Imagine! From the San Jose Mercury News:

Visitor trips on shoelace, shatters display of vases

A visitor to a British museum tripped on his shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and fell into a display of centuries-old Chinese vases, shattering them into "very small pieces," officials said Monday.
The three Qing dynasty vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, had been donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 1948 and were among its best-known artifacts. They sat on the window sill beside the staircase for 40 years.

Has anything comparable happened to you while on vacation?

Is the visitor OK? Did s/he have enough medical insurance, I assume there were at least cuts if not broken bones. What a freak accident!

Do they say who's the visitor, from which country?

This is England...no medical insurance issues!!

Hi Faina,
The articles I read indicated that the visitor was ok. I can imagine that he/she was considerably shaken though!

I took a massive tumble down some marble stairs at the Archaeology Museum in Naples Italy and I know I was scared to death. I didn't come close to contact with any exhibit fortunately, but it definitely left me shaky

Here's a longish thread about it:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34746776

Per CNN website "he" left the museum unharmed

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe....ap/index.html

Thank you for posting the link, Eloise.

I like WorldInABag's remark: what the heck, they were old anyway

And I agree with PM, yes here he'd sue the museum!

Thanks for the "rest of the story," Eloise.

Love the new cool hot links!

How sad for the visitor. How sad for the museum. Personally, I think of things like this- I worry that I will stumble and fall against the display of wine glasses in a china shop lol so this is like one of my nightmares
Perhaps this is a message to those who have trouble keeping those shoelaces tied

The moral is: buy shoes which fasten with Velcro and remember: lovely to look at lovely to hold, but if you should break it consider it sold!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the Griswolds are back in Europe?

Sir, those were Quing Dynasty vases!!!! In the words of the famous "Inspector" "NOT anymore"!!!

Hmmmm, when we go back next summer, I am going to re-think taking my 3 year old back to the Fitzwilliam to see the suits of armor, which he thinks are Prince Charming statues from Shrek. If he had seen those vases, I am sure the article would be titled: "Insane Mother Let's Toddler Lose at the Fitzwilliam." lol.

What I heard on the radio is that the man responsible said that "the Fitzwilliam should take better care of its things." Apparently, the vases were just sitting on a window sill like so much worthless bric a brac.

On the subject of vases, there is a family in the Netherlands that was dividing up the parent's inheritance of furniture, antiques etc. They found a vase in a box in the basement, with a note to be careful with it; not to give it away or break it.
They took it to Christies, where it turned out to be an extremely rare vase. It sold at Christies in London for more than 15 million pound sterling. Imagine to have broken that while cleaning out the basement.

Mel Brooks:

"Hear me, o hear me! All pay heed! The Lord, the Lord G-d, has given unto you these fifteen..."

[One stone tablet drops and shatters.]

"..Oy! ......ten, TEN commandments for all to obey!"

http://www.ladyofthecake.com/mel/wor.../cmndmnts2.wav

And I always wondered why 10!

Because it is divisible by two and Moses needed to "look balanced" when he came down the maountain.