Vestiaire Complet

It is freezing outside today. Sunny and beautiful, but bitterly cold.

We decided to go to the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais to see "Picasso et les Maitres". I have a "Sesame" card that lets us get into the museum, anytime it's open, without waiting in the three-hour line that snakes around the outside of the building. The exposition will close soon and we've been procrastinating.

Entering the building, going through security, no problem. But, then we got to the coat check room (vestiaire). Huge line, not moving.

We waited and waited. When we got close to the front, we saw the sign posted over the heads of the workers that said, "Vestiaire Complet", or "The Coat Check Room is Full". OK, everyone has a huge coat, a scarf, perhaps a hat. What are we supposed to do now? Carry all this around the museum. Wear it all (no to this, it's warm inside).

Then, we watched. Magic. Every time a person went to the other line, the line where people were retrieving their coats, the coat check person simply handed the empty coat hanger to the person taking the coats. One coat returned, one coat checked in. This works for me.