Of Vikings and Rock: DAY 10 FRI. SEPT. 13 L'ANSE AUX MEADOWS

This was one of the good days. The weather was perfect and we were able to secure a second night at our hotel, which meant a day fully devoted to the historic site at L'Anse aux Meadows and very little driving. I enjoyed a "Newfoundland" breakfast of fried baloney, eggs, beans and toutons ( deep fried bread dough with a pad of melting butter, drenched in molasses ) and then we were off.

L'Anse aux Meadows is one of those historic sites that fires the imagination. It's hard to get to and remote, which means you have to WANT to be there. The land hasn't changed much in a thousand years, and the sea, the breezes and the sound of the gulls take you back.

The site itself is small. The foundations of the original buildings are there and, like Housteads in northern England, you try to imagine the buildings and people walking and working among them, inside and outside, going about their daily business. Then the imagination gets a boost with the re-created village and costumed re-enactors, all well versed in Norse ways.

They must have been a tough lot, brave to have sailed from Greenland to here. It would've been dangerous to the extreme. But some inner voice commanding their souls to strive and venture forth made them do it …. and for what ? Loneliness, uncertainty, cold and rain, sickness and storms. They were there only 10 years, searching for something bigger and better than what they had back home. And then, they left. No trace of violence or plague or disaster … just gone.

It's clear that L'Anse aux Meadows was simply a way-station, a place to put in for a time to repair their ships, gather fresh food, trade with other Norse, and gather information on the wider world. It reminds me of a pre-medieval space station, just a place to prepare for longer, bigger voyages.

Just outside of L'Anse aux Meadows is the reconstruction site called Norstead. It's a collection of Viking-era reconstructions based on various sites throughout the Norse world. It was built and is staffed by locals in the nearby modern towns, and has nothing to do with the Parks Canada site. I was worried that it would be cheesy, but the locals did a nice job with it. The highlight was the large reconstruction of the ship called the "Snorri", named after the first European baby born in the New World. "Snorri" was built in 1996 and sailed from Greenland to L'Anse aux Meadows to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the original sailing. It was based on the plans of a Viking ship unearthed in Denmark and was quite impressive. It made me shiver to think of the original Norse sailors who manned similar ships a thousand years ago and made these voyages, and I wondered how many of these glorified rowboats like at the bottom of the North Atlantic.

After a long but enjoyable day at these sites, we drove into a nearby little town to do some souvenir shopping. We met a delightful man who operated the gift shop and talked with him about life in these small villages in northern Newfoundland. He was engaging and had many good stories to tell: we loved listening to him in his broad Newfoundland accent. He was a man of many trades: woodcutter, fisher, artisan, hunter …. he had "eskimo" ancestry in him, and I saw it in his facial features. That and his gift of the gab made us realize that we were indeed in the company of a true Newfoundlander. We drove under the fading sunlight back to St. Anthony and enjoyed a couple of cold beers and a delicious cod dinner.