THATLou Hunts Treasure at the Louvre

Michelle, Raina and Colleen, the "Winning Witches" finally finding the small, elusive Goya on our THATLou treasure hunt — Michelle, Raina and Colleen, the “Winning Witches” finally finding the small, elusive Goya

The Louvre treasure hunt begins when “Daisy de Plume” sends you an email dropping hunting hints written with tongue in cheek humor.

Once you set off on a THATLou (Treasure Hunt at the Louvre) treasure hunt, your eyes capture a multitude of treasure in one and half hours. Add to this the excitement of looking for specific treasures, taking specific photos for bonus points, posing in front of treasure in specific poses, learning to write a limerick, experimenting with strategy and naming your team.

This is the Halloween hunt with the “Death Hunt” theme that I experienced when I joined the group at the designated pillar under I.M. Pei’s pyramid.

I knew no one. But boy! did the fun start once I met my team. Raman, Michelle and their eleven-year-old daughter, Raina, were mixing business and pleasure on a visit from London. This was their last evening in Paris. Michelle and Raina had visited the Louvre during the day. That night they returned with Raman. Quickly accepting Raina’s suggestion, we named ourselves the “Winning Witches”.The family and I set out for an eyeful of treasure.

Raphael's Saint Michael Slaying the Dragon a tiny painting in the Louvre — Raphael’s Saint Michael Slaying the Dragon a tiny painting in the Louvre – so tiny we walked back and forth three times and never found this treasure

How it works
I got there early, checked my coat and met my group at 7 p.m. SHARP. I had been designated to join a specific team. The four of us perused the highlighted Louvre map from Daisy, discussed the artwork and general locations and worked out our strategy. The seven teams separated at various times and in different directions depending on their strategy. Our team’s strategy was to compete and have fun. We were laughing the whole time even when we made the wrong turns.

The general treasure locations are color highlighted on the Louvre map. Daisy gives you a pencil for note taking, and your printed booklet of the treasure photos, facts, history, anecdotes and bonus point strategies for the sought-after treasures. In the photos we took, the treasures stay still, but we are constantly fuzzy, which means we were very active for the hunt – plenty of exercise posing and sleuthing.

We ran into one team not long before the deadline; the team that would win the hunt . It was obvious by their demeanor they knew something we didn’t.

In fact, our strategy was perhaps backwards. We started on the Denon side of the Louvre for the hunt where the big points were. The vast majority of the treasure was on the other side! We were warned that we would not be able to find everything on the hunt, no running, no separating, no smartphone app peeking, now asking people for help.

The timing and rules of the hunt are precise. Everyone must be there for the rules and everyone must return by the calibrated time to avoid losing points. Two people had been on the hunt before (the winning team, of course!). A hint from me: Any suggestions or references that Daisy makes in the email, be sure to follow up on them. Ask questions.

Everyone tallies their points at the café after the event. Our team was proud of our 450 points out of a possible 2,000 treasure and bonus points. With that score, we came in sixth out of the seven teams. We laughed about it and received our prize, “Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss” bookmarks.

We tried to vote our team’s name as the best but played fair and voted for “Skeltering Skeletons” who also won the event with 1,400 points! We were quite content finishing up our limerick at the café:

We went to the Louvre
For the Halloween groove
We saw lots of mummies
With rather large tummies
All our running made the Louvre move.

Strategies
That night, I dreamt of Louvre treasure hunt strategies wondering if we should have followed the letter and color-coded stairwells. Should we have chosen the Richelieu side of the Louvre with the most treasures instead of choosing the big points on the Denon side?

There appears to be no scientific evidence out there for the strategy, even after watching a family’s THATLou Strategy YouTube video.

As to strategy, the only solution is to go back for another THATLou treasure hunt, study the map, study the booklet with the treasure photos and descriptions and try again! I know that Raman, Raina and Michelle are already planning to return for another treasure hunt. Until the next hunt, I will take Daisy’s booklet, search out and enjoy the works of art I missed at a leisurely pace.

Read more about Daisy de Plume on her THATLou Website.
Another impression and description of the same hunt is at Aussie in France.

Raina, Colleen and Michelle passed Nessus Abducting Deianeira the first time. Any bigger, it would have bitten us!

Raina and Michelle posing in front of the wrong statue for bonus points; it should have been Michelangelo’s Dying Slave. This is Canova’s Cupid Reviving Psyche.