Baffin Island & Greenland Journal 1

John from Wildfoot travelled in August from Iqaluit on Baffin Island to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland on one of the company’s Arctic Adventure Cruises. This is a log of his experiences.

 Day 2b

Day 1

 

Stopped over for a day in Ottawa on the way up to Baffin Island. The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant with 40% chance of thunder showers, but in the end, it was fine all day with a temperature of about 23C.

 

There’s not a massive amount to do in Ottawa, unless you want to spend the day in museums, so we just planned to hang out and see what came up. In the end, we had a great day.

 

First of all, changing of the guard in front of the parliament building. Similar to Buckingham Palace, but with the Canadian Grenadier Guards in their red tunics and bearskins. Seemed a bit strange marching on grass, but still very impressive and a lot less tourists than in London.

day 1

Then down to the Bytown area, where there is a colourful weekend market and lots of cafes for a mid morning brunch. A bit of shopping too and then back to the parliament for guided tours of the two principal buildings there. All very interesting with full access at this time of the year whilst parliament is in recess. Particularly impressed by the library, which is the only part of the building that survived a major fire in 1916.

 

Back up to Parliament Hill for an evening sound and light performance celebrating Canadian History. Then back and packing again for tomorrow’s early start for our Arctic Adventure Cruise. A very full day