The Canadian currency museum!
We started off with a ride on the O-train,
but found out from the conductor that we couldn't use bus tickets for the O-train. Argh. So we skipped that bus and went down to the transitway to take a bus one stop and then back again so that we could get a transfer.Did we ever get the right bus driver. He didn't give a transfer, he gave us this instead:
A ticket to ride. The daypass. We could take anything we wanted all day.
Too cool.
I love OCtranspo.
So we were on the O-train when we broke out the special snack that we picked up at the Bulk Barn - sun dried strawberries and belgian chocolate wafers. Mmmmmmmm.
Monkey and I decided to visit one of our family members downtown. We called her office and met her in the lobby.
Hug attack for Heather!
She showed us her office and explained possibly the coolest job in the world for a young man: read the paper, watch TV and go to meetings in big comfortable chairs. Too cool.
We ended up back in her office where we showed her the tickle game. You hold out your fingers and pretend to tickle the person that you can see. It's heavily adapted from the Kids in the Hall 'squishing your head' skit, but we're working on tickling instead. Monkey however adapted it with Heather to show that his foot was much bigger than hers. It was too funny.
All too soon we were off to the currency museum to check it out.
We arrived just a few minutes before the guided tour, so we checked the Yap currency - coins of variable diameter with holes in the middle for carrying on sticks. Here's one that would weigh your pocket down:
Then we went inside for the guided tour. Here's Monkey getting his daily ration of salt for being a good soldier (good for keeping your provisions fresh while you trekked 25 days or so off into batttle)
though I didn't get a photo of the bricks of tea that were used by the Chinese (it even smelled of tea, it was too cool).They had a few things to keep little ones entertained = the enormous 20 dollar bill:
The pirate ship:
The loonie puzzle:
It was really quite neat. Here's some of the neat currency that they have on display:
A few old one dollar bills and two dollar bills:
Monkey and a 1000$ bill:
A billion mark note:
The first paper money, a Ming note from China:
Not one to be counterfeited. The warning on it translates into 'punishment by death in fifths' (rather than being ties and quartered they decided to break you into five pieces...ouch).Phew. Tuckered out we took a break for lunch.
Here's Monkey's favourite spot from the day, taken by him on our camera:
It was time to start thinking of home, so we took the bus to the Rideau centre to grab a Booster Juice and even grab one for mommy. She seemed pleased to have us drop by, if even for only a few seconds before an afternoon meeting:
We packed it in and went to go get Big C. I wonder what else we'll do this summer??
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