Oslo Travel Guide

Oslo is the capital of Norway with approximately 500.000 inhabitans, or a little over 10% of the country`s total population. About one third of the total population of the country lives around the Oslo Fjord area.Oslo - The city of the Nobel Peace Prize, was founded in the year 1000 and has celebrated its 1000 years anniversary in the year 2000. Oslo City is located as far north as St. Petersburg, Anchorage in Alaska and Kap Farvel in Greenland. Even though the city is situated so far north, its climate is temperate in the autumn and warm in summer. The winters last from 3 to 5 months with very good skiing conditions in the hills around the city.

You need at last three days to explore this city. Oslo has a number of parks, museums, churches and other beautiful places: It’s a fun place to explore on your own. Hours can be spent strolling along Karl Johans Gate (the main street) to the Royal Palace and perusing the Edvard Munch Museum. The works of various other Norwegian painters can be viewed at the National Gallery. Other attractions in Oslo include the Vigeland Museum in Frogner Park, The Vking Ship Museum at bygdøy with a full-sized genuine ship from the medeival age and the Open-Air Folk Museum with numerous centuries-old buildings from across Norway.

Tøyen, Grunerløkka and Gamle-Oslo are also nice places to go. Here you can chill in a café, try italian ice or see old Oslo.

Numerous cruise ships visit Oslo and it is a great way to see Oslo’s tourist attractions in a day.

Norway Travel Guide

You need only have a quick glance at a map of Norway to guess where the main attractions are: that jagged coastline is home to Norway’s world famous Fjords. Almost 22,000 kilometers of dramatic coastline, glacial melting waters plunging down cliffs into fjords more than 100 kilometers long, tens of thousands of islands and skerries, and none of it is off limits. If the outdoors is where you feel comfortable, and if you would rather not stand in line to look at nature, welcome to Norway!Located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northwest Europe, Norway’s geography is a constant reminder of the last Ice Age. In the central high plateaus of Southern Norway, the alpine terrain culminates at the peaks of Galdhøpiggen (2469m) and Glittertind (2468m). Several glaciers, most famous of which are Jostedalsbreen and Svartisen (”The Black Ice”) are present day remains of ice that carved the many deep fjords and left behind fertile valleys with meandering rivers. Although home to the northern tip of Europe - Nordkapp, or North Cape - the country enjoys a mild climate for its latitude, in part due to the warm currents from the Gulf of Mexico.

Apart from its awe inspiring fjords (the biggest of which are Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord), popular sights are the Lofoten islands, the beautiful Sørlandet (the South Coast), and the many charming towns and cities, most of which are found along water’s edge. Norway is home to 4.5 million people, and occupies an area of 323.759 square kilometers.

Most tourists visit in summer, when the days are long, or even never-ending as the midnight sun appears in much of the northern parts of the country. Popular destinations such as boating towns in the South, the big fjords on the West Coast, and the Lofoten islands in the North see their fair share of tourists, especially in June, July and August, but crowds are never much of a problem. In the winter months, travelers can enjoy winter-sports in the mountains across most of the country. Norway’s reputation as a pricey destination stems from high prices on dining and other tourist necessities. However, with some planning it is quite possible to experience this country on a budget. Public transportation is both well developed and affordable, accommodations are usually reasonable (inexepensive “hytter” or rooms to let are often available), and most scenic destinations are free. Almost all Norwegians speak English, and most are happy to talk to or help tourists.

The principal cities are Oslo, the Capital of Norway; Bergen, the historic port city on the West Coast, and Trondheim, the Viking Age Capital and home to Northern Europe’s only medieval Gothic Cathedral. Tromso, the “Gateway to the Arctic” is a lively city, centrally located among Northern Norway’s spectacular scenery; Stavanger, “The Oil Capitol” of Norway is a scenic town in the far Southern part of the country.

If you want even more adventure, head for the Arctic islands of Svalbard (a.k.a. Spitsbergen) where Polar Bears frequent the (usually snowcovered) streets of Longyear City.

England Travel Guide

England shows many different faces: pulsing city life and lonely landscapes, old-fashioned customs and avant-garde culture, lovely beaches and rough mountains. For cultural sightseeing as for nightlife, London is ceaselessly thriving, and inevitably, it is the one place that features on everyone’s itinerary. It is not only Europe’s biggest city (with a population of over seven million} and capital of the United Kingdom, but also the place where the country’s news, politics and money are made. Within the southeast of England, along the coastline, Canterbury, the bishopric seat of Thomas Becket, offers contrasting diversions. This is the richest part of the country due to its agricultural wealth and proximity to the capital. The southwest of England with the rugged moorlands of Devon and the rocky coastline of Cornwall is another spot worth discovering. Salisbury, where they say the West Country starts, is dominated by the elegant spire of its cathedral. In Neolithic times, a rich and powerful culture evolved here, as shown by monuments such as Stonehenge and Avebury.
The main urban attraction of western England is Bristol , but Bath and Exeter are also worth a visit. In the centre of the country, the chief attractions are the old university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the town of Shakespeare, Stratford upon Avon, though the often bypassed city of Norwich, over in the picturesque flatlands of East Anglia, can be equally rewarding. In the north of England, the industrial cities of Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester are gritty and lively places, and York and Durham have splendid historical treasures, but the landscape again is the real magnet, especially the uplands of the Lake District and the dales of Yorkshire.

France People

Population: 58 804 944 (July 1998 est)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 19% (male 5 674 417; female 5 411 685)

15-64 years: 65% (male 19 243 919; female 19 182 933)

65 years and over: 16% (male 3 759 565; female 5 532 425) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.31% (1998 est)

Birth rate: 11.68 births/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 9.12 deaths/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.58 migrant(s)/1 000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

below 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female

65 years and above: 0.67 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 5.69 deaths/1 000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

total population: 78.51 years

male: 74.6 years

female: 82.62 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.63 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:

noun: Frenchman(men) Frenchwoman(women)

adjective: French

Ethnic groups: Celtic and Latin with Teutonic Slavic Arabian African Indochinese Basque minorities

Religions: Roman Catholic 85% Protestant 2% Jewish 1% Muslim (North African workers) 6% unaffiliated 4%

Languages: French 100% rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal Breton Alsatian Corsican Catalan Basque Flemish)

Literacy:

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 99%

male: 99%

female: 99% (1980 est.)

France Economy

Economy—overview: One of the four West European trillion-dollar economies France matches a growing services sector with a diversified industrial base and substantial agricultural resources. Services now account for more than 70% of GDP while industry generates about one-quarter of GDP and more than 80% of export earnings. The government retains considerable influence over key segments of each sector with majority ownership of railway electricity aircraft and telecommunication firms. It nevertheless has been slowly relaxing its control over these sectors since the early 1990s most recently selling 23% of France Telecom. The government also plans to sell its stakes in Air France and in the insurance banking and defense industries. Meanwhile large tracts of fertile land the application of modern technology and subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer in Western Europe. A major exporter of wheat and dairy products France is virtually self-sufficient in agriculture. The economy expanded by 2.3% last year following a 1.3% gain in 1996. Persistently high unemployment still poses a major problem for the government however as does the need to control government spending to keep the economy internationally competitive and meet membership qualifications for the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which is slated to introduce a common European currency in January 1999. Succeeding governments have shied away from cutting exceptionally generous social welfare benefits or the enormous state bureaucracy preferring to pare defense spending and raise taxes to keep the deficit down. The JOSPIN administration has pledged both to lower unemployment and bring France into EMU pinning its hopes for new jobs on economic growth and on legislation to gradually reduce the workweek from 39 to 35 hours by 2002.

GDP: purchasing power parity—$1.32 trillion (1997 est.)

GDP—real growth rate: 2.3% (1997 est.)

GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$22 700 (1997 est.)

GDP—composition by sector:

agriculture: 2.4%

industry: 26.5%

services: 71.1% (1994)

Inflation rate—consumer price index: 2% (1996)

Labor force:

total: 25.5 million

by occupation: services 69% industry 26% agriculture 5% (1995)

Unemployment rate: 12.4% (1997)

Budget:

revenues: $222 billion

expenditures: $265 billion including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)

Industries: steel machinery chemicals automobiles metallurgy aircraft electronics mining textiles food processing tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 4% (1997 est.)

Electricity—capacity: 102.94 million kW (1995)

Electricity—production: 467.541 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity—consumption per capita: 6 841 kWh (1995)

Agriculture—products: wheat cereals sugar beets potatoes wine grapes; beef dairy products; fish catch of 850 000 metric tons ranks among world’s top 20 countries and is all used domestically

Exports:

total value: $275 billion (f.o.b. 1997 est.)

commodities: machinery and transportation equipment chemicals foodstuffs agricultural products iron and steel products textiles and clothing

partners: Germany 17% Italy 9% UK 9% Spain 8% Belgium-Luxembourg 8% US 6% Netherlands 4.5% Japan 2% Russia 0.7% (1996)

Imports:

total value: $256 billion (f.o.b. 1997 est.)

commodities: crude oil machinery and equipment agricultural products chemicals iron and steel products

partners: Germany 17% Italy 10% US 9% Belgium-Luxembourg 8% UK 8% Spain 7% Netherlands 5% Japan 3% China 2% (1997 est.)

Debt—external: $117.6 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid:

donor: ODA $7.915 billion (1993)

Currency: 1 French franc (F) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: French francs (F) per US$1—6.0836 (January 199 5.8367 (1997) 5.1155 (1996) 4.9915 (1995) 5.5520 (1994) 5.6632 (1993)

Fiscal year: calendar year

France Getting Around

By Car

The Autoroutes of France are a great way of getting to one part of the country to another. They are in perfect shape, the places to stop (aire de répos) are always very well organized - in Summer they often have activities for children - but there is one backdraw: péage. That means that you have to pay to use the autoroute, you get a ticket when you go on the autoroute and have to give the ticket and pay when you get off. It is always possible to pay with creditcard so you don’t have to have small change in your wallet.
Freeways (autoroutes) are mostly in good conditions. They have 3 lanes in each direction and speed limits are 130km/h (drops to 110km/h when there are bad weather conditions). As in the rest in Europe it is obligatory to always drive on the right. On the freeway this means that you always have to drive in the right lane and only use the middle or left lane to pass. It is illegal to pass a car on the left. However, this is not strictly respected by many French people as are the speeding limits: it isn’t unusual to see people drive 150km/h or more.

In contrary to North America, people don’t give directions using “north-bound” or “south-bound”. If you’re in Paris and you need to go to Monaco, prepare yourself for the trip by knowing all major cities you are going to pass. That way you just drive from city to city. If you know in advance which cities you’re going to visit you might want to get your driving directions from www.mappy.com.It’s the most comprehensive mapping program around and some travelers don’t move around France withour it.

By Train

France has the fastest trains in Europe. The TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse i.e. Very Fast Train) take you from Paris to most major cities at an average speed of some 300 km an hour. Nantes, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam (by Thalys) and London (by Eurostar) are all very close to Paris by TGV. There is no point in taking the plane if you can fly by train.

On Foot

The Grand Randonee is a footpath that takes you from one end to France to the other. In every region of France there are branches of the GR. The total length of the footpaths is 140000 km, that’s about 4 times around the globe.

France History

France was one of the earliest countries to progress from feudalism into the era of the nation-state. Its monarchs surrounded themselves with capable ministers and French armies were among the most innovative disciplined and professional of their day.

During the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715) France was the dominant power in Europe. But overly ambitious projects and military campaigns of Louis and his successors led to chronic financial problems in the 18th century. Deteriorating economic conditions and popular resentment against the complicated system of privileges granted the nobility and clerics were among the principal causes of the French Revolution (1789-94).

Although the revolutionaries advocated republican and egalitarian principles of government France reverted to forms of absolute rule or constitutional monarchy four times–the Empire of Napoleon the Restoration of Louis XVIII the reign of Louis-Philippe and the Second Empire of Napoleon III.

After the Franco-Prussian War (1870) the Third Republic was established and lasted until the military defeat of 1940.

World War I (1914-1 brought great losses of troops and materiel. In the 1920s France established an elaborate system of border defenses (the Maginot Line) and alliances to offset resurgent German strength.

France was defeated early in World War II however and occupied in June 1940. The German victory left the French groping for a new policy and new leadership suited to the circumstances. On July 10 1940 the Vichy Government was established. Its senior leaders acquiesced in the plunder of French resources as well as the sending of French forced labor to Germany; in doing so they claimed they hoped to preserve at least some small amount of French sovereignty.

The German occupation proved quite costly however as a full one-half of France’s public sector revenue was appropriated by Germany. After 4 years of occupation and strife Allied forces liberated France in 1944. A bitter legacy carries over to the present day.

France emerged from World War II to face a series of new problems. After a short period of provisional government initially led by Gen. Charles de Gaulle the Fourth Republic was set up by a new constitution and established as a parliamentary form of government controlled by a series of coalitions. The mixed nature of the coalitions and a consequent lack of agreement on measures for dealing with Indochina and Algeria caused successive cabinet crises and changes of government.

Finally on May 13 1958 the government structure collapsed as a result of the tremendous opposing pressures generated in the divisive Algerian issue. A threatened coup led the parliament to call on General de Gaulle to head the government and prevent civil war. He became Prime Minister in June 1958 (at the beginning of the Fifth Republic) and was elected President in December of that year.

Seven years later in an occasion marking the first time in the 20th century that the people of France went to the polls to elect a president by direct ballot de Gaulle won re-election with a 55% share of the vote defeating Francois Mitterrand. In April 1969 President de Gaulle’s government conducted a national referendum on the creation of 21 regions with limited political powers. The government’s proposals were defeated and de Gaulle subsequently resigned.

Succeeding him as President of France have been Gaullist Georges Pompidou (1969-74) Independent Republican Valery Giscard d’Estaing (1974-81) Socialist Francois Mitterrand (1981-95) and neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac (elected in spring 1995).

While France continues to revere its rich history and independence French leaders are increasingly tying the future of France to the continued development of the European Union. During President Mitterrand’s tenure he stressed the importance of European integration and advocated the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on European economic and political union which France’s electorate narrowly approved in September 1992.

Current President Jacques Chirac assumed office May 17 1995 after a campaign focused on the need to combat France’s stubbornly high unemployment rate. The center of domestic attention soon shifted however to the economic reform and belt-tightening measures required for France to meet the criteria for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) laid out by the Maastricht Treaty. In late 1995 France experienced its worst labor unrest in at least a decade as employees protested government cutbacks. On the foreign and security policy front Chirac took a more assertive approach to protecting French peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia and helped promote the peace accords negotiated in Dayton and signed in Paris in December 1995. The French have been one of the strongest supporters of NATO and EU policy in Kosovo and the Balkans.

France Travel Guide

France is the number one tourist destination in the world. It has everything that you could ever want to see on your holidays: a great city like Paris, good beaches, more monuments than any other country, lovely nature, incredible mountain scenery; need I go on? France is also a very pleasant place to stay. It has good food, great wines and people enjoy their lives. And the best thing is, maybe apart from Paris, living in France does not have to be expensive.
The North of France consists of the flatlands around the town of Lille and the Channel. The area will remind visitors in many ways of Belgium and the Netherlands. The Grand’ Place in Lille for example is a lot like that of Brussels.

Paris, the city of light and its surroundings are one of the most visited areas. Paris is without a doubt one of the most pretty cities on the planet.

The West of France is turned towards the Atlantic Coast. In the north Normandy & Brittany have rolling hills, sandy beaches and quiet little harbour towns. Normandy & Brittany have a more rugged coast and many neolithic sites. It has quite a distinct atmosphere from the rest of the country; you can still sense the Celtic origin of the region and its inhabitants. Nantes and Bordeaux are the biggest cities on the west coast. Bordeaux, capital of the south west, is a stylish city famous for its wines and its 18-th century architecture. The Pays Basque is the southernmost part of the Atlantic Coast of France. The resort of Biarritz is posh, but pretty.

The eastern part of France consists of the Alsace, Lorraine, Franche Comté and Burgundy regions. The landscape has rolling hills and many beautiful cities, such as Metz, Strasbourg, Nancy and Dijon. This region produces many famous wines, including magnificent pinot noirs and chardonnays valued the world over, as well as the famous “Yellow wine” from the Jura mountain vineyard.

The Center is in many ways the most quiet part of France. But the great treasure of this region is the Loire valley , with many great castles and beautiful towns. Chartres with its famous cathedral and Tours rate among the most beautiful French cities.

The Auvergne, centered on the Massif Central mountains that culminate at about 6000 ft, is one of the most beautiful regions of France. Much of it is upland, traversed by wild river valleys and an unspoilt natural environment. The north of the region stretches towards the flatter Loire valley. The regional capital is Clermont Ferrand, and the small city of Le Puy en Velay, with its historic churches perched on volcanic pinnacles, is one of the most surprising cities in France

The Alps are great for skiing in winter and hiking in summer. Albertville, Grenoble and Chamonix have all hosted the Olympic games. But the Alps also have nice towns to visit, such as Chambéry, Annecy or Grenoble .

The South with its lovely nature, good food, roman ruins and of course the Riviera draws a lot of visitors every year. Towns like Orange, and Arles but also big cities like Marseille and Toulon are must sees. The Provence is dotted with pleasant small villages. In the South west of France the Dordogne is one of the most quintessential French regions. The valley is so pretty, the towns are so cute and the food is so good, that it is hard to believe that the people who live here go somewhere else for their holidays. The Languedoc has its own language and culture. In the south of the Languedoc you find the Pyrenees, a great mountain range separating France from Spain, where you can hike and ski. The towns of Toulouse and Montpellier are nice and the medieval town of Carcassone is a top destination.

The island of Corsica has beautiful nature and a very special atmosphere. The Corsicans speak their own language and have a great sense of freedom.