[Kate] The Musee d'Orsay Treasure Hunt: Part II--The Hunt and Why I'm Basically Harry Potter

In Part I, I described the list of things to find and how we researched.  When I left off we were ready to start.  We set a meeting point under a statue of a lion by the entrance, and then we started the one hour timer.

Grace and I immediately went in the same direction.  We both knew where we were going, thanks to our maps, where we had all most of our main objectives labeled.  We both snapped a quick picture of The Source by Ingres (and it's label, as per the rules), then headed right across the hall for The Angelus.

This is the Angelus, which is one of my 

Dad's favorite paintings in the Musee d'Orsay.

I continued to work my way around the ground floor, sometimes getting the wrong room, but really doing quite well.  I found a picture of a hunt, which I had located during my research.  My maps were a lifesaver.  One of my favorite things on that floor was sculpture of a Polar Bear.

This is the polar bear sculpture, by Francois Pompon.

The one thing I didn't find on the ground floor easily was a sculpture by Maillol.  But I set that aside as I went up a level, where I almost immediately found the bench I needed.  I also found all the Van Goghs, and a few more things on my list.  I headed up to the fifth floor (in the museum, using the European system, there is ground floor, floor one, and floor five).  I found the clock quickly, as well as Dejuner Sur L'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass).  As well as everything on my list, I found a home scene, and a nautical scene (located during my research).

This is the famous clock at the Musee d'Orsay.

At this point I headed down to floor one (in American systems this is the second floor), and started looking for animals, and artists who had last names that started with a C.  While walking by, I remember I needed to find a Maillol sculpture.  A second later, without really paying much attention, I found one.  Lucky me.

I continued to roam around the museum, trying to find the bonus points (most people in a painting, etc.)  and other miscellaneous categories (marriage, etc.), as well an animals.  I ran into Cannon and Grace on the bottom floor.  I had run into them a little around the museum, but this was the first time i had seen them both together since the start.

They were working together to find the painting by Whistler.  I had done my research, and I knew that there was only one Whistler painting in the entire museum.  It was a portrait of a man smoking a pipe.  It was on the ground floor in room eleven.

This is the only Whistler painting in the entire Musee d'Orsay,
or at least the only one that was being exhibited while
we were there.

I told them where it was.  They scampered off.  It wasn't very long afterwards when I ran into Grace, without Cannon.  She asked me if I'd found The Card Players by Paul Cezanne.  I had.  It was one the fifth floor in room thirty five.  She asked me if I could show her my picture of it, to give her a little help.  I pulled it up, all the while the time ticking away.  But I discovered my picture was blurry.  I needed to go up and get another one, which would take a while.

This is The Card Players, the painting Grace had trouble finding.

I told her what room The Card Players was and rushed off there myself to get a better image.  I accidentally met Grace in the room.  We found it together.  I was about to head back, when I saw Grace taking a picture of something.  That obviously intrigued me, and I looked at what is was.  It was a plaque talking about the bench in the center of the room for people to sit on.  Apparently it was counted as a work of art, and was from 2002.  That easily made it the newest thing in the museum.

I also took a picture of it and its plaque.  Then I continued to roam, finding things every now and then, but time was ticking past.  At thirty seconds left I took a few more pictures of sculptures made my artists with C names and speed-walked to the meeting spot.  Both of the others were already there.

It was a few days before we tallied up the points.  All of us got full marks in all of the specified works and artists.  I was fairly good in the miscellaneous, animal, and C name sections, but I only got one hundred points in the bonus section, thanks to the bench.

That puts us all at *drumroll please*

In third place, with 2435 points, Cannon.

In second place, with 2685 points, Kate.

In FIRST PLACE, with 2960 points, Grace!!!

So Grace won ... EXCEPT for one thing.  If you recall, I helped both Grace and Cannon on finding the Whistler painting, and then helped Grace again with finding The Card Players.  Dad decided that my helpfulness needed to be taken into account.

So I was awarded 275 points...which, coincidentally, brought me into a tie with Grace!

SO, IN FIRST PLACE (for real this time), with 2960 points, Grace and Kate!  (Cannon of course did very well too and we're all proud of him).

Anyway, does this whole last minute points thing seem familiar to any of you out there?  Maybe those of you who have read Harry Potter?  (Full Disclosure:  I'm kind of obsessed with Harry Potter.)  For those of you who don't recall, or who haven't read the books (if you want no book one spoilers skip this part), at the end of book one Dumbledore awards Harry and his friends an extra one hundred and seventy house points, which in their case actually makes them win the House Cup.  Conclusion:  I'm basically Harry Potter.

Yes, I know, I'm very, very obsessed and that's a stretch.  Still though ... love Harry Potter!  And I'm quite glad that Dad pulled a Dumbledore....