📍 100 Queens Park, Toronto, Ontario
As an assignment for school, I had to go to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)! I know, a very different and cool assignment to visit a museum for school work, hahaha. It was great because I’ve never been to the ROM before, it was a good opportunity for me to visit it (finally!!!) and to share with you guys as well! Killing like 3 birds in one stone here with this visit, yaaas.
I went to the ROM on a Saturday and I took the public transportation there and you would have to stop at Museum station on the Yonge-University line. Also while on the trip, I went crazy using my fisheye lenses, please forgive me, hahaha
With appropriate signage, I managed to easily find my way to the ROM from the subway station.
And of course I had to take pictures of the iconic ROM! This exterior of the ROM visualizes a crystal and it’s so bloody beautiful… Definitely an iconic structure in Toronto, in my eyes.
Attained my complimentary ticket and went in!
I wasn’t satisfied with the service at the counter or admissions though. The guy at the counter was nice but was fumbling when trying to scratch off my name off the school’s list… The girl at admissions barely smiled or said a word to me while scanning my ticket. Was totally bizzare.. not even a smile. Her job was sitting on a chair, scanning the tickets and she couldn’t even say something or smile? Jeez.
Moving on.
The guy at the information desk though, Peter was his name, a much older grandpa-like figure, was super helpful and even gave suggestions on how I should explore the museum since it was my first time! He was really nice, A++.
Peter suggested that I should start from the top of the museum and make my way down from there. Soooo that’s what I did!
On the 4th Floor was the Speciality Exhibit – Viva La Mexico!
Showcased of the culture – focusing more of their outfits, methods, patterns and materials used for their clothings and rugs.
Down the stairs from Level 4 to Level 3, here is this mini display of toys behind the glass.
You can see the aging in the toy soldiers as their colour fades off and a few scrap marks here and there. Not much of a description talking about this – but I still found it pretty cool.
Level 3 was a combination of Africa/Middle Eastern and South Asian culture – I believe. There was tons of miniature temples, statues of Buddha, showing the materials used in the temples or doors in the houses and patterns of the tiles. The huge fish is actually a fish coffin based on the culture and traditions from Ghana.
This was the mini gallery of from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor’s Biodiversity gallery. It was highlighting insects, butterflies, shells and other fossils~
On 2nd floor’s Diversity, the entrance artwork really stood out compared to other floors. I’m assuming it’s popular among ages since it was all dinosaurs~ and another side of this floor was biodiversity – animals, plants, live fish tank! Capturing the overall harmony of Earth.
There was also a kid’s play area in the Biodiversity section, so expect lots of running kids.
Random Totem statue that I’ve encountered when exploring the first floor. Really majestic looking, was pretty cool.
The 1st floor was dedicated towards the other half of Asia – so like China, Japan and Korea exhibits of walls, patterns, scriptures, re-occurring themes within each country.
On the 1st Floor, if you go through some stairs down to the basement, there is actually a restaurant that similarly resembles IKEA’s style of getting and ordering food. The route wasn’t quite noticeable… so be on the look out!
They had options of pasta, rice, drinks, coffee/tea, pastries, dessert like these cute dinosaur cookies shown below! I’m quite skeptic of eating the food that are left in the open as I saw some school kids touching it and putting it back… Yeeeeep.
Plus, the prices are kinda pricey, in my broke student opinion. There’s tons of options to eat outside before you head into the ROM or after you finished. If you bring your own food, there is also a canteen in a secluded spot of the museum that you can eat there.
Overall, as a first timer, I had a great time at the ROM – Bonus because it was a free ticket. I rushed the floors to get my assignment done, but it still took like 2 -3 hours to cover the entire building. You can basically spend the entire day here, if you took your time here.
I think this is a nice area to go for a date as well – more towards couples date than a friends date, personally because I wouldn’t go to museums with my friends. However, if you’re a post-secondary student, you can go to the ROM for free! But you must present your student ID card, of course. There is also discounted Fridays starting from 430PM, so if you want, it can be a fun Friday night in the museum!
I went here about 2 months ago, and now they have a new exhibit called Tattoos – which I think will be more interesting than the one I went to which was Viva La Mexico. Personal preference I guess, and it grabs younger demographics attention as well.
If you want to know more about the ROM, I’ve linked their website down below!
Also be sure to bring your camera like I did, I went crazy snapping photos… clearly.
Till next time, ♥
For more – ROM website, TripAdvisor & Yelp
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