#67 GF - Oslo, Norway

Norwegians are famous for their love of their own culture, traditions and customs. For years, on the night of June 23-24, on St. John's Night (also known as Midsummer's Eve), bonfires have been lit throughout Norway to celebrate the beginning of summer.

 

Pin-up girl by Gil Elvgren - Oslo, Norway

Gillette A. Elvgren was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising, and illustration. Best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow, Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He was strongly influenced by the early "pretty girls" illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. 

 

#43 FOTW - Lillesand, Norway

Fredrik Meltzer submitted his proposal just in time to be exhibited in parliament on 4 May 1821. He recommended a tricolour of red, white and blue, "three colours that now denote freedom, such as we have seen in the French flag of freedom, and still see in that of the Dutch and Americans, and the Union of the Englishmen". His eventual choice a few days later of a Nordic cross was based on the tradition established by the other Nordic countries, Denmark and Sweden. This cross represents Christianity. The red and blue colours also explicitly referred to the same two countries, former and present union partners.