M11 (continued)

Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, though warm and dry had a dark musty feeling to it. Wooden models of all of da Vinci's inventions hang from the ceiling, they start to sway from the draft created by the opening and closing of the door.  Hanging on the wall I see the famous flying machine, the ornithopter, and others. On the desk I see the Vitruvian man sketch and propped up in a corner, the Mona Lisa. It feels harmonious that there are so many famous relics in on room and that da Vinci is unaware of there real value.

Now that da Vinci has poured some wine and sat  me down we began to discuss what I need to see him for. I tell him that I am a traveler from another Italian city-state, thankfully he doesn't ask for a name or where I live. He tells my about his work, and how he believes some of his inventions work, and how he isn't convinced that the ornithopter will be able to achieve enough lift the get off of the ground because the weight of the four men needed to power it is to much for the meager lift the spiral provides. Although it was a bit boring, I was intrigued by the reasons that he thought some of his machines would work even though modern science would prove it wrong in the future.

After I have heard my fill of the da Vinci's lecturing I ask him the question I have been wondering about all day, whether or not Signor Volpe actually ever studied with him?
"Hmm, that name seems to ring a bell" he answered, " but I can't quite place it. Oh! Yes! I remember now, what a bright young lad, and it seems only yesterday that he just disappeared seemingly into thin air. Why?" he asked me.
"Oh, I know him and I was just curious whether or not his claims were true.

After I left Leonardo's workshop, I strolled around the rest of the city just to see the sights. Because I still had a bit of time until I was required to return to the present, I decided to go the the local daily market. At the market I saw an assortment of things for sale: porcelain from China, the skins of leopards, and lions from Africa and I even saw a hardy looking blacksmith making swords, and armor.

But now my timer is beeping, telling me that it is time for me to leave this wonderful time and place. I look back thoughtfully at the looming Florence Cathedral, somehow I know that I will never return hear, the legitimate birthplace of the Renaissance.