“Pic of the Week”, March 6, 2020: The Mona Lisa

03 Mona Lisa, Louvre

What’s that small thing everyone’s staring at?  Arguably it’s the world’s most famous painting.  If you want a closer look, you’ll have to push your way through the crowd at Paris’ Louvre to get to it.  And be sure to lock your valuables somewhere on your person because the room is well known as a den of thieves.   Pickpockets rule here, and signs everywhere warn you to be careful.

One of my most anti-climatic moments as a traveler came when seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time.  I’d read and heard so much about it — one of the great Leonardo da Vinci’s few paintings, and of a mystery woman (possibly Lisa del Giocondo) with such an unusual smile.  …

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.All Trips / Europe / Italy

A Visit to the Leonardo da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum, Milan

Leonardo Da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum

The da Vinci Science Museum is spread over 40,000 m2 and is in three separate buildings, one of which was a 16th century monastery.  There are more than 15,000 pieces in the museum’s collection, so trying to see everything is like taking everything at the Louvre — an impossibility in a week, much less in a single day.

It’s hard for anyone with a love of science not to be drawn to a museum with the great Leonardo da Vinci’s name in it.  I wish I could gush about what a wonderful museum this was, but that would mostly be untrue.  There were a few aspects to the museum that were quite imaginative and interesting, but overall it was a rambling unfocused collection …

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