The Science Of Italy

This morning we decided to visit the Science Museum of Milan. It was a hit.

The outside is not very impressive, but inside are a series of rooms that relate to topics such as Agriculture and Food or Transportation.

We began with Agriculture and learned that Mr Zamboni,who showed us how to resurface an NHL rink in no time at all, also made it possible to make 5000 tortellinis in 1 hour.

  That's good, I guess, but it probably put many Italian ladies out of work. We learned about yeast, environmentally, friendly farming and many other food production topics.

At lunch, Shush ordered Risotto Milanese, a staple and favourite dish of the city. It was a pretty yellow colour, because of the saffron, but rather bland, she thought.

We went back to wander the Transportation areadisplay.

This was an EMC training ship. I have no idea what EMC stands for.

Bea pilots a helicopter.

And now she's in charge of a steam engine. No end of the kid's skills.

The Museum had a large display showcasing the inventions of Leonardo. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of his death, the Italian Army made over 100 of his inventions, using the diagrams the great man left. Some are full size. Some are models.

A flying machine

A helicopter

mechanical weaving loom

Under sea exploration and how to walk on water.

dredging,

Military equipment

and art. 

What a guy.

Then, after a stop for gelato, we went to the Basilica of St. Ambrose,

He is the patron saint of Milan, as well as being one of the great theologians of the Christian church. He built a church here in 380 AD. It was added to and embellished over the years. During the bombing of the city, in 1943, the church took a direct hit.
Fortunately, the gold and silver alter from the 9th C and the body of St Ambrose had been moved to the Vatican, as the Allies promised not to bomb the Vatican (so we were told).
Ambrose is safely back under the altar of his rebuilt church.

We came home. The ladies needed to get ready for a very special outing which Sheelagh will describe in the next entry.