This morning we toured the retirement home of Leonardo da Vinci. He left Rome at the age of 64 and took a job as the chief architect/engineer/artist for Francios 1. Francois liked him so much that he gave him a house, called Clos Luce, with an underground tunnel connected to the king's chateau so he could visit whenever he wanted.
The house is now a museum dedicated to da Vinci's life and amazing ideas. Inside, they have miniature replicas of some of his ideas. Da Vinci thought of things that are part of our everyday life, but were amazingly ahead of his time - like transmission gears, an odometer, paddle boats, a rotating bridge (to allow boats through) and of course, a flying machine. Many of his ideas work today just as he drew them, but he lacked sufficient power sources to make them in his day. Imagine what he would do with the technology available now....
There is a park outside the chateau that has some life-sized examples of his ideas. Our favorite was the Archimedes screw, which uses a large screw in a tube to draw up water. There was a catapult, and armored tank (no kidding!), moving bridges, paddle boats, and water wheels. We had a great time experimenting with these giant toys.
This afternoon, we are of to do some wine tasting in Vouvray. The Loire valley is mostly known for it's white wines and roses, and so far we've really enjoyed the crisp, dry flavors. We're hoping for some good cheese pairings to go with them.
The guys are off making reservations for dinner tonight at a local restaurant that is supposed to be where the locals go for a nice meal. It's our first "formal" dinner, although people usually dress up here for most things, so formal is a bit misleading. We are always the most casual people in the room, but that's just part of being American.
All for now.....
2 comments:
Hope you had a great meal. It is so fun to read about all the places you are visiting!
Yesterday we watched Dora on a world tour and she visited the Eiffel Tower. Colby turned to Steve and said, "That's where Erican and Jason are. I'm going to learn how to fly a plane across the ocean so I can go there. But only when I'm older." hah!
He kept claiming he saw you on the tower. Unless you turned into a blue bull or theif weasel (Swiper! No swiping!) I think he was mistaken.
What fun it is to hear about your adventures. We have 3 prints hanging on our walls that I bought at a gift shop in the Lovure for $5 each. We were told they would be worth $50 each in the U.S.
We are getting ready to go to Canada. All is well here.
P.S. We heard a report on last night's news that there is going to be a shortage of Champagne so enjoy it while you are there.
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