Let me start this post off with a confession: a dark, dark secret that I have keeping from all of you for years now. I have to just come clean with it. So I have lived in Paris for over four years and up until last week, I had never been to The Louvre. I repeat, up until last week, I had never been to The Louvre.
What kind of Fauxrisienne am I? I'm not even a proper tourist!
Okay, so here's the thing: I have been to the Musee D'Orsay, Rodin, heck, I've even been to the Musee de la vie Romantique! It's not that I have an aversion to museums in Paris per se, it's that I have always found the Louvre to be extremely intimidating; the crowds, pickpockets, which day of the week to go, when to avoid a three hour line, what to see, what to wait to see until the second visit. It all seemed so overwhelming!
So what made me suddenly decide to pop my Louvre cherry after all these years? Being on school vacation, I decided to take advantage of having my early evenings free, and finally signed up for a treasure hunt at the Louvre hosted by THATLou.
And you know what? I get what all of the fuss is about. Along with the hunt, The Louvre is pretty amazing. I know, duh, but still.
In observation of Halloween, the theme of last week's hunt was death. With it taking place on Hallow's Eve Eve, I felt it appropriate to get into the spirit with a Halloween-inspired getup. With my hair slicked in a tight Wednesday Addams braid, my orange tights peeking through the layers of my black tulle skirt, a dark wool cape, and running a bit late, I hightailed it to The Louvre on a moody October night in Paris. What I really needed was a lantern and a few bats flying around me, you know, to really add to the already dramatic scene.
At the meeting point under the Louvre Pyramid, the founder Daisy - uber-adorable in her pumpkin orange corduroys and rocking a pointy witch hat - greeted us hunters with team packets and team announcements. Of course, Finding Noon's Sylvia was on my team as well as Daisy's good friend; a Strasbourg-based funeral home director (so Six Feet Under and perfect for Halloween!!) and his lovely lady friend who I just have to add, had the most gorgeous cheekbones and bone structure I have ever seen in real life.
To explain how the hunts work, I took the description straight from the official THATLou site because I don't feel like I could explain it any better. Actually I know I couldn't, so here goes: "THATLou is quite simple: teams consisting of 2 to 4
people compete, following a list of clues that lead them to works of
art – or “treasures” – in the museum. Team members photograph themselves
in front of as many works of art on the list as possible, earning
varied points per treasure. Sometimes bonus questions are embedded in
the accompanying texts – either requiring silly poses for photos."
Pretty cool, right?
With our map in hand, team jobs allocated (I was the photographer!), and our tricked out team name "WITCHLou" (Witches In The CHateau de Louvre) we headed to the entrance to get this party started. Well...the guard collecting tickets, looked at us in what I interpreted as distaste, and informed us that we were not allowed to enter the museum with our costumes on. Sylvia who was wearing an elaborate deep purple witch hat embellished with black tulle was asked to check her hat in the coat room. Refusing, she offered to stuff it in her bag, which I thought was a fair compromise to his ridiculous request. He didn't.
After some persuading, he gave in and we proceeded in. But not so fast! He then noticed my "costume" and wasn't sure if he could permit me to enter. For real? I had nothing on my head, no crazy make up, just a tulle skirt that I actually wear in real life (if any of you saw my Househunter's International episode, that one). Unlike Sylvia, I couldn't just stuff my skirt, the bottom portion of my outfit into my bag and walk around the museum in tights. As Blair Waldorf says, "Tights aren't pants!" In utter disbelief, I stared at him, waiting for him to come to his senses, but he did not seem to be budging.
"Sir, I would like to see where, anywhere, it says no tulle at the Louvre." I said evenly.
As suspected, he had no response and really, at that point we didn't wait for his permission, handed him our tickets and walked past him. We had no time for his drama, we had a hunt to win.
Speed walking (along with tulle, there is also no running in the Louvre!) through the museum, I got a flash experience of as many rooms as we could get to in under an hour. It was invigorating being on such a mission that separated us from clusters of international guided tours.
Bonus point shots!
Point at the art! Group shot with the doves on the ceiling!
These little exercises got us some major points...or so we thought.
As funny as the shot of the girls posing like the dogs in the
"Wedding Feast at Cana" oil on canvas which got us 50 extra points,
I don't think they'd appreciate it being published.
So I didn't.
Tallying up the scores at a nearby restaurant over wine and charcuterie, Daisy announced the winners with WITCHLou, sadly coming in at fourth place out of the five teams. Four out of five? Ca va. We did however, win the best team name, which I was extra proud of. WITCHLou? THATLou! It still makes me giggle. (I'm doing it now.)
It's taken way too long to experience Paris' most celebrated museum, but I'm going to say that it was so worth the wait to see through the spectrum of THATLou. Now that I've seen the speed tour of the museum, it's clearly time for the extended, I'll just be sure not to wear tulle.
