monkey's claw and ripping yarns

ok, favourite museum objects - thinking of claws and ripping yarns: the Museum and History of Science in Florence has the middle finger of Galileo Galilei's right hand encased and mounted as a kind of relic. not sure that GG would've approved but i was absolutely fascinated! i like the way that museums masquerade as sites of learning, upholding sound scientific principles, but in fact provoke all kinds of messy subjective responses, morbid curiosity being one. i used to love going to this museum in florence. it's right on the river and there's never anyone there. i used to go on my way to my best mate's mum's for sunday lunch. she lived in a tiny, ancient little flat on a very steep road that my moped could never manage - just opposite where Galileo himself lived. i can taste paolo's mum's pasta sauce right now and it's all tangled up with galileo, bizarre relics and long sunday afternoon naps.