L'Anse aux Meadows

Today was planned as an extra day in the area. The Viking settlement doesn't open until tomorrow, and we had hoped that we might catch a whale watching trip today. However, few whales have been sited, and it's too cold anyway. The weather wasn't great this morning, so we drove around the northern tip, hoping for nice views like we saw last night. However it was not to be. But by afternoon the sun came out, and we walked along the shore, taking more iceberg photos. We were lucky enough to hear a loud thunder-like sound, which was a chunk breaking off one of the larger ones. We came upon a small mock Viking settlement, and walked through the huts, including one that had a replica of a Viking ship. I'm sure we'll see much more of that at the Heritage settlement tomorrow. We had dinner at the same great restaurant we ate at last night. Michael had lobster that was caught today,  and I finally got to try Figgy Duff. It's a steamed pudding with a screech rum sauce - yum! It reminds me of the plum pudding we have at Christmas.

Monday morning we finally saw L'Anse aux Meadows, the Unesco Heritage Site that is the last planned thing to visit on the trip. The exhibits in the centre explained the history, and then a couple of the huts had guides dressed like Vikings there to answer questions. Leif Eriksson brought over a crew and settled in this area 1,000 years ago. They traded with the natives initially, but moved on when the relationship deteriorated. Some of the building sites were labelled but had no building on them. There  was evidence that women had been there, because they found equipment that would have been used for sewing the sails for the ships. They even had a musical instrument called a lyre, which is like a small hand-held harp. This site was modelled after another one in Iceland.

Tuesday we drove back to the B&B we stayed in last week at Gross Morne. We had a surprise encounter with a moose on the road, but luckily we were driving slowly at that point!

We've seen a few others by the side of the road on the Northern Penninsula, but it's scary to see them on the road, as you can imagine! We would have had time for another hike in the park, but the  weather was poor, so we relaxed and chatted with our hostess while she made buns. She's originally from London Ontario (like us) so we enjoyed sharing stories and some laughs.Tomorrow we drive 8 1/2 hours back to St. John's and Thursday we fly home. It's been another good trip!

Some thoughts about our time in Newfoundland:

• There were very few disappointments, but one was the little towns/fishing villages. Most were just a collection of houses and that was all. It seemed like there was no one around, and we couldn't imagine what people did there. Although we saw a couple of towns that we liked better, because the surrounding scenery was nicer, the so-called charm of these places escaped us. The only other disappointment was not seeing any whales. Although a few have been spotted, it's too early for them.

• The weather was better than expected. All things considered, we were pretty lucky in that regard.

• We had a basic lesson in "Newfanese" on the iceberg boat tour. Our guide was hard to understand, but it was interesting to hear her speak. It's very common for them to add h's where they don't belong, such as in front of the word 'eggs,' and drop them when they shouldn't.

• 'Jelly Bean' house souvenirs are everywhere!

• We were surprised to learn that the accordion is king here, rather than the fiddle

• Receiving  the gift of a framed whale picture at one of our B&Bs was a pleasant surprise

• We never tired of seeing icebergs, but trying to decide which pictures of them to delete was a tedious task. We did this in consideration of our viewers, and are pleased that we were able to get our total trip photos of all things seen down to 275 - not bad for a three week trip!

• Our favourite things were the ediacaran fossils, the thrombolites, music sessions and concerts, the iceberg boat tour, Gros Morne, including the Western Brook pond fjord tour, L'Anse aux Meadows and the Viking settlement, most of the food, and visits with our friends.

• Newfoundders are very friendly, have a strong sense of community and loyalty to their province, and they always come home.....and so will we. 

Thanks for reading our travel blog. Photos will follow later as albums on Facebook.

Arriving at L'Anse aux Meadows

Yesterday we drove from Gros Morne to L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern most tip of the island. This is where the Vikings landed 1,000 years ago, and it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We saw a display of such sites, and we were pleased to see that after visiting the Vikings we will have been to all of them in Canada except for the ones in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Labrador. The Viking settlement opens tomorrow, so later today there will be more arrivals, but in the meantime we have the B&B to ourselves. It has a separate cabin down the lane from the owner's house, with a cosy living room and dining area. Our room faces west, and we had a glorious sunset view over the water. The weather isn't looking great for today, so we might just hang out here for the morning.

Our drive here was fairly long, but we stopped on the way to see the Thrombolites, which are fossilized bacteria colonies. This is the oldest known form of life on earth, and the only other place where these are found is in Australia. They are clusters of rocks that look like large mushrooms.

Although our drive took us along the coast, we couldn't see much for a while until the rain eased up. We've been so lucky in that regard though, as our worst days have been driving days. When we arrived we stopped by St. Anthony, which is a more developed place than I was expecting this far north, and certainly bigger than any place we've visited except St. John's. We then headed for our B&B in the village of Hay Cove, just outside the L'Anse aux Meadows site. The rugged beauty of this area surpasses that of most of the places we've seen here, except of course for Gros Morne. It's a long drive to get here, but those who opt not to do it are missing the most picturesque side of the island in my view.

We had a fabulous dinner here, at one of the best rated restaurants on the island, and surprisingly not very expensive. They just opened for the season yesterday, and when I asked the server if they had Figgy Duff on the menu, she said that the chef was making it that evening, and it should be ready for lunch today. I've been wanting to try that for the whole trip, so guess what I'm going to be having in the afternoon! We don't go to restaurants for lunch, as breakfasts are filling, and we carry along some light food for mid day, but today will be a great one for enjoying tea and dessert! The restaurant had a small gift shop with crafts made by people from the area. We saw a book called "A Puffin Playing by the Sea," which is a Newfoundlanders' version of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It was written by the owner of the restaurant, and we thought it would be fun to sing with our quartet at Christmas. Apparently the author is working on an Alberta version, so we'll have to watch for it.

After dinner we drove around the area, ducking into each little cove that we saw. There was a pleasant surprise around every corner, with the water, the rugged landscape, the many pieces of icebergs and the setting sun. And by the side of the road we saw a moose up close - a truly amazing site!

Gros Morne - second day

It was an amazing day today! We started with the Western Brook Pond boat tour into the fjords of the park. One of the ads from Newfoundland Tourism that entices you to come here, shows someone on a high cliff looking down at the water. What they don't tell you about that ad is that the person has been flown into that spot - it's nearly impossible to climb up to it! The weather was chilly but sunny, and the views and the mountains were spectacular!

While on the boat we spotted our first moose up one of the mountains! Apparently there are more moose than people here. There are many accidents involving moose and cars on the highway, especially after dark. And they're especially plentiful on the northern penninsula, where we're heading tomorrow!

In the evening we attended a concert which was part of a series of music that was playing all week entitled Trails, Tales and Tunes. A Cape Breton group called Còig was featured, and as Michael has all their CD's we knew they'd be great. There was also a duo from Peterborough (one played drums and the other played about 5 instruments), a comedian from the island and a singer-songwriter from Labrador. Although I wish that Còig could have played all night, it was interesting to have the variety of the other acts, all of whom were good. The singer obviously had grown up in an isolated area, and his songs reflected those experiences. Because we have seen a lot of places on the island, we could relate to some of the jokes that the comedian was making about the sites here. While waiting in line to get in, we chatted for a while with the locals, and in a way I almost envied their sense of community, familiarity, and the way they look out for each other. One thing that's been told to us many times, is that Newfoundlanders always come home. They may move away for a while, or commute to Fort Mac, but they always come home. The sea is in their blood, and their family ties are strong.

May 24/16 Fogo Island

Caught the early morning ferry for Fogo Island.We drove straight to Tilting on the far side, as it has strong Irish roots. Aside from the Shamrock club, we didn't see much evidence of that, but one of the locals told me that they play lots of Irish music there on weekends. The towns are mostly collections of houses by the water. In between towns it's rocky and barren. With the rocks, sunshine, blue water and some icebergs the scenery was pretty but not stunning. I expected it to be more touristy, but perhaps it's good that it's not. Just like on the mainland, people are very friendly. They're harder to understand than the ones from St. John's though.The town names are interesting - Seldom, Little Seldom, Joe Batt's Arm, etc., and on the drive to the ferry we passed Dildo Run Provincial Park! Overlooking the water is a very expensive hotel, which appears to be raised up on stilts at one end. It's the colour and the shape of a large flat iceberg. Apparently the cheapest rooms are $1000 per night! We had heard horror stories aabout people getting back very late from Fogo, so we got in line around 1 p.m. We waited 4 1/2 hours to cross back! The larger ferry that they usually use is getting repaired, so they only have one that holds about 25 cars. So in the end we spent more time waiting in line for the ferry than we spent on the island! Oh well, at least we can now say that we've been to Fogo, Twillingate, and Moreton's harbout, as well as Bonivista!

The next day was a driving day - Twillingate to Gros Morne. It rained most of the day, but you don't see much on the Trans Canada anyway!

Thursday was our first full day in the park. The day was cloudy but clear, so we had a great view of the mountains. We climbed up the Lookout Trail and had a great view. It was rated moderate, but we both found it more difficult than the Skerwink Trail, which was rated moderate-difficult. Maybe it was because that one had some breaks from going straight up, but this one didn't. Coming down was harder for me, and my knee didn't like it much either! If it wasn't for my walking stick and help from Michael I couldn't have done it. I didn't have hiking boots, and the trail was mucky in spots, so that didnt't help. Next we visited the Discovery Centre, where they showed the different rocks in the area. We then did the Tablelands Trail, which was mostly a barren rockscape, but was recommended because it gives one a taste of the area without going to the Tablelands. After that second hike we were really tired, but drove out to Trout River Pond, which is very beautiful.

May 22/16 Twillingate

Today we drove from Eastport to Twillingate. We stopped several times to take pictures of icebergs. The coastal drive was quite pretty. Many of the houses are white now, rather than the 'jelly bean' colours, and lots of them have the five pointed barn stars that we had also seen (and purchased) in P.E.I. We went to some trouble then to buy a star that could be assembled at home, and it looked really good on the side of our house, until someone stole it that is! We might try again, although it woud be way easier to order one on line and have it sent to Calgary.

We stopped to see the Beothuk interpretive centre, which has artifacts and the history of the Beothuk people. We took a pleasant walk down to the site where some of their houses were discovered. These people died out from starvation and disease after the European settlers forced them to move inland.

Our B&B overlooks Twillingate harbour. The owner also runs one of the iceberg tour companies, as well as having ties to a restaurant down the road. The food at the restaurant was not very good. After dinner we drove out to Long Point to see the lighthouse and hopefully more icebergs. The iceberg tracker showed a lot in this area a few days ago, but perhaps they have since moved on. Guess we'll have to take a boat tour to be able to see them up close.

We also drove out to Moreton's Harbour. There's only a few small boats there now, and no evidence that this was once a thriving fishing harbour.  Perhaps it seems silly, but since we'll be in Fogo and Twillingate, we wanted to complete the circle from the song I'se the Bye. I mentioned that to our hostess, and she told me that one of her other guests had done that just the other day as well!

On Monday we took a boat tour to view the icebergs up close, as there are no large ones close to shore at the moment. The skipper was able to get quite close and circled around it a couple of times. We saw lots of cracks and water pouring out of it in a couple of places. Apparently it was quite a bit bigger yesterday, and by tomorrow it will be gone. If they don´t get grounded then they move pretty fast. The ones we can see now would have left Greenland about 2 years ago. Some years they get lots, and other years hardly any. It depends on the winds and the direction of the tides. This year the season started in Febrary which is early. And sometimes they´re still seeing them in July, which is late. We were so lucky to have a sunny day for the excursion, as the viewing is much better on the upper deck.

May 20/16

Left St. John's and headed for Trinity, which is a very pretty area. We hiked the Skerwink trail nearby, which is rated moderate to difficult, and is considered one of the top 25 best trails in North America! It's a varied trail with lots of panoramic views. Luckily I had my walking stick, as there were some steep parts, and I've had an inflamed knee since prior to the start of the trip.

We spent the night in Bonavista. The town was rather run down and depressing, but the views from up by the lighthouse were nice, and there were lots of icebergs! This is the spot were John Cabot landed in 1497.

This morning we drove out to see The Dungeon, which is a huge rock formation with water running through two holes and out into the bay. There were a few good sized icebergs there too. We drove to two places in town that weren't yet open for the season - a high-end gift shop that was mentioned in the tour book, and a museum with a replica of John Cabot's ship.

Next stop was Terra Nova provincial park. We considered doing a hike here, but learned that there was a walk up a hill with a good view of the Eastport area where we're staying, as well as Sandy Cove beach, so we opted to do that instead. However that trail was steep and seemed to end after a short climb, so we walked along the beach instead. It was a warm sunny day, with a gentle breeze coming off the water The area around the cove is very pretty with lovely homes. Our B&B is very nice too. A local artist left us a lithograph of a whale's tail as a gift - it's even nicely framed! Our hostess recommended a restaurant for dinner with a lovely view and great food. This time I tried moose meat. It reminded me of bison - good, but a bit on the dry side.

St. John's May 18/16

Today we drove the Baccalieu Trail, which is considered to be a scenic all-day drive. We passed through many small towns with names such as Heart's Desire, Heart's Content, and Heart's Delight. We did not however go through the town of Dildo, which is just south of those previous towns. We joked about taking a picture of the sign, but in the end cut across the penninsula to go to a gallery that had some Christopher Pratt art, which Michael is very fond of. At Harbour Grace we saw the air strip where Amelia Earhart took off for her flight across the Atlantic. There was a small monument, but the site itself was poorly signed, and it seemed like no one really cared about this historic flight any more. Also at Grates Cove, a National Historic site at the tip of the penninsula, we didn't see a marker, or even any place to park that wasn't near someone's property. It's as if they didn't want you there. We saw two more icebergs on this drive, and every time we saw a new cove we looked for more. That evening we ate in a restaurant that had been recommended by a Calgary friend. The food was very good, but Michael was very sick later that evening. It had to be either the oysters or the raw shrimp, which thankfully I didn't have.

Thursday we did laundry and groceries, as we will be moving on from St. John's on Friday. Ironically today's weather was the best we've had all week, as it was sunny and actually warm enough for me to only have one sweater on! At the laundromat we helped the owner fold 12 loads of towels for a commercial customer, and she gave us a free wash in return. She was telling us her troubles - seems like she's had a tough life. Of course we put some money in her tip jar on the way out! Michael still wasn't feeling perfectly well after his rough night, so we rested in the B&B, before taking a short drive to Petty Harbour. Apparently the locals had seen a whale there in the morning, and although we didn't see that, we did see a couple of more icebergs. In a gift shop we saw mummer's dolls, which caught our attention because of the mummer's play that Michael is a part of at Christmas each year. Appartently the tradition is still alive and well in Newfoundland. The residents dress up in costumes which cover their faces. Then they visit neighbouring houses, singing or playing music, and the people have to guess their identity. We bought one of the mummer dolls - a fellow playing fiddle - to hang on our Christmas tree (although we really don't need any more ornaments!) But this is so unique to the area, and something that we're also familiar with, so it was hard to resist. For dinner we took Claire's parents out as a thank you for all of their help with planning suggestions, rides to and from the airport, dinner and our first night's stay at their house.

Newfoundland May 17/16. .

Guess I having some catching up to do!

Last Saturday the weather was sunny (not common here!) so we decided to walk around town. We purchased some jewelry made of Labradorite, which changes colour depending on how the light shines on it, and is quite pretty. We also took lots of photos of the "jelly bean" houses that are so common here. We had dinner and a lovely visit with Claire's family that evening. 

Sunday was sunny too, so we drove up to Signal Hill, where we would have had a great view of the harbour and the city, except for the fog, so we stopped in at the Geo centre on the way down. It has a glass elevator which takes you down to a cavernous room where one entire wall exposes the 550 million year old bedrock. There's also a Titanic room, telling the complete story of that disaster. We went along Battery Road and the old village of Quidi Vidi, which has a pub that advertised "stories" on the outside wall. If it hadn't been mid-afternoon we might have checked it out! Apparently it's quite unusual inside. We then drove out to Conception Bay S to have dinner with Maureen Chafe and her family, whom we had known for many years in Calgary (she ran the Kodaly music program there, and was part of the ladies' Monday night music circle for a while.) She and Rob cooked us a delicious Jiggs supper, which is very salty but good! Among other things, it contains root vegetables, salt beef and peas pudding, which I especially loved. Maureen had strained some of the salt off, thinking we wouldn't like it, but she noticed that I had second helpings of all the salty components of the dinner! Their youngest daughter, Lucy (6 years old) is learning to play accordion, piano and fiddle, and she played a bit for us. Afterwards we went to the arena for a benefit concert for Fort Mac. The musicians were local, and included Alan Doyle, but the music was very loud and there wasn't time for a sound check, as there were so many groups performing. It was touching to see how much people here want to help their friends and family in Fort Mac, and also to see the pride that they have in their own province. They sang I'se the Bye at the end, as well as "Ode to Newfoundland". Newfoundland is the only province to have an official provincial anthem, and everyone stood up, and the men even took their caps off! The whole event was put together in only six days, and raised over $20,000. - not bad for a small town!

On Monday we drove for 2 hours down to the tip of the Avalon Penninsula to Mistaken Point, where we went on a guided hike to see the oldest and largest known fossils of complex, multicellular organisms from 579-560 million years ago. On one area there were over 6,000 specimens! Once at the visitors' centre we had to drive for 30 minutes on rough road, and then hiked for 1 1/2 hours to the point. When we got to the fossil area we had to put on soft slippers so as not to damage the fossils. It was important to do this trek, as Michael has always wanted to see the fossils at the Burgess Shale in B.C., but doesn't think that his asthma is in good enough control to do the climb there. Afterwards we took a short drive down to the lighthouse at Cape Race, the most south eastern part of the province. 

Yesterday was a long day, so today we are taking it easy. The weather isn't the best, but we didn't see any fog in the harbour, so decided to try Signal Hill again. The wind was vicious, but we had a very clear view, and saw our first iceberg! There's an iceberg tracker, and Maureen heard about it and sent us an email, which is another reason why we decided to try the hill. We should see many more along the northern coast when we get there! We took a short drive north of St. John's and saw a few coves along the Killick coast. We then headed to Rocket's Bakery, where we knew there was a traditional session in the cafe from 12:30 - 2 ish. They had wonderful coffee, pastries and lunch options, and the music was great! There were 2 fiddles, one octave mandolin shaped like a guitar, one accordion and an autoharp player! They played many tunes that we know, and their tune sets flowed nicely. The place was decorated right out of the 50's, and it was a cosy place to be on a dreary afternoon. We could have done another short drive but chose instead to rest at the B&B, as we were still tired from yesterday, and the weather had deteriorated anyway. We booked dinner at a place that Michael especially wants to try, and decided to go early, as we'll be having a long day tomorrow.

St. John's May 13/16

Yesterday's plane trip was long but uneventful. We were picked up at the airport (and hosted for the night) by Roberta and her daughter Claire. She was a part of my day home many years ago, and now she's finishing grade 11! The family moved to St. John's when Claire turned 5, and that was the year I closed the home and starting working at preschool.

This morning on the way to find our B&B we happened to pass Newman Wine Vaults, one of our possible things to see, so we dropped in. They aren't officially open for the season yet, but had opened up specially for a cruise ship tour, so they let us come in as well. They didn't charge us an entry fee, and gave us each a glass of port to sample! The two vaults here are the oldest buildings in St. John's, dating back to the late 1700's. Wine was shipped accross the Atlantic to mature here, because it was deemed to have a much better flavour.

Our next stop was The Rooms, a combination of a museum, art galleries and archives. The history of Newfoundland and Labrador was presented with interesting displays. This province not only has strong Irish roots, but native ones as well. It was evident that the early settlers would have had a rough life here.

We made two other quick stops - Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and Cape Spear, the latter of which is the most easternly point in North America. The church dates back to the mid 1800's and is  a national historic site. Because of seeing many cathedrals across the pond that are much older and more impressive, this one didn't excite us very much.

Dinner was good but very spicy Indian cuisine, and at lunch I tried cod tongue, which was breaded and tasty (isn't anything good when breaded? lol!) Michael remembered trying that before he knew he was celiac and recommended it (he was in St John's briefly many years ago for a conference.)

We were able to catch a couple of hours of an Irish pub session which was quite good. They only had 2 fiiddles plus one accordion, banjo and bodran. Amazingly we couldn't hear the banjo, but the pub was a bit noisy. We either knew or could have played about three quarters of the tunes, but didn't bring our instruments on this trip. Still it was enjyable to just listen.