"May I Have This Danse?" "No." --- Day 5/353

Walk: PGCC for bridge
Distance: Not Far, Home Yoga, Spring Closet Caper/Try-ons

In communicating with a friend, Ciwt realized that, yes indeed, there was a downside to traveling alone: No one to laugh with.  Particularly on Day Two of her trip.

Day Two was essentially the reason she made her Paris trek.   It was the day she had tickets for the 1st daily showing (11:00 am) of the Famous Painting in the Once-in-a-Lifetime art event she'd come to Paris to attend.  She got up early in her dingy hotel (good place for a laugh), walked through the freezing cold Outside connection to the building that served breakfast (laugh), and decided to take the highly rated Metro instead of walking to the show.

The 'perfect' Metro wasn't; it's electricity kept konking out (ha ha) so she got to her stop with barely enough time to make the show.  Being so world renowned, you would have thought there would have been signage pointing to the Foundation where the show was taking place.  No (laugh); along with her fellow Metro art goers, she went right, then left, shrugged her shoulders until one in the bunch, all speaking different languages, was quite sure he'd figured out the way.  (Marching smartly with the art crowd - laugh).

The disorganization continued at the Foundation   where there was no clue which line to stand in.  When Ciwt went politely to the back, she was told these people didn't have tickets.  And when she went to the ticket line, they told her to go to the back.  Nope, no ticket holders in the back.  Ciwt did this dance a few times and finally just got into the ticket holder line.  The woman beside her started elbowing her, stepping on her toes, hip checking.  Ciwt got it but of course couldn't explain in French so she just stood there taking it. (laugh)

Finally, finally past security and into the building!  There were the Impressionists.  Beautiful!  And the Post-Impressionists. Beautiful also!  Now was Matisse's era.  She entered the room that logically would have contained Danse,  and no; a few of Matisse's contemporaries but no Matisse.  Weird. Ciwt found a guard and asked what room Danse was in.

"Oh, that painting is not here."

Ciwt could not believe her ears.

"It was too fragile to travel.."

Watch Ciwt's jaw drop.Yup, 12 hour flight, dismal hotel, imperfect 'perfect' Metro, limited communication skills among arrogant people, 7 days left to fill. All to see the most famous painting in the most famous modern art collection in the world.  A painting which was "too fragile to travel.." and wasn't there.

Talk about a great place for a laugh!! It really was so bad it was funny. Ciwt knew that right away and she could imagine the joke beginning with her friends. There would be laughter at the time, and then the joke would grow - the whole ridiculousness of it, the being somehow so competely off about the painting, and so pathetic in the eyes of the guy on the plane and woman in line.  So sure of herself and Just completely, completely off about the whole trip. A mere mention of The trip years later would elicit peals of laughter.

But all Ciwt could do was acknowledge that, laugh to herself and go on.   To be continued..