Tiny Hippo and Leonardo da Vinci

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Rin

There is a great Leonarado da Vinci exhibition happening in Venice, the best part is that you get to play with all of the machines!

The da Vinci exhibition is being held in a church in Venice.

This device shows how ball barrings can be used to move Tiny Hippos around with great ease.

This auto-locking wheel must have been used to lift very heavy cakes.

Leonard da Vinci must have used this machine to crack open nuts when he was feeling peckish.

I am afraid he may have made this flying machine a bit too small for Tiny Hippos to use.

This glider looks more suited to my kind, I knew old da Vinci wouldn’t let me down!

I just don’t know about this one, the sign says it is a dredger, but it looks more like a cranberry thief.

After all the excitement of touring so many da Vinci creations I need to unwind for a bit. See you next time!

Tiny Hippo Tours the Churches of Venice

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Rin

Tiny Hippo and Church of San Giorgio Maggiore

Welcome to Venice, I the Tiny Hippo, will be your esteemed guide! Let us start a whirlwind tour of the churches of this ancient city!

This is the lovely church of Santa Maria dei Miiracoli, just after sunrise.

Here is the church of San Nicolò da Tolentino, my favorite part is the clothes line on the left.

San Trovaso has two identical facades. This was so that the two rival Venetian factions, the Nicolotti and Castellani, could each have their own entrance of equal importance. I wonder where the Tiny Hippos enter?

San Rocco is one of five plague churches in Venice. These votive churches were built as symbols of thanks for the city’s deliverance from plague epidemics.