Here are some real life facts of Norway which are stunning

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-Norway was originally called Nordweg, meaning the "Northern Way." 

-Norway's national symbol is the lion

-Norway's flag is red with a blue cross outlined in white that extends to the ends of the flag. The vertical part of the flag is shifted to the hoist side in the style of the Dannebrog (Danish flag). The colors recall Norway's past political unions with Denmark (red and white) and Sweden (blue)

-Beerenberg, at 7,306 feet (2,227 m), on Jan Mayen Island in the Norwegian Sea, is the Norway's only active volcano.

-The cheese slicer was invented in Norway in 1925 by Thor Bjørklund

-The official Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square in London has come from Norway every year since 1946

-Norway is the world's largest exporter of salmon

-Trondheim, Norway, was one of Europe's first wireless cities.

-The Norwegians founded Dublin, Ireland, in A.D.836.d.

-Norway has the highest gasoline prices in the world at US$9.79 per gallon, even though Norway is one the biggest exporters of oil in the world

-According to the 2013 Global Peace Index, Norway is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, ranking 11th out of 162 countries

-During World War II, the Norwegian mining town of Kirkenes suffered more bomb attacks than any other place in Europe except for Malta.

-Norwegian actor/singer Øystein Wiik has played the part of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables in Oslo, Vienna, London, and Munich

-Norway has won more medals in the Winter Olympics than any other country, with 332 to date since the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924. Ole Einar Bjøerndalen, a cross-country skier, is the most decorated Winter Olympian, with 13 total medals. Norway has hosted the Winter Olympics twice: Oslo in 1952 and Lillehammer in 1988

-Coffee came to Norway about 280 years ago, but it wasn't generally accepted until the 1870s. Today, Norwegians are among the world's biggest consumers of coffee per inhabitant

-Norway's Bjarni Herjólfsson, after losing his way while sailing from Iceland to Greenland in A.D. 986, ended up, according to an ancient saga, as the first European to sight the American continent

-Norwegians read more than any other population in the world, spending an average of 500 kroner (~ US$76) a year per capita on books. More than 2,000 book titles are published annually in Norway