EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE SAFARI

     I woke up on my bed holding a ticket for a safari. It was for the European Renaissance. I went to Florence, Italy and began the safari. There was this nice man there ready to start the safari. He said that the safari was going to last hours, so he let me ride one of his horses. I always gave the horse water when he was starting to get wobbly and slow down.

   

     The first place we visited was the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral). It was built by the most famous architect in Italy. It's dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi and some helpers.

     After we saw the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, we went to see Cosimo de Medici in his older days. Cosimo de Medici was the ruler of Florence, Italy in his older days.

                                                                        The next place we went to visit was the statue of David. The statue 

of David was created by Michelangelo. 

Later we went to see Lorenzo de Medici's Tomb which was also created by Michelangelo under Pope Leo X. Pope Leo X made Michelangelo create tombs for every Medici.

 After we saw the Medici tombs, we went to see the Sistine                                                                                                                Chapel. This was also created by Michelangelo along with Sandro    Botticelli, Pietro Perugino and Pinturicchio. It was patronized under Pope Julius II. 

After our short but long safari, we went back and I kept exploring Italy.

M10: SAMURAI

     I woke up this morning and saw the rest of my rice on the floor. I walked closer to it and saw that they formed letters. As I got closer, I read what the rice was formed into. It said, "GO TO JAPAN". I didn't know what I was supposed to do in Japan, so I looked for more clues. I found a key on the table and saw a huge wooden chest. I browsed the key and the lock on the chest. It looked like a perfect match. I put the key in the key hole and twisted the key. I opened the chest and found a lot of armor. There was a mask, armor and a lot of clothes. Way in the bottom were two swords. I need to train to be a samurai. I went to my jet and left all the way to the year 1138.
     I got out of my jet after I landed on the year 1138. There was so many things to see, but I had to get to my assigned master. My master was known as a shogun. My master let me have land to live and stay. He told me to meditate but I didn't know how to. He told me to write, but I didn't know how to. I couldn't do any of the things I was supposed to know how to do. I had to find a way to be able to do every thing a samurai could do.    This is a major problem. If I bring shame to my master, I would have to commit seppuku.
     I went to a temple to see if a samurai could help me reach his level of knowledge. I found this one guy who says he's an expert being samurai. I told him that he can't call himself an expert unless he taught someone else. He said he was an expert and he'll prove it by teaching me the way of the samurai. I started off by putting on my armor. he said that the first thing I should always do is put my armor on. After I put my armor on he took me to this small doorway.
     The doorway was so small, so I had to crawl through it. When i got out, I saw this plain room with my master in it. The only thing I saw was a painting scroll. I was surprised because I thought I was going into a colorful room.  I sat on the ground and patiently watched my master make some tea. He boiled the water and then poured it into a bowl with green tea powder. I took three sips, cleaned the rim of the plate with a cloth and  passed it back to him so he can make more. I then wrote a haiku. In times of war, when I lose but I'm not dead, I would have to commit seppuku. I would have to cut open my stomach with my sword. I'm glad I will be leaving soon. When I was focused on something else, my master would whack me with a stick. He did this until I learned to dodge the stick without looking. This was called the sixth sense. I went into a zen garden and meditated. The zen garden was just a lot of sand and rocks. The sand stood for water and the rocks stood for islands.
     I learned other things to, such as women samurai were not as important or rewarded as much as men samurai. I took some green tea with me home when I left. I went straight to my bed and was pending for my next mission to be assigned.