(no subject)

[ellyssian]

Made it back safely from the trip - it wasn't quite as long as the drive Friday night, but still took a bit longer than I would have liked. Seemed like an excessive amount of traffic, and in a few places we sat and waited - but nothing anywhere near the 3 hour delay on the way up there.

We did wind up eating at Norumbega. My brother came with us, and, despite knowing the area fairly well, did not know the tower existed. After eating, we wandered over and read the text on the tower (reproduced for entertainment purposes only, thanks to this, which is a bit better than my memory):

       AD 1000              AD 1889
                     NORUMBEGA
           CITY . COUNTRY . FORT . RIVER
               NORUMBEGA = NOR MBEGA
  INDIAN UTTERANCE OF NORUMBEGA THE ANCIENT FORM
         OF NORVEGA . NORWAY TO WHICH THE
           REGION OF VINLAND WAS SUBJECT
                       CITY
               AT AND NEAR WATERTOWN
                WHERE REMAIN TODAY
      DOCKS . WHARVES . WALLS . DAMS . BASINS
                      COUNTRY
  EXTENDING FROM RHODE ISLAND TO THE ST. LAWRENCE
       FIRST SEEN BY BJARN HERJUFSON 985 AD
      NORSE CANALS . DAMS . WALLS. PAVEMENTS
FORTS . TERRACED PLACES OF ASSEMBLY . REMAIN TO-DAY
                       FORT
         AT BASE OF TOWER AND REGION ABOUT
     WAS OCCUPIED BY THE BRETON FRENCH IN THE
           15TH 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
                       RIVER
                    THE CHARLES
   DISCOVERED BY ...
                         ... LEIF ERICSON 1000 AD
   EXPLORED BY ...
            ... THORWALD . LEIF'S BROTHER 1003 AD
   COLONIZED BY ...
                   ... THORFINN KARLSEFNI 1007 AD
   FIRST BISHOP ...
                         ... ERIK GNUPSON 1121 AD
             INDUSTRIES FOR 350 YEARS
  MASUR-WOOD [BURRS] . FISH . FURS . AGRICULTURE
   LATEST NORSE SHIP RETURNED TO ICELAND IN 1347

Comments

[bookgirlwa.livejournal.com]

I think it was you who I recommended the author Tom Holt to on TH, well, his most recent novel is "Meadowlands", a fictionalised account of the Vikings discovering America. This is under the name "Thomas Holt". Leif Ericson is one of the characters in the book IIRC. It was a great read - and as far as I can tell, he knows his history.