Musee Canadien des Civilisations or Canadian Museum of Civilization

One of the more interesting aspects of being in Ottawa is its location. Ottawa proper is in Ontario, but it lies right on the border with Quebec and is separated by the Ottawa River. Quebec is of course very French so there is quite a bit of French everywhere you go in Ottawa. Thankfully everyone speaks English so it is never a problem because I do not speak a word of French nor would I dare to given insult that often accompanies mispronouncing French! I may have a new project to occupy my time on the bus though. Not that I will ever be fluent in French, but I want to at least be able to go into a French restaurant and order something from the menu!

So I began my Friday with my normal agenda of things that I really wanted to do. On the top of that list was a visit to the Canadian Mint. I had gone to their website to find out about the public tours, and it stated that reservations were recommended. By recommended they must have meant required because when I got there the gates leading in were closed, and there did not appear to be anyone in the ticket window. (Imagine the Wonka Factory) Oh well mostly I wanted to visit the gift shop because Canada has some really cool quarters that commemorate the Vancouver Olympics. I have gotten 2 just from paying for things, but I was hoping to get a set of them. Alas!

So the second item on my agenda for the day was to go to the Canadian Museum of Civilization. To get there you have to cross the bridge over to Gatineau, Quebec. Gatineau is adjacent to Ottawa and from what I can tell it is its own city and not a part of Ottawa, but it is considered a part of the Capital. If that makes sense.

One of the things that you first notice about Ottawa is that all of the signs are in English and French. One of the things that you first notice about Gatineau is that everything is listed in French, but not necessarily also in English. Curious that!

So one of the main reasons that I wanted to go to the Museum of Civilization was that I had read the building is very cool, and in fact it is! What took me by surprise is that the museum itself was also very cool. It has all of the requisite museum things like an Imax theatre and display of Egyptian artifacts. Those are all well and good (and I did take advantage of both), but the more interesting displays to me were the First Peoples Exhibit and the Canadian History Exhibit. The First Peoples Exhibit was dedicated to the native people of Canada. Sadly it seems that the Aboriginals of Canada got much the same treatment as the Native Americans in the US. Although I don't think that the Inuit of the Northern Territories were ever really in danger of having their land (or ice might be better) taken over by the Europeans!

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History has never been a favorite subject of mine. It is not that I am disinterested, but I just don't have a memory for dates and things so it usually goes straight out of my head. And well the things I learned at the Museum of Civilizations will probably do the same thing, but at least they are displayed in an entertaining way. It felt a little bit like being in EPCOT in fact. They have recreated various settings like an early city street, and populated them with live actors to continue the illusion. I quite enjoyed the replica of a music shop in Winnipeg although I have my doubts that one of the instruments is actually period! If John was still working the museum job I would highly recommend that he visit this one as I think this is what more museums should be like.