aliceinwonderdanmark

I'm about to experiment the most embarrassing language issue I ever had in my entire life.
I'm at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art. Right at the entrance there's an information center but no tickets sale. Nobody speaks English  but they show me a direction and I see something that looks like a billet center. Fine. Until now. There's a lot of different desk and I'm going to one of them. I ask for a ticket. The lady does not seem to understand. I repeat what I want. She shows me the next desk. I'm going there and ask again for a ticket. The lady's taking a piece of paper full of Japanese letters and shows it to me. "Do you have it in English please?" She's looking at me, completely lost and shows me the next desk. Well, it'll be 3 others desks. I'm getting tired and go back to the info center. After a 10 minutes Kafka conversation  the 2 girls call one of their collegue. Hopefully she speaks a bit of English, sorts some papers and finds the floor-guide of the museum in English. It appears that I have to pay for each part of the building. I have to choose what I want see: the entire exhibition (which will take something like 3-4 hours), the part A, B, C or D.
Back to the desk: "A ticket for part B please." The lady looks at me. "Part B please" and I show it on the map. The lady is totally desperate. She gets out of the desk, takes my hand and brings me again at the info center. I feel young suddenly, so young and a bit stupid as well. I tell the girl who speaks English what I want visit and she translates it for me to the lady from the desk. The lady leads me back to her desk. I pay (the price appears on the machine and hopeffully Japanese numbers are arabics numbers, the same as ours). I'm putting my wallet in my bag when she takes my hand again and walks with me to the part B entrance. She's still holding my hand. Here, she starts to speak to one of the guard and I'm surprised the guard takes my hand as well and walks with me to the 1st painting. I can finally enjoy the exhibition, alone and with 2 free hands few minutes later when she's sure that I know where to go.
I don't know why but I completely forgot to ask her where are the toilets.

Anyway, I enjoy the visit. Very good paintings, sometimes funny. But more than the paintings I really like the photographies. It worths the effort to get in! That's a shame the museum closes so early. I would have loved visit the others parts.

Well, I'm not done yet. I still have time to have a look at the Western Art Museum. I don't know why but today it is open until 8pm instead of 5pm.
The permanent exhibition is very good but it was not interesting for me. I mean, it is almost only French painters and French artists. If it's funny, in a way, to see le Penseur by Rodin in Tokyo that is not my priority to see it. I live in Europe, I have friends in almost every European countries and I studied European art history for a while. In Japan I want discover Japanese art and artists.
At that time it was a temporary exhibition about Da Vinci but I haven't been.

It's time for a walk in the park. That's not the most beautiful park I've seen but it's ok.