A Toronto escapade

In Ottawa this year, there was a long spell of lingering grey weather at the end of March. It made us feel we needed a little break away from winter. We decided on a train trip to Toronto, a night in the Royal York Hotel and a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), world-renowned for its natural history collection.

Some people may know W.C. Fields’s tongue-in-cheek tease about Philadelphia. The Canadian version of the joke goes this way: the first prize in a contest is one week in Toronto; the second prize is two weeks. For many people who commute to work or fly in and out for business meetings, a visit to Toronto may not qualify as a treat, but we have developed a fondness for the city, warts and all, having lived and worked there for years. Our little escapade turned out perfectly.

Being situated more southernly than Ottawa, spring arrives a little earlier in Toronto. As we approached the city, there were buds on many of the bushes and trees along the rail line, not lush foliage, but cause for optimism. Although it rained part of the time we were there, at least we saw no snow.

We walked from our downtown hotel to the ROM and arrived as its doors were opening. We had one goal in mind: immerse ourselves in the geology section and explore the collection of minerals. We were not disappointed. The ROM has an impressive collection of rocks and minerals, including displays of meteorites, gems and rare fluorescent minerals.

We spent most of the day just in that section of the museum and we certainly picked up a lot of new information. The explanatory panels throughout the gallery are educative and provide a high-level refresher on the chemical composition and structure of crystals and the creation of minerals. Did you know that some fifty minerals (out of approximately 4,300 species) are unique and have, until now, totally eluded classification?

We also learned about places in Canada that are of great geological importance. In Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, for example, over 360 distinct minerals species have been found in one small area, a phenomenon rarely seen anywhere in the world. We even got to hold a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite in our hands. The beautiful array of shapes and colours in the display cases certainly made us forget about winter.

With a few minutes to spare, we sneaked into the “Dawn of Life” gallery across the rotunda. There, we found another master collection of exhibits. We noted the names of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Canada where there have been rich fossil finds: Mistaken Point (NL), Burgess Shale (BC), Miguasha National Park (QC) and Joggins Fossil Cliffs (NS).  Destinations to keep in mind for future trips?

We saw several people our age, possibly retired like us, some alone, others in couples, doing just like us. We did not feel out of place. Libraries and museums have a different type of attraction when time is plentiful. We stayed in the museum until closing time and promised ourselves we would return. We thought to ourselves, there are worse ways to spend a day.

The short video gives you a glimpse of the colourful mineral specimens that captivated us for hours. We hope you enjoy it.