Today we landed at the much-anticipated L’Anse aux Meadows, the only known Viking settlement in North America. We toured the L’Anse aux Meadows UNESCO World Heritage and Canadian National Historic Site where we were able to see the settlement itself, which has been the focus of archeological excavations since the 1980’s. In the fabulous museum, we watched a short documentary and viewed original artifacts such as a bronze cloak pin, spindle whorl, butternut fragments, wooden barrel, and nails. We wandered along a scenic boardwalk as Parks Canada interpreters provided plentiful information on the site. Afterwards, we visited Norstead, an historic recreation of the Viking settlement, which showed us how the day to day lives of the Vikings may have been – including demonstrations by the blacksmith, knitters, and even had our runes read.
After a delicious lunch of either a Viking feast or seafood sampler, we made our way to sunny St. Anthony, to admire the rugged coastal views at Fishing Point before returning to the ship. Onboard, we had a BBQ on the sundeck, followed by a fascinating lecture from our on board naturalist on cod.
A beautiful day was had by all, as we made our way towards the end of this stunning journey together.
