Land of Icebergs - Fav Photos 25

In the Land of Icebergs

A collection of photos of Jude and Grace's family as a Celtic family in Newfoundland, the rugged land of icebergs...

A Celtic Family

Jude and Grace's family usually spends most of their time as a more rugged Celtic family in my Medieval Fantasy world, and what better place to photograph them out on location than in the rugged beauty of Newfoundland? So, in addition to travelling as a contemporary family, I also took along their Celtic outfits. But it's a lot of work to change everyone - it takes me several hours - so I decided to only do it once, starting at Goose Cove at the top of the northern peninsula.
Then the next morning just after sunrise I took some group photos of them. Photographing dolls in bright sunshine is always a challenge, but with the sun still so low in the sky, there would be less harsh shadows on their faces....

They fit in beautifully with the rugged landscape...

..and looked forward to some interesting adventures while here....

Fishing Point

The family headed over to Fishing Point in St. Anthony,

to check out the rugged stone building there....

It was extremely windy...

Norstead

I'd wanted to take my dolls to Norstead for some interesting photos, and we arrived right when it opened before it got too busy. Norstead is an authentic recreation of a Viking port of trade from the Viking era (790 - 1066 AD), situated on the coast in northern Newfoundland, in the village of L'Anse aux Meadows not far from the Unesco World Heritage Site, where the remains of a Viking settlement from the 11th century was discovered in 1960. Unfortunately it was another very windy, bright sunny day, and worse, most of the photos would have to be taken into the sun, but again, I had no choice, so had to make the best of it.

Grace and Jude went to check out the boat shed..

It houses a 54 foot replica of a Viking knarr, which was specially built in Greenland, and sailed to L'Anse aux Meadows in 1998 with a crew of nine men.

Everything in Norstead has been meticulously researched and built to be as authentic as possible.

The buildings are constructed of timber, with dirt floors, wood panelled walls, and covered with a thick layer of sod. There's chieftain's hall, a church, and workshops.

It is located on the coast at the tip of the northern peninsula, just 2 kilometres from the Unesco World Heritage Viking Site, the only authenticated site of a thousand year old viking settlement in North America.
A lone iceberg can be seen floating by in the distance...

Grace felt right at home...

..as it was much like Jude's home village....

Jamie had been fishing all morning, and had caught a large fish....

...and proudly brought it to show his Dad...

..who was quite impressed....

Grace thought it would be perfect for dinner...

...and went to fetch some more water...

L'Anse aux Meadows

After visiting Norstead, we went over to the nearby National Historic Site, with the archeological dig and the reconstructed Viking settlement. It was a very warm Sunday afternoon, and the parking lot at the Visitor Centre was packed, so I didn't take any dolls. I was glad that I didn't because it was quite a long walk across the bog on the boardwalks past the archeological site to the reconstructed village.

The houses here were also wood frame inside, and covered in sod on the outside...

I found it fascinating that there were tiny wildflowers blooming on the roof....

Like at Norstead, there were costumed interpreters inside, to tell us about life in Viking times...

Even though this site is a reconstruction of the actual Viking archeological find here in Newfoundland, and Norstead is a reconstruction of a Viking port of trade from that same period, they were very similar. And to be honest, I found Norstead more interesting.

That evening we returned to Goose Cove for the night....

Labrador

The next day we took the ferry to Labrador. It's a very rugged, remote place, with just a single road along the coast.

We explored the sights along the coastal drive, and late in the evening as we were high in the mountains, I spotted the perfect place at a scenic pull-off for some photos of Jude and Grace...