Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/514227
49 Manitoba Moments Share your photos with us on Instagram with #ExploreMB More than a MUSEUM Human and natural history come alive at The Manitoba Museum. This fall, expand your hands-on horizons with the National Geographic Presents: Earth Explorers exhibit. The immersive experience puts visitors in a deep-sea submersible, a hot-air balloon and other vehicles to explore ecosystems including the Arctic, rain forests, oceans, mountain caves and the African savannah — where you can match scat samples to the animals who produced them. Permanent exhibits beyond the diorama of bison that greet you at the entrance include galleries featuring ancient aquatic fossils, an aboriginal encampment and an urban gallery that depicts Winnipeg in the 1920s, complete with a dentist's office. Don't miss the Nonsuch Gallery, where you'll find a replica of a 17th century fur- trading ship. The captain's log might note that visitors have included Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, who once enjoyed a romantic dinner on deck. Head downstairs to check out more than 100 hands-on activities and exhibits in the Science Gallery, and reach for the stars in the Planetarium, where the Digistar 5 theatre system provides the sensation of a domed IMAX theatre. > manitobamuseum.ca LOWER FORT GARRY Egyptian sphinxes, secret Freemasonry symbols, a hieroglyphic nod to the sun god Ra and other mysterious messages were hiding in plain sight in the Manitoba Legislative Building for almost a century before scholar Dr. Frank Albo cracked Winnipeg's version of the Da Vinci Code. Join Albo on Heartland Travel's 90-minute Hermetic Code tour of the building on Wednesday evenings until mid-October and find out why the number 13 and symbols of eternity are repeated in architectural features — and why the site was chosen for its mystic energy. > heartlandtravel.ca @bcrobyn 49 Mystic Secrets THE MANITOBA MUSEUM PHOTO: HANS PFAFF