How do you know you've been in the Louvre too long?

When you are halfway through a wing (of many, many wings) of the museum, and you realize you've already seen all of this before. What helped me figure it out was the guy working in this particular wing looked familiar. I don't know if you can call them curators — the people who sit in the lonely chairs in a big gallery and yell at you in French if you take a picture with a flash or touch a marble statue. Most of them looked bored with life, one was actually passed out in his chair, and this one ... this one I knew I had seen before.

So I've been enjoying the art museums so far.

Yesterday, I went to the Pompidou, which is the crazy looking modern art museum that appears to be turned inside out, with all the pipes and stairs on the outside. I could've stayed there forever, as I'm a big fan of modern art and there were quite a few pieces by Chagall and Matisse (two of my favorites). Also, I got to see some works by Fernand Léger and wondered if we're perhaps related — minus the accent. There was a quote from him where he said, "I abhor discreet paintings" or something to that effect, and I kind of laughed to myself because I don't think Legers can be discreet. So maybe he is family. Not so much a fan of his work, though (nor was I previously when I hadn't connected the name to the paintings I had seen of his before), but the Pompidou seems to like him.

Then, of course, I went to the Louvre today. It was overwhelming, but in a good way. I kept coming across paintings that I remembered from when I was a kid, thumbing through my grandmother's and my parents' old encyclopedias. I wanted to wander and wander, but it was when I realized I was wandering through the same place I had been in earlier that I knew it was time to go.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to the Musee d'Orsay, which I think is supposed to fill the periods of time between what the Louvre covers and what the Pompidou covers. I love museums.

Edit — Oh, and I managed to at least get my resume through the door at three different schools Friday morning. And I talked to the director of one of the schools, who reiterated the mantra of "French working papers are a must" but was extremely nice and helpful. She suggested I apply to take a few courses at a local university, which would give me a student visa, which would allow me to work part-time in France.

From what I gather, I could barely get by in Paris on a full-time teacher's salary, much less part-time. So that's a no on that one.

Also, a girl I met on the metro tonight (she asked for some gum in French and I somehow understood her) suggested I talk to the local U.S. Embassy. I've considered that already (and researched on their Web site, which is shockingly out-of-date in several areas), but she put the idea back in my head. Maybe I'll put that on the agenda for Monday morning ...