Storytelling Sunday---The Day I Set the Alarms off in the Louvre!!

Since Butch and I are traveling, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a story about another trip about 20 years ago. We were in France with Walter and Chris. We enjoy traveling together and are pretty compatible. Chris and I can do our thing some of the time while the guys do “war” stuff. Don’t get me wrong, Chris and I do some of that stuff too, but not to the extent that the guys like. On the other hand, after one house, palace, castle or chateau with ornate furnishings, the guys are “done.”  So it works out well.

I also consider myself a considerate tourist. I don’t have to push or shove. I’m a rule follower (not just when traveling, but always---just the way I was brought up). If it says don’t walk on the grass, I won’t. If a sign says “do not touch,” I don’t----not even if it’s “wet paint.”

Anyway, on to the story. We were strolling through the Louvre in Paris. We came across a couple of rooms that were recreations of those in Versailles of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s. I was surprised that there were no ropes or anything, just the rooms. I would never dream of walking in the room or on the carpet. But, I wanted to examine the needlepoint on the chairs. Being a needlepointer myself, I was interested in that. I had my hands behind my back---to basically keep my purse from swinging forward. I leaned over to get a closer look at the needlepoint on the chair. That’s when it happened---the alarms went off! I was mortified. Butch said, “way to go” as he walked off to disassociate himself from me. Surely, if it looked like I was going to be arrested he would have come to my aide---at least I like to think so.

A security guard rushed up to me. I said, “I didn’t touch anything.” Turns out my head broke some type of laser beam security system. I was so embarrassed. As I choked back the tears, the guard was very nice. At least he seemed nice. I have no idea what he said to me in French, but he said it in a nice tone. It probably went something like this, “oh you stupid American woman!”

To this day, I am never lured by displays that seem to have no barriers around them. I know they do. I don’t need that kind of embarrassment again. Plus, next time, I might not be so lucky. The shock of the alarm would probably cause me to startle, topple over and damage something! I’m pretty certain of that.