Postcards From Newfoundland

Canada Post 2014
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  7/19
  After a day of flying and two days of driving, we reached our destination: L'Anse Aux Meadows. It's the only confirmed Viking habitation in the Americas. We looked at the evidence dating from 1000 - Nordic spinning whorl, metal clothing pin, iron nails, "striking stones" from Greenland and Iceland and the remains of iron smelting. This site is the place where Europeans met the First Peoples of Canada, completing the "circle" of human radiation around the planet.

  
  
  
Canada Post 2014
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  7/20
  Before our trip friends asked, "What will Newfoundland be like?" Now we know. Water is everywhere.
  Salt: much of the population lives along its gnarled coast of deep fjords.
  Fresh: lakes abound because NF is a huge rock, so rain pools.
  It is extremely green, though the conifers are nearly all stubby! A spine of mountains runs along the West side - The Long Range - with amazing glacially carved valleys. Mostly it's picturesque, picturesque and picturesque.

  
  
  
Canada Post 2014
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  7/21
  We've already won the Newfie Trifecta! The winning combination is to see an Iceberg that hasn't flipped to the flat side, a near shore whale (Minke), and a moose (without hitting it or being hit by it). But, wait! We've won the local Cod Trifecta, too: We ate cod fillets, salt cod and brewis (hard tack) and cod tongues. Here cod is served with scrunchions: small cubes of salted pork
  fat that have been browned. It's sort of
  "Fish & Chitlins."

  
  
  
Canada Post 2014
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  7/22
  Today, we went to France! Actually, we ferried to St. Pierre and Miquelon, a tiny archipelago off of the Newfoundland coast. It is a French Territory of 6,000 people where everyone speaks (real) French, uses Euros, and enjoys decent baguettes. It's totally charming with its brightly painted houses, and French shops. And, of course, French restaurants. We had the seared foie gras with candied figs, and a smoked duck salad with smoked pork and egg.
  Vive la France!

  
  
  
Canada Post 2014
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  7/23
  The first permanent (as in continuing) settlement in Canada was Lord Calvert's 1621 plantation bought from King James I of England and called Avalon. Located in present day Ferryland NF, excavation of the colony began in the 1990s. An amazingly rich, active dig, trays of artifacts are found daily ... can you guess this one? We toured the dig and cataloging room. Calvert, who became Lord Baltimore, moved here with his family in 1626, survived a brutal winter, and bailed for Maryland in 1627.

  
  
  
Canada Post 2014
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  7/24
  The first European to sail into St. John's harbor was Giovanni Caboto (a/k/a John Cabot) in 1497. Though the English claimed NL in 1583, the French kept invading (3 times). So the English built a fancy fort giving spectacular views of the harbor. Today St. John's is NL's charming capital. Nearby is the easterly-most point in North America, Cape Spear, also with a great lighthouse. Today we spent a half hour there watching a humpback whale breaching. He was enjoying St. John's
  as much as we were.

  
  
  

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