If you are a nerd (like I am), I strongly urge you to seek a partner who is also a nerd (like I did). That way, you can do nerdy stuff without feeling like you’re dragging someone along against their will. Instead, you can revel in your mutual nerdiosity. It’s quite romantic.
Dear Husband and I did just that on a recent visit to Victoria, British Columbia. One of the many things we looked forward to was a visit to the Royal BC Museum. This history museum is one of the oldest continually operating museums in all of Canada.
It has three permanent galleries, which house exhibits on Natural History, British Columbian History, and the First People’s Gallery. It houses about 7 million objects, including fossils, natural history specimens, artifacts and archival records. Of course, all of them cannot be displayed at once. I was disappointed to not come across John Lennon’s psychedelic Rolls-Royce, for example, which is part of their collection. But you can’t see everything, can you?
While we were there, the museum was in the throes of Fungi Fest, which was a lot more exciting and popular than one might expect. In the entrance hall, if you could hop high enough to see over the heads of the crowd, you got to look at hundreds of different types of fungi. Some were quite beautiful. Others were otherworldly. We also got to enjoy an IMAX 3D movie called Fungi: The Web of Life, which was narrated by Björk of all people. (As a side note, it was also kind of fun to discover what an Icelandic accent sounds like.)
If you ever get a chance to see this movie, take advantage of the opportunity. Not only is it visually stunning, but it also teaches you about the hidden world of fungi. Life as we know it wouldn’t exist without fungi. And it may help us solve some serious problems. For example, some fungi have the chemical ability to break down plastic. That could come in handy. Sadly, we have only identified 5 percent of the types of fungi on the planet, and as habitats get destroyed, so does the fungi. We may be killing off a type that could give us a cure for Alzheimer’s for all we know.
Since we were sort of on an IMAX 3D roll, we also decided to see Cities of the Future, which allowed us to time travel 50 years into the future and explore smart cities that are full of all sorts of human ingenuity. These cities will be totally sustainable and run on clean energy. I’m so jealous that the world of the Jetsons could come true (If we somehow manage to avoid destroying the planet in the meantime) and I probably won’t be alive to see it. Check out that link to see an official trailer and a list of cities where you can see this amazing movie.
After that, it was back to the present day, and, technically, the past.
Another temporary exhibit we saw was called Stonehenge. It included 400 artifacts from that fascinating archeological site, and they gave us insight into the people who actually built it. It explained what their lives were like, and where the stones came from, and how they were cut and transported, and new theories as to why such a massive building project was undertaken. It even included some video reenactments that really made you feel like you were there. That exhibit is still there until January 5, 2025.
Another exhibit, which will be at the museum until February 16, 2025 is called Canadian Modern. It focused on the 1960’s and 70’s, and displayed vintage dresses as well as Canadian product designs that had been influenced by the culture of that era. Think psychedelic designs and colors, influenced by the space race and the women’s movement. It is a fascinating window into what was going on, style-wise, in Canada around the time I was born.
Of particular interest to me was a display called Our Living Languages. It’s about Canada’s indigenous languages. There are 36 distinct languages in British Colombia alone, and you could press buttons and hear phrases from each one if you liked. It amazed me how completely different each one was from the other. I wonder how that came about.
The exhibit also discussed how important language is in preserving a culture, and that’s the primary reason children were not allowed to speak their native languages in the schools they were forced to attend. That, along with the systemic loss of land and the impacts of disease, did an excellent job of all but wiping out these cultures. It’s heartbreaking. There were also a lot of indigenous artifacts on display, as well as a representation of a chief’s ceremonial house, which has been recently refurbished by the actual chief’s grandson.
And what history museum is complete without fossils, dioramas, and anatomically correct drawings of strange creatures? This museum definitely did not disappoint on that score, or any other, for that matter. Definitely two thumbs up on the nerdometer!
Oh, and for fun, I also took a picture of the donation box, because Canadian money is so much prettier than American Money. I’m convinced Americans have the ugliest money in the world. If you can think of any money that looks worse, tell me in the comments below.
As an added bonus, the Old Spaghetti Factory is right across the street. Normally, I try to avoid chain restaurants when I travel, but the building was really cool, and we were famished. Life’s all about compromises, isn’t it?
Travel vicariously through this blog. And while you’re at it, check out my book! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
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