About Jennifer Hughes
Ottawa City Editor Jennifer Hughes has an ongoing love affair with design, art, fashion and food that began many years ago with redecorating her dollhouse or staging impromptu Barbie fashion shows. Now she unearths the best of the above in our vibrant capital city.
It was with great excitement that I (along with my entourage) finally entered the newly reopened Museum of Nature last week. After five long years of major (major) renovations, the museum reopened with great fanfare this past May, and we’ve been eager to visit since then.
I was in awe standing in the central hall, looking up four storeys to the massive skylights above. The restored mosaic tile floor with a giant moose at its centre is stunning, and I was amazed to read that the original floor was covered up with carpet for decades. And of course the new glass “lantern” structure that sits front and centre is spectacular from inside and out.
Obviously this museum is a huge draw for families with kids, but I’d encourage others to check it out as well. In fact, those without kids might actually have time to stop and read and learn and absorb a lot more. I could happily spend most of a day there if time was not a factor and I wasn’t being rushed around from one exhibit to another by crazy, excited short-attention-span boys.
But kids or no, the museum is beautiful, hands-on, easy to navigate (no labyrinthine floor plan here) and even pretty affordable ($25/family). Definitely worth the five-year wait.