Live from the ROM, it's Friday Night!

Last Friday, DC and I went to the ROM for their new Friday Night Live events. For $9, you can mix and mingle with the young and hip, tour the exhibits, drink, eat, and be merry. Since I am a grown-up and enjoy things unironically, it was a lot of fun.^*

If you recall, DC and I went to the ROM on a snowy day in February, and I complained about the lack of bike posts on Bloor but suggested there might be more on the Queen's Park Circle/Avenue/University^** side. It turns out that the ROM put out a few of those wheel-bender racks on the Bloor side and there are a lot of very pretty but not exactly practical posts on the Queen's... other side.

They're all different shapes and they're really nifty-looking, but I had to walk down quite a bit before I could find a free space that could also accommodate the basket. And then I was glad to have my Abus lock, because I'm not sure how I would have fared with a u-lock and the unconventional shape. Nevertheless, the Opus was finally secured and DC and I bought our tickets and our ROMbucks and went in.

They have a different theme every Friday night. We went on Fashion Night, so the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery had been transformed with food and drink bars, pink curtains, and a catwalk down the centre.





After spending some of our ROMBucks on drinks and waffles (because it's important to have dessert first), and we went to partake of the culture. When we were here in February, we didn't get to all the galleries because I was feeling a bit museumed out and didn't feel like looking at Greek pots. That night, they had togas and Egyptian dresses to try on, so after looking at all the dresses (and not-dresses) on the catwalk, and the honest-to-goodness models walking around (easily spotted because they were very tall and very put together), we went up to the Greek and Egyptian galleries.

DC declined to try on the toga, but I tried on the Egyptian dress. Which is more of a wrap. Easiest Hallowe'en costume ever.


One nifty thing the ROM does is the little learning cubbies. You sit down, press a button, and a recorded voice explains what you are looking at -- without needing the portable player. It's nice because you can share the cubby with someone else and discuss what you're seeing and hearing. And dicussion? Is kind of my favourite thing to do.


The galleries closed at 9:30, but the party continued in the main lounge. We had more food and waited in ridiculously long lines at the bar to use up our ROMBucks. Fortunately, we were entertained by the screens showing tweets from the evening. Which started to be more and more about the lines at the bar. That was a little surreal.

DC and I had fun people watching, but we agreed the lounge part of the evening would have been a bit more fun with a posse of people.

If you haven't been to Friday Night Live at the ROM, you should go. It's running until the end of June. Go party with the dinosaurs!

You can see the rest of my FNL ROM photos here. Click on the link below to get to the album and scroll to the starting picture.

From Rambling Through Toronto

^*Sorry, my sarcasm is showing. I've been reading too many things online where people are mocking other people for enjoying things they deem uncool or cheesy. Some people need to remember Wheaton's Law. /endrant

^**Seriously. It's the same street. I don't really get the need to rename the thing twice. Within two blocks. Granted, two large blocks. Ahem.