"Ugh, we'll be returning the car rental this weekend. I'd like for us to sightsee more of Ottawa." I couldn't decide if we should go and visit The Canadian Museum of Nature that Thursday until... the last minute! Like we only had an hour and a half viewing the galleries before the museum closes. Gosh, I don't want us rush but let's go!
Ottawa Ontario is Museum central. It amazes me that 7 National Museums can be found in one city alone. We did our first museum visit at the Children's Museum, this time I'll take you with us to The Canadian Museum of Nature.
When to Visit for FREE
Who doesn't love free stuff with no strings attached? I'm thrilled the aforementioned museum offers FREE admissions every Thursday from 5pm onwards -- this only applies to the permanent galleries. You'll have to pay if you want to view the Special Exhibits.Parking costs $5++ CAD. It is open-air parking right next to the modern-castle themed museum.
The Main Galleries
Unfortunately, we weren't able to check them all out. This is our fault due to indecision. Had we come earlier, we could have. Nevertheless, below's the photo tour of the galleries.The Fossil Gallery
Wait a minute, this looks familiar! We've been somewhere similar before. Ah, it's at the Houston Museum of Natural Science's Morian Hall of Paleontology.
The Stone Wall Gallery
The Mammal Gallery
The Water Gallery
Look, how enormous that whale is! The photos above show the preserved skeleton of a whale. Its stomach is sooo huge, it could fit our family of three. I wonder how many tons of food they eat in a day? Well, wonder no more, 'Google' is your friend. ;P
Buy cute toddler t-shirts for boys below.
Mommies with small kids, there's a small play area in the Bird Gallery. Our son loves it there. He wouldn't budge stepping down on that ride-on toy vehicle no matter how much we coax him.
In the end, we had to drag him out because the museum is closing in 5 minutes. Of course, he's not happy with it, he's wriggling and squirming all the way out from the museum to the car. What do you do in situations like that with a toddler?
Sleepover at the Museum?
Does this pique your interest? Yes, you can actually do a sleepover at the museum. It's a fun family experience with children over 5 years old. Want to know more? Visit The Canadian Museum of Nature's website.
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And that my friend, concludes our photo tour at The Canadian Museum of Nature. We sure did enjoy our quick one and a half-hour tour at the museum. I'm glad we came.
I hope our experience at The Canadian Museum of Nature gave you an idea of what to expect during your visit to the area. Have fun! Talk to you soon then. ;)
