I'm about 4 feathers away from getting myself a pet bird so I may not be the best person to judge…read morethis place, but if you want to see an odd little slice of Paris and you're not creeped out by caged birds, come here to the French Flower Market on a Sunday (8 a.m - 1 p.m.) when the flower vendors sleep in and turn the whole place over to the bird vendors. No lie. The place overflows with a ton of caged birds in every size and color and the tweeting and chirping is magnificent.
On this day, they also sell bird seed, bird-care books, and bird cages. One guy, unclear on the concept, was even selling bunnies. WTF??
With their beautiful color patterns, feather designs, and graphic simplicity, birds are awesome to look at and this is a pretty sweet place to indulge. I can't imagine what size bribe I'd have to pay to what Customs official to sneak a French bird back into the country. Looking though, is free, and nobody seemed to care that I was there to look, not buy.