When the Vermeer show was at the National Galllery of Art in DC, so many years ago, I had a very amiable cousin stand in line, beginning at something like 5:00 a.m., in a driving rain. My husband and I took an overnight train, which arrived around 6:30 a.m., and we headed straight for the National Gallery and relieved her in line. We don't get to splurge like that often, but it was worth the train fare and the rain.

(I lost my earring in the Museum, but it wasn't a pearl.)