A Viking Living History Museum and Getting Screeched In

 Aug 30 

Began our day driving to the end of the Médée Bay road. 

The red item on the island in the back is the hull of the wreck of  S.S. Langleecrag which ran aground in heavy fog in November of 1947. Two of the 43 member crew drowned trying to reach land. 

The sand here was so black and shiny

 Common whelk egg cases

Statue of Leif Eiriksson

Text of plaque:

Leifur Eiríksson. Leif Eiriksson Son of Iceland Grandson of Norway Ancestor of all who emigrated from Nordic lands

Leif, son of Erik the Red, was born in Iceland and settled in Greenland. Around the year 1000, he sailed to Norway and then to Vinland in North America. The Saga of Greenlanders and the Saga of Eirik Raude (Erik the Red) both tell about Leif Eiriksson's voyage to Vinland. Archbishop Adam of Bremen also wrote, ca. A.D. 1070, that Vinland had been found.

Prof. August Werner sculpted the original of this statue. It was given to Seattle during the Century 21 Exposition in 1962. Replicas were given to Trondheim, Norway, capital of the old Nordic Kingdom, in 1997 and to Brattahlid, Greenland, the site of Erik the Red's farm, in 2000. To complete the saga of Leif's journeys, the Leif Erikson International Foundation of Seattle gave this replica to Vinland in 2013 and dedicated it to all Nordic immigrants to North America.

Their sails were filled with hope and courage.

Modern day floats stacked on side of shack

Next stop was Norstead, a reconstruction of a viking village and port of trade. Unlike L'Anse aux Meadows, the verified archeological site, this is a non profit living history museum.

A replica of a 54-foot replica Viking knarr which sailed from Greenland to L’Anse aux Meadows in 1998 with a crew of nine men.

Reenactor standing beside the ship's mast made from a single tree trunk

She was making wool mittens using a single needle technique called nålebinding which predated knitting and crocheting. It produces a tight weave that won't unravel of it gets a hole

Chieftain and his wife's bed

Loom

The church

Hanging candelabra

Fire out for extracting iron

Stopped in Dark Tickle at the Wild Berry site where they harvest and process a variety of wild berries. Of course we had to try the partridge berry, bakeapple, and blueberry ice creams, which Matthew accompanied with a bakeapple coffee. 

Then it was on to Skipper Hots Lounge for their kitchen party

Maybe had the food dinner and the moose burger. I stuck with poutine.

Matthew volunteered to play the ugly stick

Then it was time to get screeched in, a silly ritual to become an honorary Newfoundlander that involved wearing gear, trying to repeat NL phrases with the right accent, eating "Newfoundland steak" (bologna), a dried capelin (smelt), and a piece of bread with butter and molasses, kissing a frozen cod,  and finally showing a small shot of Screech Rum. We then had to dance.