The Canadian Museum of Civilization is dedicated to the preservation and display of Canada’s history and to the culture and art of the First Peoples (a common Canadian term for the pre-European native population of Canada).

The Museum, in Hull, Quebec, is across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill, Ottawa.  Douglas Cardinal designed the two massive curvilinear buildings that make up the museum and the curatorial department.  The design was intended to be evocative of the formation of the North American continent and its subsequent reshaping by glaciers, wind, and water. 

The Grand Hall exhibit space is a little over 19,000 square feet (1,782 sq m) and contains six full-size reproduction facades of houses and totems.  Each facade represents a typical chieftain’s home in one of six Aboriginal communities from coastal British Columbia.  The Museum is working with the Native people of each region represented to create a cooperative exhibit for the houses’ interiors.

The First Peoples Hall celebrates the contributions of Canada’s First Peoples.  Exhibits include works of art, audiovisual presentations, artifacts, and archival documents.  The exhibit is self-guided or a guided tour is available for an additional fee.

Housed on the third level of the Museum, the Canada Hall illustrates the history of the country for the last 1000 years with a series of life-size displays.  Visitors may catch a performance by Dramamuse, the Museum’s in-house theatre company.  The troupe stages re-enactments of scenes from the country’s past in the exhibit area and are available to answer questions.

The Canadian Children’s Museum, on the second level, takes children on an interactive adventure around the world.  An art studio, puppet theatre, and game section round out the exhibits.

The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum (CWHM) in New Hope, Ontario, is unique because it is home to world’s largest collection of flying vintage aircraft.   The museum also houses an aviation art gallery, interactive displays, audio-visual presentations, and an assortment of aircraft photographs and memorabilia.

The Museum began as a labor of love for four friends, Dennis J. Bradley, Alan Ness, Peter Matthews, and John Weir.  The men did not just set out to restore just any planes, they specifically wanted to preserve and maintain a collection of the aircraft flown by Canadians and the Canadian military services from World War II to the present.

In 1993, an inferno ripped through one of the hangars at the Hamilton International Airport that the Museum was using for storage and restoration and destroyed five of the restored planes.  The museum reluctantly acknowledged the need to move to a single facility that could accommodate both the displays and the space needed to do restoration work.  As a member of Canada’s royal family and the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum’s royal patron, Charles, the Prince of Wales officially opened the new building in April 1996.

The Museum has over forty aircraft from the 1940s warplanes to jets from the 60s and 80s.  Most of the planes are military and many of them are rare.  Nowhere else will you find such a large collection of flight-ready vintage airplanes.  The Museum flies one of their operational planes once a day during, the summer season, and Thursdays through Sundays in the spring and autumn, weather permitting.

The Museum’s ride program, Legends Flight, gives people the opportunity to reserve a ride in either an open-cockpit bi-plane or the Harvard Trainer.  They also offer two different flight paths, the Niagara Escarpment Tour over Hamilton and the Lake Ottawa shoreline or the Grand River Tour.

Very old school.

If you’re traveling in Ontario, Canada with your kids anytime between May 1st and September 8^th and find yourself anywhere near Greater Sudbury, make some time, a day would be best, to detour to Dinosaur Valley Mini Golf for a unique experience in family entertainment. Open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, this singular attraction offers service in both English and French.

The park began as a dream for owners Josee and Marcel Rainville, who, after five years of work, completed the first 9-hole course in 1998. Over the years five more courses were added as well as the amazing steel dinosaurs, all scaled to size. The park owners make all of the skeletal replicas.

Dinosaur Valley offers a variety of amusement options ranging from a total of 54 unique holes of miniature golf to labyrinths and over 20 mammoth dinosaur and insect exhibits, plus their new Raptor and Dragon exhibits, added in 2006. 

It is fun with a purpose, too. The Rainvilles have dedicated the entire park to cancer families to honor of the memory of their son, Steven, who died of leukemia. Dinosaur Valley also hosted Canada’s first Pro Mini Golf Tournament in which 100% of the proceeds were donated to charity (the Canadian Cancer Society).

This family fun centre is reasonably priced, too, with labyrinth entry only C$2.50 per person and 18 holes of miniature golf starting at C$5.99 for children and C$7.00 for adults. While some of the exhibits may be a little extra, most of the extraordinary metal models are incorporated into the golf courses.  The park accepts cash, debit, Visa, and American Express. For those of you who like to plan ahead, you can book your visit to Dinosaur Valley Mini Golf online via their website, www.dinosaursudbury.ca .

Drumheller, Alberta, in the heart of Canada’s prairies, proclaims itself“The Dinosaur Capital of North America”, and has the fossils to back it up.

Just northwest of Drumheller is the Dinosaur Trail, a 32-mile (50km) circular drive along Highway 838 that will lead visitors to, among other things, the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology, and the World’s Largest Dinosaur.

The Royal Tyrell Museum has a wide array of exhibits.  The Hexen Science Hall features an interactive display to demonstrate basic scientific concepts.  In the Preparation Lab, visitors can watch scientists prepare fossils for study or display.  The Burgess Shale and Devonian Reef exhibits offer a look at life under the waters of Canada’s prehistoric oceans.  In the Cretaceous Garden, Museum guests can walk through living history, a garden filled with the same plants the dinosaurs ate. 

The main attraction at the Royal Tyrell is Dinosaur Hall.  The Hall is full of mounted dinosaur skeletons, and is the largest exhibit of its kind in the world.  Walking, swimming, and flying reptiles are all present, including the Albertosaurus, first discovered by Joseph B. Tyrell.

Farther down the Dinosaur Trail visitors will find themselves confronted by the World’s Largest Dinosaur.  The Dinosaur is an 86-foot (26.2 m) concrete and steel Tyrannosaurus Rex.  He stands four times taller than the real thing did and visitors who climb the 106 steps to the viewing platform in his mouth will enjoy a magnificent panoramic view of the badlands.

For dinosaur lovers, the two-hour trip to the Tyrell Museum’s Field Station at Dinosaur Provincial Park is a must-see. It functions as a base for continuing scientific study in the area and has skeletons on display in an exhibit building.  Visitors can also make reservations for a bus tour to areas of the park being excavated, areas not available to the public any other way.

The Empress Hotel sits regally on the Inner Harbor of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, and is a joy to behold for both history and architecture buffs.  The Fairmont Empress will be celebrating her one hundredth anniversary in 2008.

The hotel was begun in 1904 after supporters of the city convinced the Canadian Pacific Railroad to establish regular ferry service to Vancouver Island and build one of the railroad’s signature hotels in Victoria.  The Empress, named for Queen Victoria, then the Empress of India, and designed by English architect Francis Rattenbury.  The original, 116-room Edwardian chateau-style building opened with a great deal of fanfare in 1908.

The hotel’s magnificent architecture and opulent décor are legendary.  Built at the height of British power in India, it features a number of colonial India-themed areas.  Most notable of these is the club-like Bengal Lounge, decorated with objects given to the hotel by some of its notable guests.  An Indian maharaja donated the mounted tiger skin on the wall and the murals above the bar were a gift to the hotel from the king of queen of Siam.

To take Afternoon Tea at the Empress is to take a journey back in time.  This formal, high tea occurs daily and is enjoyed by over 100,000 people each year.  Do not expect to take it lightly, though.  High Tea is, in many ways, a meal, and you will pay accordingly.

There were rumors that the owners were planning to demolish the property and build a new resort on the site in the 60’s, but the public outcry caused against this plan led to the $4 million “Operation Teacup” renovation.  Another, significantly more expensive renovation took place in the 1980’s.

The hotel is also home to Willow Stream Spa and affiliated with two local golf courses, for guests who want more than art architecture.