We spent a full day in L'Anse Aux Meadows

We spent a full day in L'Anse Aux Meadows, walking through recreated Viking villages, learning about the history of the area, and taking a scenic all-day walking tour of the entire area. A Viking village was uncovered here, including evidence of a foundry, a ship-repair operation, and skirmishes with the natives.

Berries are all over the ground here, you can just lean over and have a snack.









A tour of Viking life.



An original building site.


Houses made of sod.












We took a steep walk up a hill less than a mile from the B&B:







View from the top:





The rocky shale coast:













Everywhere in Newfoundland, there are piles of chopped wood and gated gardens by the roadside, sometimes miles from the nearest house or town. The soil on most of the island is very rocky and shallow, so people will maintain a garden basically wherever they can find a good spot, and wood once chopped is allowed to age out in the elements for a year or two before it is used. We asked our host, Marilyn of Marilyn's B&B about this, especially about how it is that the wood doesn't get stolen and the gardens plundered. She told us that theft is very rare in Newfoundland, so much so that most people don't lock their doors.



The ground in this area is rock covered by a layer of peat, with varying amounts of vegetation. In many areas, the peat and ground cover is so thick that it feels like walking on an extra thick carpet pad. There are several layers of vegetation, and in areas where there are berries, there is a top layer of bright red berries springing from red leaves, then one level down are deeper red berries, then, deepest, are black berries.