The Globe and Mail

Friends and neighbours of Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum may be forgiven if they have been feeling a bit peeved lately. The monstrous girders that will support the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal and give the museum a new entrance on Bloor Street by next fall look like one big train wreck these days, and last month the institution had to be slapped down by local residents because it had the gall to suggest it might built a luxury condo tower at the southern end of its leafy Queen's Park site. So here, in the nick of time, comes a nice seasonal basket of good public relations in the form of the 10 new or renovated galleries that will officially open on Boxing Day, allowing visitors a first glimpse of what the museum's $233-million expansion really means.