Friday 13 May: The Science Museum in London has a lot of stuff to see. When I was a child it was one of my favourite places to go to. The Canada Science and Technology Museum is that country’s equivalent. Except it’s a bit on the small side.

As one would expect from a national museum, the exhibits emphasize the impact Canadian citizens have made to science, but refers to other related discoveries and inventions as necessary. There were a number of temporary exhibits including an incredibly dull one on health and beauty in the home – people used to wash clothes by hand! Of the permanent exhibits there’s one sponsored by Nortel Networks which explains the evolution of digital technology which is full of things for kids to do; one area set aside for the evolution of motorised transport; one for canoes (really); one for ‘Canada in Space’ – which includes the control center for the loading bay of the space shuttle. The museum also has 11 demonstrations which run at regular intervals throughout the day.

The best exhibit is the one of steam locomotives. There are 4 locomotives and a sleeping car. These are very big animals indeed – the biggest is 16.5 feet high.

The museum is geared towards kids and families. They run special themed birthday parties and outdoor observatories. They also have sleepovers for groups of children beside the locomotives which sounds like a really fun thing to do.