The Mona Lisa, Google, and me. (standard:non fiction, 271 words)
Author: hayfoot	Added: May 26 2011	Views/Reads: 2944/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The Mona Lisa, Google, and me or how Google helped me re-construct a cherished memory from childhood.

Not too long ago, a friend asked me about the one event that I
remembered from my childhood. For me it's easy: seeing the Mona Lisa at 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my father. Waiting in line in 
pouring rain with him BEFORE we had the chance to be ushered into a 
darkened room and in between two velvet ropes to see a painting that 
even for a child was rather tiny. But I wasn't satisfied with just the 
memory, the inner historian in me wanted a precise date. How to find 
it? 

Simple. I knew two pieces of data -- the exhibit was a) the gift of Mrs.
Kennedy who charmed the pants off (perhaps literally) of Charles de 
Gaulle and b) my dad would want to see the exhibit the first day open 
to the public. I put in a few key words in "Google" -- Mrs. Kennedy, 
Mona Lisa, NY. I got confirmation that the loan (the painting) was 
first exhibited in the National Gallery of Art from January 8 to 
February 3. In that same brochure under " Other venue: Metropolitan 
Museum of Art, New York February 7-March 4, 1963." I was getting close. 
I checked a perpetual calendar to find the first Saturday of the 
exhibit -- February 9th. No good! Sixteen point seven inches of snow 
fell on the City that day. The seventh largest snowfall in NYC history. 
My mom would not have allowed me out that day even if the Museum was 
open! so, I looked for the next Saturday -- February 16, 1963. My 
memory was now an exact date! ! 


Tweet