In the Wake of the Vikings Cruise

Quebec City, Canada  It took two days to reach  Quebec City from the island of the Viking site. While sailing away from  L'anse Aux Meadows, I expected more rough ocean. It never came. After a while, I checked our cabin TV channel which displays a map of our current position and course  I was flabbergasted to see our Atlantic Ocean travel was over.  But how?  Maine was still a hundred or more miles to the south.   Nevertheless, we were sailing  west through the calm waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Canada, you see, extends way, way east into another time zone.   Our next port of call was the small town of Saguenay, Quebec province. The was only one shore excursion - a theater production of the town's history. Why in the world would 3 cruise ships come u[ a branch of the river to this dinky spot? I should have had more faith in cruise companies itinerary planners. Oh, my goodness. It was wild.  125 people, a good portion of the population, perform on a huge sta

    L'anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada We and the Vikings made it to Canada! How do we know the Vikings were here? Metal. An iron bolt to be specific. The locals and archaeologists have known about this place for quite a long time. But everyone thought is was an Indian site. Then a few years ago some archeologists were digging and studying the Indian village longhouse depressions and other remains. What they originally thought was a pottery kiln turned out to be a smelting furnace. Not wasting time, the locals quickly build two living history locations. The Canadian government build a visitor center, a gift shop, paved roads, and a dock for cruise ship tenders (what lifeboats are called when transporting passengers ashore.) All summer long tourists come. In the visitor center, they have a diorama of the Viking village. They built their homes just off the water so their ships could be within feet of the doors. Were their Indian neighbors hostile? Despite being fierce