June 3, 2008 Berlin to Mulhouse

Drive to Frankfurt to get a feel of the galleries, and then drive to Mulhouse, France. Listen to a techno radio station, perfect for driving the autobahn

http://www.kanalk.ch/default.aspx?tabid=142

Can’t find the hotel. I thought Mulhouse would be a sleepy little town. They had a shipping dock with cranes. Rough neighborhoods with dock workers. About the size of Denver. I drive around for a while and at one point drive down a street that dead-ended at the police station. Two policemen were standing there so I asked for direction to the hotel. They say follow them. We pass another police car driving with lights and siren blaring. Then an ambulance parked with its lights on. The police car I was following pulls up behind the ambulance. I keep thinking that they are going to be needed for something more important than escorting me. They roll down their window to say follow us. We wind all over for 15 minutes. Finally arriving. Get there too late to check in, can’t even get in the building. Start to get ready to sleep in car.

I really need to pee so I drove to the train station. Pass the police car. I’m sure they wondered why I didn’t stay at the hotel. The train station was closed. Drove back to the hotel. Open my trunk and grab my contact case. A man is three stories above on the balcony and I am wondering how I was going to be able to pee in a water bottle. Two men walk past Lois Di Falco a gallery owner in Milan and one of his artists. Lois sensed something was wrong and I told him of my dilemma. He lets me into the hotel so I could use the lobby bathroom, he knew the code to the door. There isn’t a lobby bathroom. He’s suggesting I sleep in the lobby on the couch. Then another gallery owner and his entourage walk in. Lois tells him my dilemma. He walks over to a small safe and punches in the combination. Pulls out some envelopes and says Mr. Smith? Hands me an envelope with my name on it. My first thought is I came too late for the preview that I now have an invite to. Probably even better, it contained my room key. He had called the hotel earlier letting them know he would be late. So they had given him the code to the door and safe. Later I came down to get my suitcase. Locked outside in the same dilemma I had was Benito Padilla gallery owner of Imaginart and two coworkers from Barcelona. I let him in. he calls the hotel emergency number. They come down and pull his key from the safe.