Left behind at the Louvre: Part two

Read Part one right here.

We went through customs in Montreal and, fortunately enough, we got to deal with a very pleasant fellow. He listened to our story, took in all the details, examined the receipts and decided our best bet was to declare the purchases so there would be a record of them if and when they made their way to Canada. That part of it felt good anyway.

The day after we got home, we began our campaign by going to the Louvre website. I think we just went to "Louvre shops" and clicked on "contact us." We thought it would be smooth sailing from there.

I will be never be able to tell you the whole story of our relationship with the Louvre shops. It's just too lengthy and complicated.

It started on August 31, when Dan wrote this email to the very shop where he had left the package:

On Monday August 29 I bought four items of jewelry at the Louvre book store and gift shop, but mistakenly did not collect them after I paid at the caisse. Because the museum and shop were closed on mardi, I could not return to collect the items before my flight back to Canada.

The four tags for the items of jewelry and the receipt from the caisse are attached.

Can you ship these items to me in Canada, please? And please advise what I need to do to pay for the shipping.

On September 2, he sent this one, to a different address:

Below is an email I sent two days ago. Since there has not yet been a reply, I am writing to this address to try and bring my request to the attention of the people who can assist.

Thank you.

As autumn went on, there were several more attempts on our part. Early in the new year, our subject line looked like this:

PLEASE READ -- LIREZ S'IL VOUS PLAIT! Jewelry bought at Louvre but left behind by mistake

And our email message, in big bold letters, looked like this:

We are very disappointed and discouraged as we have sent this note so many times and we cannot get any response. It wouldn’t be such an issue if it didn’t involve a lot of money. Please read and respond!

(Another of the items left behind: a lapis lazuli scarab necklace)

We did get a response on January 6 from Olivier Bassibey that said this:

Your message was deleted without being read on Friday, January 06, 2012 11:08:42 PM (GMT+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris.

It was the first of several messages, with a whole variety of names attached.

From Christophe Legendre:

Votre message a été lu le lundi 9 janvier 2012 09:07:00 (GMT+01:00) Bruxelles, Copenhague, Madrid, Paris.

From Laure Doublet:

Votre message a été lu le lundi 9 janvier 2012 10:15:24 (GMT+01:00) Bruxelles, Copenhague, Madrid, Paris.

There were others, all very similar, all from different names.

Then, on January 9, came this note:

Dear Customer,

This day we received an email about jewelery you have forgotten in August 2011 at the Louvre store. I’m a little embarassed because we sent to you two mails on the 7th october 2011 and the 27th october 2011 without any response of you, with the following adress mail [the email address was my brother-in-law's workplace address in Antwerp — long story but he didn't get it]. It was the only adress mail in our possession received in our store at the end of september 2011.Your items are still available in our shop and you may come to recover it when you want. Don’t hesitate to write to us for any further questions to the following mail :virginie.picano@rmn.fr.I send you files attached. Hoping this response can bring you any satisfaction.

Best regards.

Florence

I loved Florence so much right then, I wished I could "come to recover it."

(A brooch, also inspired by a painting)

I'll spare you all the details of how we finally made the arrangements to get the packages but in my second last note from Florence, she had a couple of questions about one of the pieces, then she said:

"Thank you to give us your preference. In return we ‘ll send you gifts and purchases ,and the references to follow this sending on the internet. Sorry for the waiting. All the best. Florence"

And finally, on March 14:

Madame,

Your package left today. The references to follow this sending is CY 660738024 FR. We wish you good reception. Thank you for your patience.

Best regards. Florence

When the package arrived, Florence had indeed included little gifts: an unusual golden bookmark that you slip into your pages and it hooks over the top of the book; two exquisite notebooks, different sizes with Louvre art on both covers; and a lovely Louvre calendar. The things that Dan had bought were whisked away so they could be presented — according to his original plan — as gifts for birthday, Mother's Day and wedding anniversary, all coming up in May.

They've been enjoyed and appreciated ever since.

(This is close to being the other brooch. I browsed for this picture.)

Left behind at the Louvre: Part one

Paris was the last stop on our European trip in 2011. We got there by way of Rome, Florence, Munich and Antwerp. We did all our travelling by train so we saw a lot as we made our way from city to city.

We arrived in Paris early Saturday and spent the weekend seeing lots of Parisian sights and eating good food. We reserved Monday for the Louvre and were leaving for home on Tuesday.

We got to the Louvre quite early — for us. (When we're on a trip, Dan would like to get our days underway by 7:00 a.m. William and I are a little harder to get moving in the morning. I'd like to think we've compromised but I doubt if Dan is really happy with our start-times. If there's something he really wants to see, he'll often take off early and then come back to get us. That works.)

But we got to the Louvre at a pretty decent hour and began our walk-around. The Louvre is, of course, huge. We knew we'd only be able to see a fraction of the art there and we tried to make some choices of both well-known and less-well-known exhibits. We saw both the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. Well, you sort of have to, don't you? I'm glad we did. But we saw a lot more and really made the most of our limited time.

At a certain point, we decided to have some lunch. It was good — I had a curry-type dish and a salad. As we were leaving the restaurant, a wave of weakness and light-headedness and just general awful-feelingness swept over me. I thought I was going to collapse. We were just off the lobby and there were chairs and tables — all occupied — but I found some kind of uncomfortable little ledge to sit on. I sent Dan and William off to see more stuff and said I'd be fine; they should check on me in a while.

I didn't get any better. I felt worse and worse. Fortunately, a table became vacant and I was able to get off the little ledge and sit in a proper chair. I wanted to lay my head on the table but I didn't want to attract attention to myself. I put my sunglasses on so I wouldn't have to make eye contact with anyone.

When Dan and William came back, I told them I had to go back to the hotel and they're so nice and I was so sick, they didn't just put me into a taxi. They came with me, all the way and tucked me into bed. I insisted I could manage from there and they should return to the Louvre. Which they did. They saw a lot more and took lots of photos. I looked at them when we got home but it wasn't the same.

By evening, I was well enough to go out to a nice restaurant and have a bit of soup. And then we packed because we were leaving in the morning, Tuesday.

When you buy something at the Louvre shops, you give it to the sales person, pay her/him, and get your receipt. On your way out, you go to a different counter, produce your receipt and you're given your purchases. As Dan was packing that evening, he realized he was missing something. He had some of his purchases but he soon figured out that some had been left behind.

He looked quickly to see what time the Museum opened in the morning, assuming there'd be time to make a dash there and pick up the packages before we headed to the airport. And what did he find? Tuesday is the only day of the week the Louvre and all its shops are closed.

He checked with the desk at our hotel, got a few phone numbers where someone might know what to do — the Louvre is publicly-owned and it's directly administered by a government department. Its employees are, in effect, civil servants. We pretty much knew though, at this point, that we were going to Canada without some of our purchases. It wouldn't have been a huge problem except we weren't talking about a few souvenirs. There was some very nice jewellery in those packages. All paid for and receipted.

There were lovely earrings that were inspired by a Berthe Morisot painting.

The painting and the earrings together

The painting a bit closer-up

The earrings a bit closer-up

I'll come back tomorrow to tell you more about what was in the packages and whether they ever found their way to Canada.

The follow-up is right here.