Leonardo da Vinci weekend

We took a trip to the river Adda in late March to see a boat that was designed in the early 1500's by Leonardo da Vinci.  The boat moved across the river on a cable that was stretched above the water. Based on the way the driver aimed the boat, the current of the river pulled the boat straight across, the water of the river acts as the wind would on a sailboat. It was pretty neat to ride the boat, and it only cost .50 Euros to ride!  Score!

 The lovely river Adda

Da Vinci's boat

 A closeup of the boat

 Riding the boat

The next day, we took a trip to Milano to find the statue of da Vinci's horse.  There are 2 copies of this statue:  one in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Meijer Gardens. The other was gifted to the town of Milano.  We found the horse in a park outside the horse-racing track. At first, it looked smaller than its twin in Michigan, but as we got closer, we saw that it was equally large and imposing.  Designed by da Vinci to scare the enemies of Milano away, this statue was never actually completed during his lifetime...and had to wait until 1999.

 Teeny tiny people...big angry horse!

We let the kids up on the pedestal so they could go under its hoof like they do in Michigan. The horse here is not as shiny as the one in Michigan. It probably does not get the same level of attention that the Michigan horse gets!

We finished off our cultural weekend with a trip to St. Ambrosio Basilica, which is the most important church for Milanese people because St. Ambrosio is the patron saint of Milano.  Many kings were coronated here, and St. Ambrosio himself is buried here in a clear casket below the altar.  The kids were fascinated by that!

Not much to look at on the outside, and kind of dark on the inside. This church has lots of history, but not a lot of glamour!  An artist was working on this painting out back. I thought it was pretty cool.

 What's all the fuss about, anyway?

It was hard to resist running around the courtyard outside the church!  I caught them in a rare moment of stillness!