Milan, I was glad there was more to it than shopping.
Our hotel was very close to the symbol of Milan... The Duomo.
The cathedral is mounted with Gothic statues, gargoyles, pinnacles and soaring spires.
Me eating lunch with mum and Tess (my cousin) in the square in front of the Milan Duomo, which is currently undergoing restoration.Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Einstein, or, "The Italian renaissance master" did a lot of his work (25 years worth) in Milan.
This photo of and old da Vinci, stands in the square that is outside the world famous La Scala opera house which we visited.
We also visited Milan's Museum of Science and Technology, which has a Da Vinci exhibition.
The Museum houses about 100 machines that were designed by da Vinci and built by modern engineers.
Some of his designs were: trench diggers, revolving bridges,
weight reducers, an aerial screw which is an early version of a helicopter,
assault battleships
and even a revolving crane.
I read a particular artical that stated that in 1485, da Vinci wrote; "A man supplied with a linen covering 23 feet long, wide and high over his head, can jump from any height without getting hurt".
In July 2000, an Englishman, Adrian Nicholas, took these words literally.
He launched himself from a hot-air balloon in South Africa wearing Leonardo's pyramid-like parachute that weighed 85 kg's from a height of 3,000 metres.
Nicholas used a traditional parachute for the last third of the jump, just in case, and landed without a single bump. He commented, "It took more than 500 years to find a man with a small enough brain to put into practice the theory of the greatest mind of all time".
Something that you may remember da Vinci by, could be his painting of "The Last Supper".
We visited the Santa Maria delle Grazie church, which had the original painting of The Last Supper in it.
This, once again, is a photo of a photo, for authorities would not allow you to take a photo in there.
The painting is so extremely fragile that the humidity from more than 25 people can damage it.
You also cannot enter the room with the painting in it without the doors behind you closed, to prevent heat from outside circling inside the room.
The Last Supper took Leonardo from 1495 to 1498 to finish.
Isn't that a good way to spend three years of your life, painting?
The problem about having a 20 year old female cousin and a mother in Milan, is that chains to tie them up with are extremely expensive these days.
This photo of and old da Vinci, stands in the square that is outside the world famous La Scala opera house which we visited.We also visited Milan's Museum of Science and Technology, which has a Da Vinci exhibition.
The Museum houses about 100 machines that were designed by da Vinci and built by modern engineers.
Some of his designs were: trench diggers, revolving bridges,
weight reducers, an aerial screw which is an early version of a helicopter,
assault battleships
and even a revolving crane.I read a particular artical that stated that in 1485, da Vinci wrote; "A man supplied with a linen covering 23 feet long, wide and high over his head, can jump from any height without getting hurt".
In July 2000, an Englishman, Adrian Nicholas, took these words literally.
He launched himself from a hot-air balloon in South Africa wearing Leonardo's pyramid-like parachute that weighed 85 kg's from a height of 3,000 metres.
Nicholas used a traditional parachute for the last third of the jump, just in case, and landed without a single bump. He commented, "It took more than 500 years to find a man with a small enough brain to put into practice the theory of the greatest mind of all time".
Something that you may remember da Vinci by, could be his painting of "The Last Supper".
We visited the Santa Maria delle Grazie church, which had the original painting of The Last Supper in it.
This, once again, is a photo of a photo, for authorities would not allow you to take a photo in there.The painting is so extremely fragile that the humidity from more than 25 people can damage it.
You also cannot enter the room with the painting in it without the doors behind you closed, to prevent heat from outside circling inside the room.
The Last Supper took Leonardo from 1495 to 1498 to finish.
Isn't that a good way to spend three years of your life, painting?
The problem about having a 20 year old female cousin and a mother in Milan, is that chains to tie them up with are extremely expensive these days.
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