EARTH TO HUMAN ON THE VIKING TRAIL ON NORTHERN PENINSULA, NEWFOUNDLAND
by Joyce Schwarz, author and futurist, Hollywood2020.blogs.com
A magical look at a Viking house in Newfoundland-- were the gremlins playing with our camera? Only the ghost of the Vikings know for sure...
Recreation of Viking boat inside the Discovery Centre in Newfoundland.
Leaping back in history seems so easy in STAR TREK TV shows, in reality, retracing the past often involves thousands of miles of travel, bumpy tram treks over unpaved roads and bringing along your own cultural and heritage interpreter , if you want to go beyond the tourism book promos,. As I'm discovering as part of the Earth to Human Ecotour organized by Horizon & Co. (www.horizon-co.com) and David Maggs,artistic director of the Gros Morne Music Festival with cooperation from Parks Canada.
WHY IS IT SO? WHO IS THE "GUIDE" IN YOUR GUIDE BOOK?
Anne Marceau, one of the expert cultural interpreters is teaching our group a big lesson about heritage discovery on this trip. Marceau repeatedly asks the historic site tour leaders and other guides we meet a simple question that profoundly changes your perspective from tourist to cultural investigator. "Why is that so?"
A Viking welcome in Newfoundland -- at what may be the oldest site of Vikings in North America.
All too often, even veteran travelers regress back to being JUST "tourists" because travel challenges such as heat, exhaustion, time and cross-culture naivety blur our views of what's fact and what's historically trackable in our Frommer's Guide or our reams of hastily researched web printouts about destinations.
IF THE GUIDE SAYS SO, MUST IT BE SO?
All that glitters is not a web cam!
I remember making reservations in a trendy hotel in San Diego and when my ex-fiance and I arrived we found the hotel only half-built and uninhabitable. In fact ,there was no FRONT DOOR. After a 3 1/2 hour drive from Los Angeles. I was so suprised that the reality didn't match the awesome website pictures, that I insisted on pulling out my printed pages --oh so carefully researched-- and holding them up to compare the JPEGS with the still under-construction resort in front of my face. The siren song of the web pages and " obviously- photoshopped pix" still sang in my consciousness as I almost stumbled in a construction ditch after opening the car door. YES, one wing of the hotel was open at a GREAT rate-- but jackhammers and ladders were just a couple of reasons why a 5 star resort was budget priced. We ended up at the fabulous Hotel Coronado, but to this day, I remember the feeling of realizing that what's on the web may not truly reflect reality. That experience was a bit like going on holiday in Second Life (www.secondlife.com) -- the reel (avatars and exotic computer graphics makes the real pale in comparison), Living virtually, often makes the grass seem greener than it is when we walk on it in real life.
VIDEOPHILIA IS RAMPANT!
Recently, I blogged about Videophilia and created a pop quiz so that you as a reader could determine if you're so immersed in popular culture and video renditions of life that you fail to recognize real vs reel. The blog post was based on a recent survey. I mention the provocative line quoted in that report that today's kids are playing more on Xbox than in a sandbox. (search google for Hollywood2020 and 'videophelia" to get more details and links to the actual research on this topic.)
On the Viking trail.....
(click on JPEG of thumbnail pix to see great slogan on adventure)
Tracing the Viking trail here in Newfoundland, it's so easy to let one's eyes become clouded by images from Hollywood depictions of these Norsemen. On location with Earth to Human Ecotour at L'Anse Aux Meadows (UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE), takes me. back in history faster than any textbook could do.
No webcam or Virtual World experience compares to sitting in the Long House and eating Partridgeberry flatbread while hearing Viking sagas re-enacted by Viking animators. But even in the midst of roaring oratory from a 6 foot Viking character, Anne Marceau taught us that it's okay to question where his rendition of the saga comes from. Who is THE guide behind the guidebook.
(click on thumnail pix to see Viking 're-enactor" in Newfoundland)
Weaving with one needle -- a Viking art re-created by an animator on site in Newfoundland.
Stunning statue honoring archeologists at the Viking site's Discovery Centre.
On location in Newfoundland-- is it a game? is it real or reel...meeting with Vikings sure is a trip!
ALTERNATE REALITY GAMING IN REAL LIFE
For some reason, (maybe it's my own Videophelia seeping through) I find this EcoTour resembling parts of an Alternate Reality Game....except on location at the site in the tourism guide, you have to ask who are the puppeteers and are the paths you're retracing real or faux (just like ARG websites) and to scrape through the veneer of commercialism in travel promos to become a sage traveler not just another tourist!
Re-creation of inside of a Viking Long House -- in Newfoundland-- quite comfy
especially if you have some of the yummy food like Partridgeberry flat cakes that we enjoyed on the Earth to Human Eco-experience.
Now all I need to remember was where that business card is for the caterer who created that great partridgeberry flatbread so I can share the recipe with you. Hmmm wonder if it was jotted down in the Viking sagas? Knew I should have picked up that recipe book in the Discovery Center gift shop.
This is the second of a series of posts on location in Newfoundland by Joyce Schwarz, Hollywood2020.blogs.com founder/editor and author & futurist. Earth To Human is a new eco-experience which strives to show the impact of culture in a sustainable society. For more info on the trek we're taking go to www.earthtohuman.com or refer to the itinerary on www.horizon-co.com and return to this blog daily to see more about my own saga of mind, body & spirit exploration in the 21st Century. Email me at [email protected] for any questions.