Leonardo da Vinci's home

So far, this has been my favorite of the whole trip.  This is the home that da Vinci lived in until he died.  Click me to learn more about this home. It was fantastic!  It was VERY kid friendly. When we entered, they gave us a pamphlet for 'les enfant' (the child). It gave 'missions' from da Vinci's point of view. "In this room, I did most of my thinking and sketching. Can you find my notes? What did I model the flying machine from?"  Raelee REALLY got into it.  Not only that, but after you exited the home, you walked through gardens that had real live models of some of his inventions...that you could manipulate...so that you understood how that invention helped to make people's lives easier.  It was amazing and I really enjoyed it.

The home was built in 1471 on 12th century foundations.

18th Century 'earthenware' representing Bacchus sitting on a barrel.

View from a window

This "Aerial Screw" machine was the beginning of the technology for helicopters.

An early dam...that uses gears to control the flow of water. Yes, da Vinci invented that!

I'm thinking this was the early "tank"?  I can't remember exactly. People stood inside and spun it and those things come out of it were guns.

A machine that used a corkscrew to bring water from the creeks easier.

Another water machine. this one used a piece of canvas (maybe animal hides?) to bring water up and dump it in a trough.

Raelee's uncles walking her down the path.

Flying machine. Can you tell what he modeled the wings after?

There were images hung throughout the park...mostly his drawings and paints. It was really neat and thought provoking.

da Vinci also invented the ball bearing.  Here is a machine using that. Raelee said that Daddy could make one very easily!

It was so calm and peaceful here.

Paddle wheel anyone?

This is much more efficient than oars! Raelee thought Daddy's Pirogue needs these machines.

This was a 'hamster wheel' machine that people used to move big rocks to build buidings. People ran in the center and it moved ropes and lifted a stone. Raelee and Eric thought that they could do it...Troy thought he could do it better.  They were all wrong..lol (to demo this, they had them using a rope rather than running...same concept though)

Drawstring bridge to move boat traffic.

Flying machine

Double decker bridge.

I'm sure you could see why this was one of my favorite things we have done so far. It was very hands on and very interesting. I had NO idea that da Vinci invented so many things...many things he didn't even get credit for.  Raelee and I will do much more studying about him and the things he is responsible for.

Part of the children's book that they gave us was Raelee using her imagination to invent something to make people's lives easier. When I asked her about it, she told me she would invent a robot that does all of the cooking and cleaning....bring it on kid. I'm waiting.