The Landing...

I landed in Iqaluit on Wednesday, July 1st. The locals were good enough to be holding celebrations (in my honour I presume).

This is the view that greeted me as I stepped out of the airport terminal - a bright, sunny, warm day (temp approx. 14 degrees). I had two suitcases jammed full - Air Canada had nicked me for $75.00 because my large one was over-weight - and were actually refusing to take it on the plane unless I lightened it by 7 lbs. This I managed to do by removing a garment bag (5lbs) and then, a couple of pots and pans which I put in the bottom of the garment bag and took as a carry-on. Unfortunately, in my rush to dispose of my last few items of furniture and do my packing, I hadn't really got in touch with anyone to arrange to be met at the airport. I knew that I was supposed to have some accommodations lined up - I was getting a government apartment - but I didn't know whether or not that would be available on this day (it wasn't). So, I cooled my heels in the airport for a while and tried phoning some of my Iqaluit contacts. Long and short of it, I ended up back at the Nova Hotel (where I had stayed on my exploratory visit a month earlier).

The Nova is a pretty nice hotel, built fairly recently, but I had been looking forward to getting into my own place as soon as possible. I understood that this might be happening as soon as the next day - and indeed, they did have an apartment available for me. I, however, decided to wait for one with a better view, on the other side of the building, so it was the hotel for a few more days. There are a few attractions to staying in a hotel, but I quickly became sick of it and was happy to get my apartment... with a view: