Writings, Wanderings

First off, let me say that Malaga, Spain is an awesome city that deserved far more than the not-even-really-24-hours that I gave it. If you are traveling through southern Spain and have the room in your itinerary, go there! This Mediterranean city is the birthplace of the famous artist Pablo Picasso and pays tribute to him with more than one museum. His birthplace is closed on Mondays, my day in the city, but the Museo Picasso with over 200 of his pieces on display was open. The museum follows the artist's development from his childhood years and sketches into adulthood with both paintings and sculptures. While a chronological order is the main pattern, some displays focus on a topic such as his art that involved animals. The museum is not huge but does involve walking and there aren't always places to take a rest especially if it is busy like the day I visited. I was pleased with the audioguide although at times it was a lot of information and I was ready to move on befo...

Last weekend I made a flying trip to South Carolina for a wedding reception. (And when I say flying, I don't mean that I flew but that it was a fast one, just over 48 hours gone from home, at least 18 of those spent in my car.) I arrived about two hours early for the reception, so not wanting to sit sweltering in my car, I drove a few miles over to the town of Fountain Inn and after cruising a few streets, found some public parking. My wandering led me to the Chamber of Commerce which houses a small hometown museum open for a couple of hours on a few days of the week--a few hours that happened to coincide with my visit. The museum is basically one large room that has a series of displays, each one flowing into the next. A little bit of attention is given to the earliest native inhabitants--including a display of a small collection of arrowheads--before moving into the beginning of European colonization. The right-hand side of the room moves visitors through time with a ment...

What do you think of when you hear the name Leonardo da Vinci? The enduring mysterious smile of his Mona Lisa? His far-before-their-time flying designs? His use of mirror writing to code his notes? His designation as a Renaissance man--one with skills across many subject areas--lays the cornerstone of a traveling exhibit currently on display at the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh. Thanks to the preservation of his codices (housed throughout Europe), over 60 of his inventions have been built either full-size or in model form for visitors to peruse and for some, touch with their own hands. The exhibit takes guests through his works by themes and so after a very brief introduction to his life, starts with a look at his inventions related to weather and flying. Here, I learned that while da Vinci was most definitely an inventor, he was a man who looked at what was already in existence and worked to improve upon it especially in a way that would decrease the amount of effort n...