Broken

Medical care in France is fast, inexpensive, accessible.

Prescription medication is not...

It's broken

They gave me a cast 

4-6 weeks
I may go nuts 🥜 

If you've had a broken leg, please leave a comment.

(Update, I actually had a fractured tibia, NOT broken leg 🤸‍♂️)

It's a whole new ball 🏀 of wax.

Any tips or hints are most welcome 🙏

Please NO "get well soons".

Yes, I'm grumpy 😾 

Right now I want to cut it off (the cast not the leg).

Broken, Xray in Centre Medical, Angels of Paris

It's a good idea to have the French Larousse App on your iPhone so you can tell the Doc exactly what's wrong with you in Paris. It's also a good idea to have an Angel 😇 in Paris.

Where to go if something goes wrong, but not too terribly wrong that requires a hospital?  Every arrondissement has several Centre Medical. Just Google and add the arrondissement - 75004,75019 etc. Et voila, Google provides addresses, hours and a map. My Angel 😇 in Paris, author Rosemary FLANNERY, told me this. She suggested if I come to the Centre Medical she went to, she could give me a 'canne Anglais'  🦯 to walk with afterwards.

Rosemary lives in 75009. I am in 75004. Two buses later I was there. Or rather another, swankier clinic, Centre Medical Auber at 9, rue Boudreau since it was a tad closer I waltzed in like I owned the place. I had no appointment by the way. Believe me at 8:15am I pretty much had the place to myself. 

I waited only 10 minutes. Then showed my passport & insurance papers(not good for anything but hospitalization). I explained/read the words above that my cheville/ankle was sprained and paid 23 euros.

Then I saw an adorably, funny doctor who made endless jokes. He gave me the paper below to get an ex-ray downstairs in the radiologie department. Et voila! Easy peasy!!

Aside from the sex change, tout va bien. NYC was never like this bebe!

I took the l’encenser, rather than the stairs with my sprained ankle. It helps, in a French elevator to know that -1 is sous sol/downstairs. 

The Green button is the ground floor or exit.

I was told to wait for reception to open at 9:00 am. I was warned I would have to wait 15 minutes? Come to NYC folks & find out what waiting is like in a doctor's office.

Do all radiologie offices have faux pink 🌸 cherry blossoms on the ceilings? 

They had cherry blossoms 🌸 at St.Vincent's when I got a cat scan for sciatica. 

Is everyone getting cherry blossoms from the same source? French girl recently went to Japan to see the cherry blossoms🌸She could have stayed home and visited rue Boudreau.

At 9:05 reception called my name, looked at my papers and asked me to pay 24 euros for the x-ray. A woman got me shortly after, helped me on the table, took shots of my ankle & told me to come back Saturday morning for results. Tomorrow is a public holiday. THAT WAS IT. 

I was out of there by 9:15 am!

A short hobble over to the Illy café to meet my angel 😇 Rosemary. Admittedly some of the décor would have looked quite cheery after spartan Centre Medical Auber. No snacks were offered at the Centre as I recall but nothing is perfect.

Meet my angel, Rosemary FLANNERY. Don't ask me why she spells her last name all in caps. This woman can do no wrong.

I wrote about her book 📕 here. Please take a look. It's a heavenly book in my humble opinion.

I would like to say I hopped onto the bus 🚌 but that ain't so. Still having the crutch (from darling Rosemary😇 ) gets you a seat fast.

A pit stop at Monoprix Opera to stock up on fav salad (right) for the holiday. I bought 3.

Waiting for the next bus, I wanted to yell at this French girl (putting on her new baskets 👟 ). 

"Get HIGHTOPS for goodness sakes", 

but you can't do that in Paris. In New York you could. I went home to make tea for my afternoon guests at the Salon Parisbreakfast. 

A mini tea 🫖 

C'est comme ca. 

Les Invitees

Sometimes bad things happen to good people and they turn out not to be so bad after all.

I was coming down the stairs, all 115 of them. I decided not to take the elevator since I need more exercise and it was beginning to show...ahem. On the way down I noticed a nice standing fan in the hallway...hmmm

Still dreaming of fans I forgot to notice the last two steps, plus with a touch of vertigo I let go and went boom. Sprained my ankle fractured my fibula I did whilst dreaming of cool summer nites...hmmm

The next day Lois B and I planned a jaunt to paint in a Paris park, now out of the question. 

My treasures from Lois and Picard - frozen peas to put on my swollen ankle broken leg and quiche Lorraine to eat. Perfect!

The next day I'd planned to meet up with divine Mme Z. who prefers to remain nameless. We'd planned to go to a museum etc. instead it was tea at chez yours truly. YUM

I'm allowed to show her practical Timex watch. I instantly fell in love.

We're both calligraphy nuts so she saved her napkin.

Major Miam !

My sister is in town and had no idea I was incapacitated. She brought me what I'll wildly guess is a Camellia plant? You tell me, expert PB plant people. Isn't it funny I had to buy so-called 'flowerpot' insurance for my studio here.

We had petit fours with tea. Of course my sister and her husband don't eat sweets.

Guess who was left with the responsibility of cleaning up the plate. Tomorrow Susan Hochbaum, author of the fabulous Pastry Paris book is coming to tea. I asked her to bring a diet cookie please and then thought who am I kidding?!

Ile Saint-Louis

I always fall in love with sunglasses. We met Saturday. it was a coup de foudre/instant love all over again.

Find me these tortoiseshell sunglasses from H & M ($8.00) PBers and the 5" x 7" watercolor above is yours.

We went on a Magical Mystery tour of the Ile Saint Louis where her main character, stylish Aimée lives and grew up.

We hit many high points like sculptress Camille Claudel's house on quai d'Anjou.

Someone was fool enough to open a door and we waltzed in with all the aplomb as if living there.

Another private courtyard at No.39 holds the theatre de Saint Louis. Naturally it plays a roll in private investigator Aimée escaping a villain during a dress rehearsal.

P.I. has a penchant for extravagant designer shoes usually bought on sale at a Vide Grenier or the soldé. 

She also has a penchant for falling down on cobblestones/pavé and breaking her expensive heels. This is a bad habit I've picked up, though I'm wearing sensible flat Arcopedicos. Go figure. Some people are home breakers. Aimée 

 is a heel breaker.

We catch Aimée's concierge out walking 'Miles Davis' round the block while Aimée escapes murderers and break heels.

17th century historic church Saint-Louis-en-l'lle where Aimée was baptized. We took a good look at the baptismal fount. A definite don't-miss on the island at 19 bis, rue Saint-Louis-en-l'lle.

I have complained repeatedly to that Aimée simply does not eat enough pastry on the ile Saint-Louis or off, but I'm barking up the wrong tree. PLEASE give us some pastry in the next mystery. Do you agree or not PBers? Any particular pastry you would like to see Aimée eating btw? Here's your chance to get in a word with the author.

Where Aimée learned her letters in grade school.

Quite a few dunks in the nearby Seine turn up.

This is where a body was found near Pont Sully.

Aimée herself ends up in very hot water in that mystery but no spoilers allowed.

The public baths on rue de Deux Ponts where some of Paris' underbelly come for a scrubdown in the Leduc series.

Where Hemingway bought his fishing tackle on rue Sully.

We visit one of the most prestigious, private hotel particuliars on the island, Hôtel de Lauzun

Someone opens a gate and we’re 'in like Flint', The guard queries if we are supposed to be there. Doodly-doodly-do

Since Hotel de Lauzun is in the book I must see it right? We head upstairs and then down and out the gate. The guard would like to pick a fight with us, rightly sensing we don't belong there but Cara wafts on with me looking back and crossing my fingers we don't get arrested.

We waft over to chez moi where there is no interference or guards. They're awfully fun. We're both very lucky to have Cara take us round the Ile Saint-Louis on a private tour non?