Friday, July 31, 2009

Norstead Viking Village


Day 21: 31.07.09
This morning signalled a very early start for our family. We had a 400 kilometre haul up the West Coast of Newfoundland to L’Anse aux Meadows. The drive was relatively monotonous since most of it was shrouded in a “peasouper” of a fog which did not lift until around midday. Our only excitement was spotting a real iceberg drifting off the coast of the renowned “Iceberg Alley”. It was interesting to think that this had actually floated down from the Arctic. After arriving at our accommodation: Snorri Cabins, we checked in and headed off to Norstead, a Viking Port of Trade. Norstead is a living history Viking site. We were able to glean an impression of life for the Vikings in this region over 1000 years ago. There were replica buildings with costumed interpreters who aptly bought the experience to life. We got to try hammer throwing, sword fighting and even spinning wool using the traditional Viking methods. We even joined in a game or two of Kubb – a traditional throwing game played in teams. I played with the kids and am happy to say we were victorious. It was an afternoon of fun with perfect weather. On site was a large hill which we walked up to admire the view. We stood on the very tip of Newfoundland, the wild wind whipping our hair into tangles and admired the spectacular view. It occurred to me then, that we really could not be much further from home than we were at that moment!

1 comment:

David said...

Looks vaguely like a Dairy Queen soft ice cream cone (minus the cone of course!) floating on the water!