Staying in Canada’s Most Iconic Luxury Hotel

It's 11.47 on Sunday. I guess it feels like the afternoon because the sun's already starting to set, but it's not the afternoon. We're standing outside of our hotel and we only have a couple hours before the sun really goes down, so we're going to go walk around and check out the town, but I don't mind. This is one of the local schools here in Iqaluit, and it's interesting. We were told that it was built to be in the shape of whale blubber. I'm not sure if that's actually correct, I haven't checked the facts on that, but what's more interesting is that there's hardly any windows, and again, we were told that it could be an energy-saving thing, but we're not exactly sure, but the schools all seem to not really have windows, and this is, I guess, the newest one. The ground is so frozen here that a lot of the sewage lines and water pipes are above the ground, so you can see them all kind of laid out, which makes you think about the sewage more than we do in Toronto. When walking through Iqaluit, you see these giant shipping containers behind houses and buildings, and it's because you have to order all your goods to be brought here by boat, and if you order enough goods, you actually have to buy the shipping container that they come in, and then they just sit behind people's houses, and people turn them into anything from additional housing, as we've seen with smokestacks coming out of some of them, or just they sit here and store stuff, but there are lots of shipping containers. If you're sending mail to somebody in Iqaluit, they probably have a P.O. box, but if they're getting something shipped directly to their house, like one of the shipping containers, it can be tough, because they don't actually have street addresses, they just go by the number. So the streets have names, but they're not really marked, and we stayed at a guy's house that was just number 26, 27, or something like that, and that was it, no, the cab drivers know exactly which house in the whole community that is, which is pretty crazy. Hey, we're here in Iqaluit Square, and there are no trees here, because we are above the tree line. Most of New Nevud is above the tree line, so there are no trees. Why was there oxygen? Good question, Leo. We're here at the high school, they're having a craft fair, we came on the perfect day, so everybody comes and buys crafts for Christmas, and people are showing the goods that they've made, and it's amazing, I think we're going to see some really cool stuff. Really? It should be frozen over right now, but it's not. When it does freeze over, this becomes like a highway, and people can take their scoos and whatnot to the other communities across the bay, and to head out to the ocean, which is pretty crazy. It's been too mild, though, for that to happen yet. Too wild? Mild! We're standing now outside of the museum, I'm not going to try to pronounce it, because I probably won't do it right, but we went in yesterday, and they have a great art collection of Inuit art and local artists, they also have artifacts, and there's a little gift shop where you can actually buy the work of the local artists, I think it's by consignment, and it's a great place to pick up souvenirs and artwork. So we're outside of the snack, I thought at first the sign was the Love Shack, because it has a heart around it, and it was dark at 3 o'clock yesterday when I saw it. We were told to get late night burgers here, it's not late night, but we're going to have lunch! I never thought I'd have to explain what Poutine was. When we were in the States, we realized a lot of people don't know what it is, or have never had it. So basically, it's a French-Canadian cuisine, and it's French fries with gravy and cheese curds, and the cheese curds melt, and then you eat it. And if you're really fancy, you put other stuff on it, but this is the way it's really supposed to be. I don't know where else, but the snack in Iqaluit, Nunavut, to get good Poutine. What? Montreal? Yeah, Montreal. Yeah, but I think these people are from Montreal. It really warms your heart and soul. Timmy is North Mart, which is like a Walmart here in Nunavut, and they've actually just opened this weekend the Tim Hortons here, and the person who opened it was sent up from Oakville. She did the schooling in Toronto, and Luke and Melissa went to the same high school. Tim Hortons is definitely new to Nunavut. Apparently, before it was here, people used to bring boxes of donuts up on the planes with them whenever they came in, so it'll be interesting to see how the community embraces it or doesn't embrace it. I know one of the local coffee shops that would be a competitor has now started selling pizza to stay kind of going. We actually had pizza the other night. It was really good. But we're going to go have it Timmy's later. It's 2.21pm, and the sun is setting in Iqaluit. It's twilight here. Dusk, if you will. 2.45pm. Christmas lights out. What? What time is it? Uh, 3 o'clock. We just saw a school bus go by, which is normal because it's 3 o'clock, but it doesn't feel normal. Is it 2.59 in the morning now? Uh, no. It's 2.59 in the afternoon. But? Once again, it is dark out. The sun set an hour ago. What do you think, Blue? Well, I don't know any different because I'm an Arctic dog from 50 Arctic. I wholeheartedly recommend coming to the north of Canada to anybody who's never even considered it. It's not something I really considered before this trip this year, but it's unbelievable and you can learn a lot about Canada and the world if you do make the trip. My mustache is all out of whack.