This is an anecdote from my "Stuff the happened to me while traveling in Europe" diary:
I was walking along the
Champs-Élysées with mom, dad and Mariu, when we saw a
Cartier store. The wristband of my "
Must 21" watch was asking for a much needed break, so I decided to go in the store to buy a new one.
Now let me tell you this before I continue. I have split personalities. While at work, I dress very formal and am always very professional (though my happy go lucky spirit is always there). Whenever I travel, I do it in the most comfortable way possible: jeans, t-shirts, sneakers and baseball caps.
Anyways, we all went in the store. This hunk of a guy opened the door for us (he was like 6'7"), and then the atmosphere suddenly turned heavy. Here we were, surrounded by millions of dollars, me wearing some worn out jeans, a pair of puma sneakers, some t-shirts AND an
Aguilas Cibaeñas cap. I felt all the eyes upon us, but I actually didn't care. A very nice lady approached us and asked if we needed some help (I imagined the "what are these bums doing here???" thought in her head). As soon as I showed her my watch everything changed. We turned into Dominican Royalty in her eyes. I told her I wanted to buy a new band, and she asked me to follow her. We were going down to a very secret and important Cartier vault, so not everyone could go. My parents, who are really not very much into that sort of bs, decided to stay and enjoy the view while Mariu and I went to the vault.
I must really say the ambiance in the shop was just perfect. Perfect lighting, perfect music, perfect temperature, perfect people.. and me in my worn out jeans and my baseball cap.
Anyways, we followed the nice lady to the back of the shop, where we boarded a very beautiful elevator. When the doors opened, we found ourselves down in the vault. She told us someone would come to help us shortly, and we were left there gazing around. There was a lady with a Fifi (aka a nice little french poodle.. why are they always called Fifi?) that was wearing what we believed was a diamond necklace (the dog and the lady both). A person came by and asked us if we wanted some champagne or anything (nothing less than
Veuve Clicquot please), but gracefully declined. After 2 minutes another nice little french lady comes and tends to us.
I don't know why, but everyone down there was whispering. When I took off my watch, she handed me a padded suede tray because I believe she wasn't allowed to touch the watch. When she showed me the available wristbands, she waved some kind of object in front of a wall and suddenly the wall opened up and out came trays with lots of stuff in it. When I chose the one I wanted she carefuly took the watch with her and said she would be back shortly. 15 minutes went by (I was wondering what my parents were doing and joking around with Mariu about all the people that were down there) and then she came back. She had put on some white gloves and, holding the tray again, took my watch and proceeded to strap it on my hand with such delicacy I thought it was going to break (if she knew how I treated it she would've died!). The guys had been kind and decent enough to clean it and do a general checkup on it (it looked better than new). But then again we remembered we were Dominican Royalty, so that was to be expected. After paying and signing a bunch of papers, we said goodbye and ran (yes, RAN!) up the stairs, where we met my parents. We were laughing all the way to the door, and when we got out we laughed even harder and told mom and dad about our experiences down at the "magnificent vault of dreams", speaking in a normal tone of voice and feeling finally free.
Fishes out of water? Nah.. just being ourselves, no matter where we were...
