Once in a while we get to enjoy a little perk or two courtesy of D’s work. He’s got connections, man. He recently came into a package of V.I.P. tickets to the newest exhibit at The ROM (pronounced like CD-ROM), otherwise known as The Royal Ontario Museum. Fun, right? We live in this wonderful city with all kinds of interesting things to do, but so rarely do we actually do any of those things. We were pretty excited to take advantage of an opportunity to spend a day exploring the museum.
As per our chums over at Wikipedia, the ROM was established in 1912 and opened the doors to the public in 1914. It’s one of the largest museums in North America, home to an extensive collection of fossils, minerals, art, and artifacts. It’s a veritable hive of knowledge.
The only thing I dislike about the ROM is the horrendous renovation that was made to the front entrance back in 2007. It’s called The Crystal and it’s this enormous, oddly shaped mass of aluminum and glass that juts out of the building at an arrogant angle. I did not take any pictures of it, because frankly, it isn’t worth the effort. But if you’re interested in checking it out you can do a quick google and you’ll see what I’m talking about. It is a total eyesore. It just doesn’t feel right, and I hate it. Unfortunately though, you have to use that entrance to get in. Puke.
On Saturday afternoon we made the trek to the museum. A burst water main at Bloor/Yonge station meant we had to take the long way around to get there, but we didn’t mind. It meant we got to get off at Museum station, my favourite of all the subway stations. If I had to guess, I’d say that Museum station has experienced the fewest instances of hobo piss compared to all of the other stations. It just seems like it commands more respect than all of the others. It’s special, and deserves to be appreciated.
And it’s cool because it’s got all these great fake statues and ancient looking columns lining the platform. When I walk along the Museum station platform I like to pretend that I’m on a grand adventure, exploring some previously undiscovered pharaoh’s tomb and looking for forgotten treasures. This little bout of pretend really helped me get in the right mindset for a day at the museum.
We had tickets for all of the regular exhibits as well as the latest one called Mesopotamia: Inventing Our World. It was cool, but it was way too crowded. We could barely see anything because all of the displays had people totally surrounding them. Seemed like everyone and their uncle wanted to check out old Mesopotamia last Saturday. The other problem we had is that we’re both short. And I’m a shover too, but I do try not to be quite so quick to shove when I’m out at nice classy joints like the ROM. Instead, I politely skimmed my eyes over whatever it was that I could possibly see while gliding through the exhibit fairly quickly. It was hot and sticky with all those people crammed in there, I just wanted to get out already. We actually enjoyed that exhibit least of all, ranking it last place overall compared to everything else we saw. The best part of any museum is clearly the dinosaurs!
Everyone loves dinosaurs. They’re big and awesome and exciting. Playing Jurassic Park when we were kids was always super fun. What’s not to love? The best part of the displays are the renderings beside each skeleton that tell you which parts of the display are actual fossils and which parts are recreations.

It was really fun trying to fit that tusk in the frame while a bunch of people kept walking in front of my shot
Thankfully we didn’t experience any sort of sit-com type scenario where one of us sneezed and accidentally knocked over a T-Rex in front of a bunch of dumbfounded onlookers. I was a little bit worried that something like that could happen, I’m not gunna lie. I mean, it happened in pretty much every T.V. show that ever did an episode involving a museum so it seemed like the odds were high.
D liked the dinosaurs a lot too, but he said that his favourite part overall was the rock and mineral displays. We spent a lot of time exploring that section too. It’s fun to learn about all of the amazing treasures that are created naturally within our wacky little planet’s core.
In the natural history section there’s also this really cool place called The Bat Cave. It’s this long and winding dark corridor with all of these caves carved into the walls and fake bats floating around inside. As you walk through the darkened cave you can hear recorded bat sounds for a truly immersive experience. Even though it was hella dark in the bat cave, I was able to use the flash to get a few decent pictures.
I’ve always loved bats. Some of that love can probably be attributed to my fascination with Batman that started at a young age, but mostly I just think they’re cool. If it was feasible to keep a bat as a pet, I probably would. Freaky people keep snakes and tarantulas as pets right, so what would be so different about having a pet bat? If you could keep it in a special cage and feed it and care for it and love it just like you would a hamster that would be so awesome. For now though, I guess I’ll just have to content myself with the little carved bat statue I bought at the ROM gift shop on my way out.
Neither of us had been to the ROM in a really long time. At least 15 years or more for D, and probably 8 or 9 since my last trip. I loved spending the afternoon walking around the museum with D, just taking in one of the great wonders of our city. It was fun, holding hands and making our own hushed little jokes about dinosaur bones. I’m glad we had the opportunity to shake up our routine and do something different. We should make more of an effort to take advantage of all the incredible things our city has to offer more often. Maybe we will.
But then again, sitting around in our sweatpants watching football later that night was pretty great too. I can have it both ways if I want to.
I think there’s probably still a lot of urinating at Museum station, they just clean it more frequently so it doesn’t smell or look yellowish. The dinosaurs are really cool, and it almost makes me believe they actually existed!
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lol, oh I’m sure there’s a whole lot of pissing going on down there. My guess is that it isn’t quite as pissy as say Keele or Dufferin station. Ew or Landsdowne, haha.
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Great post!
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Thank you Lynette, I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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Bat shoe museum is free on Thursdays
I hear they even have loafers! 😉
Ps- you are Rocking that t-neck like it’s nobody’s business!
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Bata* damn you auto correct.
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Lol, I sort of knew what you were trying to get at. Although, there was a moment when I thought Bat Shoe Museum that would be so cool. Shoes for bats, what an idea!
And thanks dude, I’m actually really into the t-necks these days, what with how cold is here now and how foxy they make me look, lol.
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I love your scientific descriptions of the dinosaurs! Especially Chompy!
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lol, thanks Mikey!
I just happen to know what we’re all thinking.
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Woo Toronto! People who live here don’t know how lucky they truly are. We have magnificent attractions, festivals, and such. The ROM is incredible, so much fun. But I’d have to say that the Science Centre is my favourite, just epic. Also, who could forget our yearly film festival TIFF, the best film celebrating festival in the world! Also, the home dedicated to film, TIFF Bell Lightbox. Anyway, terrific post Smash!
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I haven’t had the actual pleasure of visiting the TIFF Lightbox yet! I know, shame shame on me. I should definitely try to make time for it this summer. I feel like summer would be a good time for a first visit for some reason.
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Jeez, I see what you meant about The Crystal! That thing would look fugly in *any* context… but there it just looks like one of Michael Bay’s Transformers fell down and died next to a nice old timey building. So very, very wrong.
Also, I assume if you piss on one of those statues, they come to life at night, hunt you down and eat you… like a “Night at the Museum” movie, but with more gore (and piss).
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I knew you’d be on my side when it came to that awful Crystal out front. It’s just dreadful.
I love the idea of the statues at Museum station coming to life at night, but does it have to be piss that does it? I guess there’s really no other way about it, is there? LOL
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Yep, they’re just piss-powered killing machines… until one of them falls in love with a lonely commuter! I haven’t got the whole plot figured out yet… I just know it ends with them destroying The Crystal… and pissing on the wreckage…
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Now there’s a story I can really enjoy!
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Oh shit. You live in TO? Sweet. Also, those skeletons are sick. I need to find the time to visit a museum for just that reason, but pawning off the baby isn’t all its cracked up to be.
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Yeah dude, I’m a TO girl! Do you visit the city often?
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Not really. I just like to put pushpins on my map to see where the rest of the blogosphere is.
Where the hell did your pics go? I was going to ask your permission to paint one of them, and now I can’t see any of them. Foiled again. Go to hell, technology!
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My pictures are missing?!? That’s a bit concerning. I’m guessing that you were interested in painting a picture of the weird little pumpkin cake that my mom made? You should be able to see it here:
https://smashingthroughlife.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/a-fugly-cake/
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I went on another computer and browser and the pics were back again. I actually want to do something with Chompy more than that cake now.
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lol, that’s awesome! Well paint away!
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That’s one luck batcave wall!! : )
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Oh you flatterer you! Now I’m going to be blushing all day long.
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Pictures please!
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Huh huh, “bone.”
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You always know exactly what I’m going for. You’re a sharp one Mr. Brian.
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Hey, call me Dr.
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My apologies, Dr.!
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