There are so many things to do on a Sunday in Paris, but I was in the mood to avoid the big crowds and to be outside as much as possible, even though the rain had settled in. A friend in NZ had suggested I go to the bird market (Marche aux Oiseaux), which is on every Sunday on the Ile de la Cite, close to Notre Dame. During the week there is a flower market here, and as well as bunches of flowers you can find rare and expensive orchids. Some are so rare, they are hidden behind curtains and you can only see them on request if you are a serious buyer. But on Sundays, the flower vendors take a break and the bird-sellers move in. It is apparently one of the last remaining street pet markets in Europe, and you can hear the chorus of bird-song from a block away. There is every size and colour of bird you could want here, and every type of cage to house them. And there were serious collectors this morning when I visited, haggling over the price, putting a bird back in its cage because its personality wasn’t up to scratch, before finally settling on the perfect one (or a pair, which would set you back between 40 to 400 euros, depending how rare it is). Maybe 20 minutes walk from the market is the Palais du Luxembourg and the gardens, which cover 25 hectares of land and were created in 1612. Beautiful, even in winter. Then, as it was close and I hadn’t been able to go inside when I saw it a couple of days ago, I went back to the Pantheon. Inside is amazing, decorated with grand paintings, housing Foucault’s pendulum which was installed in 1851 to prove the Earth’s rotation, and underneath in the crypt several important French people are buried, including Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas, Marie Curie, Louis Braille and Antoine de Saint-Exupery who wrote the Little Prince. Walking back home there are Christmas markets in every arrondissement, selling hot wine 🙂 and beignets (like a filled doughnut), roasted chestnuts, and other goodies. I love hot wine so stopped for a cup, and also bought some more socks. With all my walking I have worn out three pairs, so I bought three more. These ones are made of Mongolian Yak wool 🙂 and apparently guaranteed to keep my feet warm and dry. Fingers crossed.
99 euro each for these 
Only 20 euro each for these 
So many! 
Christmas trees also for sale on most corners 
French onion soup 🙂 
Crepes with caramel sauce 
Pannetone 
Medici fountain at Jardin du Luxembourg 
The palace 
Inside the Pantheon 
Foucault’s pendulum 
I want I want 
Surprisingly I also want want 
Famous cafe in St Germain 
