Royal Ontario Museum Toronto

I dropped through the ROM on Monday January 6 with my 12-year-old daughter — the Monday after the holidays is a nearly perfect time to go; everyone else is back at work or school so we had the place to ourselves.

We missed the Mesopotamia exhibit by a day but saw the spectacular Wildlife Photographer of the year show (an extra $5 for adults unless you’re a member, but well worth it) and of course the dinosaurs.

Since the gallery was so empty we watched many of the short and excellent videos displayed on touch-screens throughout the dinosaur gallery. Looking for something new and different, we enjoyed the interactive sustainability game about mining in the Minerals exhibit. The Minerals exhibit is hidden away now in the old part of the museum; along with sitting down to lunch in the museum cafe and seeing the Royal Conservatory’s lovely new addition it really made me regret the addition of the ROM Crystal with its awkward galleries and afterthought of an entrance hidden underneath a huge overhang of glass.

Be sure to visit the old entrance hall with its beautiful mosaic ceiling and sense of wonder and anticipation.