Our week in Toronto was a mixture of business and touring. While Marty attended the AMOS annual meeting, Julia and Bob explored the city. Bob and Julia were able to have dinner with Bob’s sister Joan, and all of us were able to spend part of a lovely day with Chris, Lise, and Lucas, a Toronto family we met in St. Andrews last month.

Julia and Bob were able to append most of a day in each of the major Toronto museums, known as OSC (Ontario Science Centre), ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), and AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). All city museums these days seem to have adopted three or four character names, like airports. Some of the highlights: The Body Worlds exhibit at OSC as well as the IMAX on the Colorado River and Grand Canyon, The Dead Sea Scrolls at ROM, and the Canadian Art, African Art, and Henry Moore sculpture collection at AGO. Both ROM and AGO have recently undergone major renovation and expansion. In the case of AGO, this encased the older classical building in a contemporary shell, with beautiful and large exhibit spaces on five floors. Pictured above is a glimpse of the new wooden floating staircase as seen from one of the original galleries.

All of these museums, as well as the McMichael Gallery just outside of the city, have put a great deal of effort into children’s’ programs. There are interactive guides, opportunities to sketch, lots of hands on exhibits, and even a mask making station (guess who) in the African section of AGO.

Toronto has become a city of immigrants and we explored some of the various neighborhoods and sections of the city. Signs in Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Arabic, Korean, Afghani and a number of other languages announce that a block or two, or much more, is largely populated by recently arrived peoples who are now making Toronto their home. The rapid expansion of Toronto and the consequent stresses on resources of all sorts was a major theme in an earlier chapter in Julia’s Geography Alive curriculum, so she was prepared to experience this grand diversity.