They held a VIP reception at which there was a meet & greet dinner, after which the guests explored the exhibition for an hour, and then Mr. Cotte held a lecture discussing his invention and some of the incredible findings it has uncovered in some of the paintings he has been able to use it on.  This was a special evening held after regular museum hours so there were very limited attendees.

We had been invited to attend all 3 parts of the evening to provide ambiance to their guests.  However, several of us have regular jobs, and it takes a bit of time for us to get dressed, so we were not able to get ready in time for the beginning of the dinner.  We were perfectly happy with that though as that meant that we got to explore the exhibit all by ourselves during the dinner.  It was an amazing experience to have the entire wing to ourselves for 2 hours!!! 

We were also told later that it was quite the treat for the guests to walk into the exhibit to not only see wonderful reproductions of some of Da Vinci's inventions, but to also see a Tudor court wandering among them!  Mr. Cotte was among them and we got to meet and chat with him in person.  He was very nice and was more than happy to talk with us!  It was a wonderful experience!!  Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of it.  If anyone reading this has any pictures from that night that you would be willing to share, please contact us via our Contact page.