Next morning, we visited an exhibition scale model's of "Leonardo's Machines". Leonardo da Vinci was born in the little town of Vinci - not very far from us in Tuscany. As well as his artworks, he left notebooks full of drawings of inventions which he had dreamt up, but which were never built in his lifetime. Now various museums have created scale models of many of these creations - varying from simple mechanical devices like pulleys and gears, to real contraptions like his parachute, hang glider and helicopter. A fascinating exhibition of some of them ...
Before catching our train, we went to see Lucca's aquaduct, which is outside the town wall and which we have never seen. It's pretty spectacular, although not ancient by Lucca's standards, having been built in the 19th century. A bit like a railway bridge in fact, but an impressive structure nonetheless.
 |
| The Leonardo Exhibition - Bill standing beside the clockwork car - powered by crossbow mechanisms linked to springs - sadly it had the sign "Non Toccare"! |
 |
| The acquedotto |
 |
| A fine sunset to come home to |
No comments:
Post a Comment