Beak Point

L'Anse aux Meadows. Four hours north of Gros Morne National Park. A World UNESCO site dedicated to the history of the first North American landing of non natives, around the year 1000. Lesson number one: These people that came from afar were "Norsemen". Not Vikings. Norsemen who go "Viking" or warring. That was news to me! Buoyed by the drive by all the glaciers and the amazing bright blue, cool day, I was lovin' this place!
Look at the architecture of the visitors center...This was a big building built to handle large crowds but it snuggled right in like it belonged. After seeing how the Norse homes were built into the hills, this choice of building impressed me even more.
The classic fierce head depicted in the sculpture photo is what people know from the front of the Norse boats. Particularly the ones built for viking. They were mean't to ward of the evil spirits so they usually had a head facing their destination and another at the aft of their ship to ward off the spirits who might want to follow them out of whatever harbor they just raided.
The houses were built from peat that was cut into brick. Thirty people would live in one house with the highest ranking man and his wife getting a separate bedroom. Everyone else would sleep on benches, on planks all cut from hand, around the low, long fire that was perpetually burning in the middle of the dwelling. The photo of the woman walking shows how open the area is. This place was covered in trees when the Norsemen landed but the trees cut here don't grow back because of the soil. The other part of the tannic acid is the fact that it makes a prime situation for making iron. The blacksmith, who made weapons, and maybe more importantly nails for building and/or repairing ships, was a major player in the society. it was determined that this site was never mean't to be a long term stay for this band of people. It was really just a supply run. Wood, metal, and grapes appear to be the major targets. Another site was found as recently as 2015 in southwestern Newfoundland so I'll be keeping that in mind as I travel.
Today(Wednesday) is my first full day in Gros Morne. It rained hard last night and I lost the integrity of the back window....2a.m...drip, drip, drip. Will duct tape do the trick? I'm sure I will have a rain in the not to distant future to test it out!Read more