And Finally, the Mona Lisa

The finale for us, was the Mona Lisa! We found our way to the room - quite a distance from the main entrance, and it was overflowing with people. The area leading to the picture had been cordoned off in the shape of an upside down "V", the widest part at the entrance, narrowing as you moved forward. Well, it was impossible! People of every nationality were pushing and shoving, speaking every language imaginable. Once again, we were shocked. All it would have taken was for a couple of monitors to have managed the crowds, allowing groups of say 50 people at a time to get a photo and move on. But nooooo - it was a disaster! And to make it worse, we had fought those crowds, snapped a quick couple of pictures and moved out. But after 5 minutes or so, Marti decided we needed a picture of one of us IN the shot, so we fought the crowds again, pushed and shoved our way back and captured this priceless memory (the people on both sides of Marti were digitally removed).