The Marais at Midday on a Thursday in January

Wow. What is going on in Paris?! The Marais was eerily quiet today when I strolled through the streets ISO the Musée Carnavalet. Usually, this part of Paris is a buzzing, mini universe onto itself but it was eerily quiet and unpopulated, sort of like Rue Mouffetard was the other day. What is going on?? Have tourists been scared off from Paris? This will decimate the economy if that is so. Or maybe it is just one of those things? A coincidence? I sure hope so.

So yea, I went to check out the Musée Carnavalet this midday. I have been there a few times obviously, but it is the kind of place you can never really see too many times in my opinion and the best part is, it is free. So being that I was already in the neighborhood after my morning meeting, I figured, what the heck.

What the heck is that the darned place is closed down (and I mean battered shut) till at least 2020. I could not believe it on one hand and on the other hand, it is so commonplace to have this kind of thing happen. Nothing at all is sure. One minute you see it and the next minute it is under travaux or gone completely.

If I had the money I would have swung by the Musée Picasso which was also in the vicinity because it is no longer under construction though the last time I visited a few years back when I had the money, it too was closed for construction until a very ridiculously long time. So it's gotta be me and my infamous bad timing. Right? It's gotta be.

So I just turned around and headed back to Chatelet to catch my bus and while I was at it. I photographed points of interest such as the Archives Nationales (a really impressive piece of architecture I should say) and I window-shopped several of the art galleries on Place des Vosges. Interestingly, I could not find the Maison de Victor Hugo which is supposed to be in this vicinity. I wonder if it, too, was closed for construction?

I believe I also photographed the Place des Vosges and some street scenes in the Marais. I headed up Rue Rambuteau and stopped to admire the "modernity" of the Centre de George Pompidou as well and then, finally, (just so I could have a little pleasure after the disappointment of the musée being closed)  I stopped in at HEMA (my favorite store) to pick up a few little bits and bobs.

Then, it was homeward bound. I am here at my little round table typing away while lunch boils on the stove. I am trying to fix something healthy and quick  before I head out again. I am working on something  healthy and RED. Why red? Cause. I am in a red state of mind.

Below you can find some of the photos I took today. Enjoy!