxe there is another similar island called Aquech. Some of the episodes of Game of Thrones have been filmed there.

 

 

 

Gorbea Mountain: It is located between Alava and Bizkaia, It is the highest in the Basque Country, its  highest peak is 1481. On the top there is a cross 17,23 metres high.