Museo Galileo

I know it would not be everyone's choice for a trip to Italy, but other than the climb to the top of the Duomo in Florence and the search for Brian's extended family, I have not been inside a church while here.  It is not something that is interesting to me.  I know I'm 'supposed to' want to and there's a lot of 'important' art, but it's not for me.  

World Map 1457-1459

What is for me and what we were all very inspired to see was the Museo Galileo in Florence.  And, it's a little poorly named, as far as I'm concerned because it has so much more than the scientific offerings and discoveries of Galileo Galilei.  The museum has exhibit areas in the subjects of astronomy (of course), time, globes, maps, navigation, the biological world, electricity and chemistry to name more then a few but certainly not all.  Having been to a few 'hands on' science-based museums in California, Pennsylvania and New York, it was awesome to see the actual models, representations and tools used by scientists, some times hundreds of years ago to explore, discover and teach.

In addition to the cordoned-off and behind glass items of historical significance, there was a section much like the Exploratorium in San Francisco where scientific principals were demonstrated through hands-on displays.    This allowed the boys an opportunity to really interact with at least some of the ideas they saw but could not touch.  And, finally, they have a fantastic gift shop and library with many books about science for kids of all ages and in multiple languages.  

Brian and I left inspired to create, teach and raise our kids to question and explore.