MILLER GEOLOGY MUSEUM, QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY

Their names are novel: polianite, marcasite, zoisite. Their colours make a rainbow: azure blue, sea green, gold, silver, rose. Their benefits are varied: fluorite, for example, is used in making steelmaking and certain kinds of glass. Visitors to the Queen’s geology museum discover the grand diversity of the world’s minerals and ores, as one might expect. But they also find exhibits on dinosaurs and fossils, learning odd facts. Example: the world’s largest collection of trace fossils, discovered in 1860 near Perth, Ont., was made by an enigmatic animal nobody can properly identify (scientists call it climactichnites). Want something old? At 45 million years, a specimen of Arctic wood is remarkably intact. Hours: Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Extra credit: The Agnes Etherington Art Centre owns 16,000 works. Its jewel may well be the Bader Collection, which focuses on Rembrandt and other painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Getting there: Head south on Highway 416 and west on 401; exit at Division Street and proceed south until it ends at Union Street. The museum is directly in front of you at 36 Union St. Via Rail offers daily return service to Kingston.