I have been in Paris for many times, but unfortunately never had been to the Pompidou Center. And this is a story why you should go there, not in the Louvre.

Actually, it was quite a fun experience: I had only two days in the city, and decided that I MUST visit Louvre (though I've been there), and that probably, may be I will go to some museum I've never been to. Of course I've heard about Centre Pompidou, but never knew what it is about. So I decided that I will will go to Louvre and decide on the Centre later. And it was terrible! The Louvre was super overcrowded, very sultry, it was so difficult to navigate through the crowd, and the overall user experience was driving me crazy. Probably because the building was not meant as a museum and the collection is huge, there is no logic in navigation, there were Egyptian art halls on 3 different floors in different wings of the building, and I wasn't able to find any of them. So I suppose it is only possible to go there with an experienced guide, who will take you through the mess and crowds, who will tell you something interesting (because otherwise you will just float around through millions of sculptures, trying not to step on someone's shoe). Uh! After 2 hours I just cried and run to the "Exit" sign as fast as I could. 

So after that day I didn't want to go to museum anymore, but I couldn't let myself give up. I went to the website of the Centre Pompidou, looked through the collection, saw Matisse's works, and decided that it is a good reason to go.

I bought tickets online, got a little bit upset that I missed an opportunity to register for a guided tour in English (every Saturday at 11.30, but there were no tickets, as I was looking for them on Friday evening), and prepared headphones as I found some podcast on their website. I wasn't sure it is going to work, but still.