Day 2, St Lunaire-Griquet and L'Anse Aux Meadows, and a Leaky Tire

 I woke up early and when I took peak out our motel window, I saw a moose wandering through our parking lot! It was 5:30 AM and Marty was still asleep.  A very nice way to begin our week.
In the morning we set out to explore the area, heading down the "Viking Trail" to L'Anse aux Meadows. We spotted another ice berg peeking out from behind some rocks and drove down the road to get a closer look.

 There was obviously something really good and plentiful to eat in the water. The seagulls were all in one spot in great numbers flying up and diving into the water.

               There was a large statue of Leif Ericson there too, erected July 23, 2013.

                                                         You can read more here.

It was a gloomy, wet day. No bother. The cool temps made for very comfortable wandering about.

 Across from the statue is the Norseman at L'Anse Aux Meadows, restaurant. We ate there twice. The food is wonderful and it is sourced locally, and fresh and made with real ingredients. It was such a pleasure to eat there. The first time we arrived ahead of a busload of folks and there was live music too.  There is a gift shop/gallery as well so there are a lot of interesting things to see/purchase.

 The butternut squash soup was divine! Marty enjoyed a burger the first time, and chowder the second.

I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate mousse as well. No picture. Marty's bread pudding with blueberry and screech sauce disappeared quickly as well.

                                           On our next visit Marty had the scones and fruit sauce.

I had more mousse.

Our view from the window was the water and the back of the Leif Ericson monument.  I saw a whale spouting in the water while enjoying lunch.  You can't do that just anywhere!

In St Lunaire-Griquet there is a neat mural pointing the way to the Viking Shop across the street.

We dropped in and enjoyed looking around and learning about some places to visit while we were there.

In the afternoon we head to St Anthony's and the car said we needed to add air to one of the tires. Marty found a wire stuck in the side of it. Not a happy find. Thankfully the only dealership in town was the same as our rental car so that was good. They said to come back a little later and they would be able to look at it. In the mean time we stopped in at the town hall to see the stuffed polar bear. Apparently it was found wandering through town years ago, whereupon it collapsed and died down near the water, so they stuffed it and put it on display.  This is the safest way to see a polar bear as far as I am concerned.  Sure is big!

The dealership said it would be a week to ten days to get the correct replacement tire for our new model rental.  We would be back home by then.  Due to the location of the hole, the whole tire needed to be replaced. After some more calls, a nearby tire was located and we went in the next morning to have it replaced. The rental company, after a great deal of talking, agreed to cover half that cost.