Monday everything is shut!

Monday in Paris is like Sunday in many other places. All the museums are shut and so are many of the small and more interesting shops. So today was another day of wandering around looking at places some of which we've seen before and others we have not. We wandered on to the Ile St Louis, looked longingly at the Berthillon ice cream and decided that having a felafel later was more important. We headed along a linear park on the banks of the Seine past the Institut du Monde Arabe to the Jardin des Plantes where we spent a happy hour wandering amongst the flower beds. Some of the plants in the beds surprised us slightly - lantana, plectranthus, cannas, not to mention Morning glory in various colours. It was interesting to see how others appeared brighter and more vibrant in the French environment than they do in Aus. We would have gone into the tropical glasshouse but that required payment as would the zoo part of the garden. We did however see some rather sad looking wallabies before we left for the rue des Rosiers and the much awaited falafel. I have probably mentioned before that these would have to be the best in the world -of the three principal vendors we buy ours from Vi Va Mi- and their price has only increased by .50c since our last one two years ago.
They were so good that after consuming them in a park we retired to our apartment to celebrate with a half bottle of champagne!
In the afternoon we strolled down to the Pompidou Centre, a place where there are always exhibitions of modern art. It isn't for us. We didn't hang around but continued on. The area exhibits a sea of humanity at different levels of self respect, poverty and activity. As we walked we listened to a woman playing the didgeridoo, while a few minutes later we saw a young man showing off his soccer skills.
As we walked home we were struck by the vibrant nature of the Marais and the eclectic nature of the shops, especially the designer clothes and jewellery, even though many of them were closed. It is the best place in Paris to go shopping. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.....