I’ve been buying fresh unpasturized milk at the Marché. The milk lady is only there on wednesday morning and we bring our milk jar back every week for a refill. The kids still aren’t keen on drinking it, but I think it’s the Best. Milk. Ever.
We visited the town of Arles where Van Gogh lived in 1888-89 and produced quite a few of his famous paintings. We planned to do the walking tour of 10 reproductions mounted on easels depicting actual places throughout the city. I was pretty excited about this tour, especially the one called ‘Cafe Terrace at Night’. The cafe itself was closed but I’ve read from many reviews that it isn’t that great anyhow.
Cafe Terrace at Night
Another reproduction we visited was ‘The Yellow House.’ This is the house Van Gogh rented and lived in for a while in Arles. You can see how thrilled Evi is about seeing it. She looks more depressed than Van Gogh was I think. The truth is the kids are pretty damn sick of 1000 year old castles, cobblestone streets and dead artists or popes or whoever. They don’t want to climb one more tower or walk in yet another old town. They are normal kids who prefer candy, desserts, restaurants, zoos and fairs or carnivals.
So we cut the tour short and went out for drinks to an outdoor café where you can buy a good old fashioned Coke in a bottle. That made for happy kids (and a lot of pee breaks).
Mid-afternoon drinks in Arles.
Luckily they still like spending time outside and going out for hikes. There are many breathtaking trails right on our doorstep.
Shamus used the BBQ for the first time. No propane here. We got to use these old grape vines as firewood instead.
Evi dressed up as Elsa for ‘Carnival’ at school. Our neighbour’s daughter was kind to lend her this outfit.
Nico was going to be a ninja but all I had to work with was black pants and a black shirt. He looked more like a terrorist than a Ninja so we quickly turned him into a surfer dude by giving him sunglasses and swimming trunks (which he wore under his sweats). In the end he was dressed up as himself but that didn’t stop him from dancing.
We slipped in a Mediterranean beach day too. It was a bit on the windy side but the kids loved it anyway (as did I). Don’t let the swim suits fool you, it really wasn’t that warm out.
We went for treats at ‘La Nougatine’, our favorite dessert spot. I love how Bob can’t get his eyes off the dessert long enough to pose for a picture.
We picked up Grant and Vivian, Shamus’s aunt and uncle. We took them out for a hike and a picnic. We like to wear our guests out right off the bat!
Turns out the Easter Bunny made it all the way to France this morning! The egg hunt was on!
After seeing all the beautiful eggs on Instagram yesterday, I decided I just couldn’t go without getting the kids to dye some of their own. So we got some grocery store dye and a dozen brown eggs. Apparently chickens don’t lay white eggs here because I’ve yet to see any.
I think they turned out really well.
The Easter Bunny also left these cool archeological eggs with a tiny fossilized dinosaur buried inside. Dusty work but totally worth it.
Driving and parking in France is something else. By now Shamus has it mostly figured however it took a certain amount of concentration and focus in the first few weeks. My Dad commented that on one particular stretch of mountain road he needed to be so focused that chewing gum would have impaired his driving. Personally I completely avoided driving for the first month but I can now venture out on my own to the grocery store or around town. I’m not quite ready for the big cities or the major highway which has 3 lanes and a speed limit of 130 km per hour (110 when it’s raining). Even then, when we’re at the maximum speed limit or a little higher, the french are usually blasting past us.
I remember one day on our way to Montpellier on the big highway. We were passing a semi-truck driver and I could tell he was texting or doing some other distracting thing while driving. Once we got a closer look I realised that he wasn’t on his phone at all but actually rolling a cigarette!
One thing we’ve noticed is that every car has a dent on their bumper or scrapes along the side. I don’t think it’s worth having them repaired because it is such a regular occurrence. It’s also common to see the side mirrors ripped off of vehicles. This is not surprising as the streets are so narrow and sometimes difficult to manoeuvre.
Out into the countryside, the roads are still very narrow and windy. And shoulders? Who needs them! Shoulders generally don’t exist here unless you ride a 10 speed. Even though most roads are flanked by a deep ditch, hairpin curves or plunging cliffs. Often there are rows of trees planted along both sides, perfect for impromptu games of Chicken. To add to it all, there is always someone tailing you, so much so that you can’t even see their headlights and it looks like they’re sitting in your back seat. They will totally ride your ass just waiting for the first opportunity to pass. And when they do, it’s so awesome to see a little old granny behind the wheel.
Finding a parking spot can also be a challenge at times. As my cousin Roxanne put it (she is married to a bonified frenchman and has been here numerous times so she knows what she’s talking about) ‘there are 66 million people in France and 40 parking spots’. It becomes a matter of being creative and sidewalks are fair game. No need to worry about whether the other guy can get out, that’s his problem. Just find a spot and snug up tight.
It’ll be a bit weird when we’re back in Saskatoon where it’s illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk never mind parking your vehicle on it.
When in Rome….
Especially in front of Bakeries, anything goes. As you can see there is no rule about which way the car facing.
How would you like to park on this driveway every day?
Somehow though, we managed to get a speeding ticket. I don’t know how it’s possible being the slowest drivers in the country right now. Shamus was probably just trying to stay ahead of that little old granny riding our ass….
I love love love Barcelona! We both do, and hope to make it back someday. As I mentioned before, my parents offered to look after the kids so Shamus and I could get away. We already knew that we wanted to visit Barcelona so on the friday night before we left Shamus went ahead and booked our train tickets. Booking a hotel was not so easy. For whatever reason, we could not find anything available in our price range. Everything was either already booked or cost more than 500 euros/night. When we had been browsing the previous week, there were lot’s of available rooms including some very reasonably priced ones. It seemed strange that nothing would come up now that we were ready to book. Most people might see this as a clue or a sign, but not us. We thought, what the hell! We’ll figure it out when we get there. Our train tickets were booked anyhow so there was no going back. The next morning my Dad drove us to Nîmes to catch the 9:30 TGV train and we would arrive in Barcelona by 2 pm. Surely we would find a place when we got there.
I love riding the train. Nice comfy seats, snacks, big windows and beautiful scenery. It’s calm and easy. Especially with only one carry-on suitcase, not 5 giant ones. Once we arrived at the train station in Barcelona, we looked for free Wi-Fi. This usually ends up being at McDonalds, a hot travel tip courtesy of my parents. We immediately got on task finding a room and the only thing available was on Hotwire. Hotwire is a discount travel website that offers good deals but without giving you many details. So basically we knew the area and the price but that was about it. There was one room available for 30 euros a night and absolutely nothing else to be found so we booked it for 3 nights. Shortly after, we recieved our confirmation. That’s when we noticed that we had booked into a hostel! WTF!!! This was our romantic weekend after all, how could we be booked into a hostel!!! It’s been more than 15 years since I have slept in a hostel!
With cancellations not allowed on cheap bookings, we decided to go check it out. What else could we do? We needed a place to sleep. We got a metro pass and hopped on the subway. The one thing we noticed was how much easier it was to travel on the subway without 3 kids. No near-death experiences this time and the accordion player was enjoyable.
We arrived at the hostel and I have to say, it was the most beautiful hostel I had ever seen. Definitely a place you want to be if you’re in your 20’s and single and bumming your way through Europe.
Fun swinging chair in reception.Standing in front of the Hostel The Generator.In the media/games room.
We went to the front desk to inquire about our reservation. We were asked if we had booked a private room. I immediately said yes thinking (hoping) that was the case and we would have a room to ourselves after all. Wrong! We were in fact in separate bunk beds and on separate floors!!! The woman at the front desk informed us of a conference beginning on sunday in Barcelona. It was the Mobile World Congress and they were expecting 90 000 people to attend!! One of the key note speakers was Mark Zuckerberg. (You might have heard of him, he invented Facebook). Anyway, it meant that every hotel room in the city was booked, and if you were lucky enough to find a room the price would be jacked up anyhow. It all made sense now, why we couldnt find anything. Having that mystery solved seemed to make Shamus happy. So much so that it didn’t even matter to him that we would be bunking with complete strangers for the whole weekend. Probably because at one point I heard the front desk girl say that Shamus would be sharing a room with 7 other girls. I offered to switch with him but he replied no, he was ok with the bunk he was assigned. Anyhow, we unpacked our bags, locked up our personal items in the locker under the bed and decided to get out explore the city.
Shamus enjoying wine from his bunk waiting for an all girl pillow fight (that never ensued).
Our first stop was to check out Segrada Familia, a church designed by the famous modernist catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. This thing is truly unbelievable and indescribable. It started being built in 1882 and it is still not complete (that’s more than a century! ). The anticipated completion of the roman catholic church is in 2026. As we walked past we noticed the line up went all the way around the church and was not moving. We decided to buy tickets online and visit inside the church on Monday morning, hoping it would be a lot less busy.
Afterwards we headed to La Rambla, the most popular street in central Barcelona. It is filled with tourists as well as locals and is lined with expensive stores, souvenir shops and a lot of restaurants. It’s busy and fun to walk down. Once hunger hit we veered off to a side street to find a more affordable and slightly less touristy restaurant. It was around 6pm but the restaurant was oddly empty. We asked the hostess where all the people were and she answered that they had actually just finished eating lunch. Supper usually didn’t start until 9 or 10pm. Since we were starving we decided to stay and eat.
Our favourite beer in Spain: Estrella
We ordered a bottle of red wine but realised our Spanish or Catalan (the language they mostly speak in Barcelona) wasn’t so great when the waiter popped the cork. We had in fact ordered a bottle of Champagne! I guess it’s a common beverage with the locals so I don’t think we looked too much like idiots.
We managed to stay up till midnight I think, which is when the party really gets going but midnight is all I’ve got in me these days. Shamus and I said goodnight and then headed back to our respective bunks. I’m relieved to say that 7 girls did not show up to Shamus’s room. Better luck next time(:
Free WiFi in our bunks, checking my emails before bed.
Since supper is at 10pm or later, they don’t really do the breakfast thing in Barcelona. Not at 8am anyhow. We were lucky to find this outdoor square with a handful of restaurants that were open. We sat outside and enjoyed a coffee and some delicious huevos rancheros at ‘Amélie’s’. The weather was perfect and I loved how the streets are lined with orange trees.
We walked many kilometres and packed a lot in that day. We had planned to visit the Picasso museum and during his research Shamus discovered that the entry is free on the first sunday of every month. Lucky for us we were there on that specific day! Apparently we weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the free entry… this was the line up when we arrived.
The line up moved relatively quickly and there were entertainers playing music in the streets so it was fine. However once we got to the front of the line we realised that it only got us the tickets to get in. We were told to come back at a specific time, sort of like making an appointment. So we got our tickets and killed time by wandering the streets some more and stopping for refreshments along the way.
We made it to the Picasso museum for our ‘viewing appointment’ and enjoyed it very much. Once we stumbled out of there, it was time for a snack and a drink at a Tapas bar.
I love this concept! There is an array of appetizers lined up on the bar and on the counter plus a few waiters going around with tapas filled trays. You grab whatever you want, whenever you want. Once you’re done and ready to pay, the waiter counts the amount of cocktail sticks on your plate. The price per tapa was set at 2 euros each. I thought it was a perfect way to spend the afternoon but one gets a little dozy after a cocktail and a few tapas. We were headed back to our bunk beds for a little rest before heading out for the evening when we came across Cuitadella Park, Barcelona’s version of Central Park.
It was filled with people having picnics, dancing, drumming, tightrope walking and playing music. There were kids, teenagers, young adults, families…. Everywhere we looked there was something to see. There were also some semi-shady guys walking around selling cold Estrella’s for 1.50 euros. On such a beautiful afternoon, of course we could not resist. I’m not sure how they kept the beers cold because I noticed they kept their inventory in plastic bags, stashed in the nearby bushes. Afterwards it was warm enough to lay down in the grass and doze off for a few minutes, enough to get the tired edge off and continue on walking around.
A beautiful church in the Gothic area.
Meanwhile, back at home the kids were having a vacation of their own, Mémère and Pépère style.
We finished the evening by eating at a mexican restaurant (this time it was 9pm when we headed out for supper). What a day!!!
You may or may not have noticed that Etienne had a fat lip in some of the previous photos. The sunday before my birthday our neighbour was kind enough to offer bikes for Shamus and Etienne to use. He has a bike rental business here in Uzes. They weren’t gone 10 min before Etienne flew over the handle bars. Hard. Apparently the brakes were a little (or very) touchy, something he’s not used to.
You can see the top lip is quite swollen (the bottom lip always looks like that- lucky guy) and he’s a little scraped up on his nose and in the philtrim area. He was quite hurt physically but his ego is really what took a beating. The next day he was due back to school after a 2 week holiday. He really wasn’t up for it, looking like a housewife of Beverly Hills and all, so we let him stay home. It wouldn’t have mattered anyhow because while he and Shamus were out running errands they ran into one of his classmates. Turns out school was cancelled that morning because the heating didn’t work. I’ve yet to figure that school out.
A little scabby but a lot less swollen.
Speaking of ego crushing events, another occurred one beautiful sunny morning while Shamus and I were out on our walk. While in France, Shamus has had the hefty goal of not stepping in dog poop for the entire duration of our trip. I know, he’s an ambitious guy.
On day 48 it was game over. He really lasted quite a long time and I think he’s comforted in knowing he still holds the record. We’ve all had a turn to step in poop.
Etienne cleaning poop off his shoe in the first month
It’s pretty difficult to avoid because you’re usually looking up at all the beautiful castles and towers and stone buildings while still trying to keep an eye on the ground ahead of you, but the inevitable happens and then it’s just a matter of finding the nearest pool of water to try and get the stench off your shoe.
One last piece of (bad) news… we’ve already lost our pet. We found our Mantis laying on his back in the praying position. Aren’t you happy we don’t have a dog?!! Not to worry though, we have already found a replacement. This guy was crawling on the ceiling in the living room.
It looks big on the photo but it’s actually only about 1 inch long. It still creeps me out to know that these just wander around the house. He’s moved into the terrarium for now. I try to make sure my mouth is closed when I fall asleep, and we give our shoes and clothes a quick scorpion check before we put them on.
I feel like I’ve been dragging my feet on the blogging lately. I just can’t seem to keep up! The days are flying by and so are the stories. Before we left, I assumed I would have plenty of time to blog. I had visions of a spotless house, beautiful home cooked meals, making art a few afternoons a week, going out for long walks and stopping for coffee. Perhaps a little bit of Yoga every day and working on that six pack, etc. You know, all the things you say you’d to if you had the time. Turns out I was deluded in thinking that I would accomplish any more than I do back home. The house is still a mess and we still can’t keep up with the basic demands of a family of five. It feels like we’re running to the grocery store every second day. Walking the kids to school back and forth takes a lot of time (however I enjoy that a lot and have designated it my exercise time to ease the guilt). Between daily routines and fighting for the only computer in the house, there doesn’t seem to be much time leftover for writing blogs. Once I do get my hands on the Mac, you’d be shocked to know how computer challenged I am! What are easy tasks for others (such as Etienne and probably every other 9 year old for example) takes me a lot of time and figuring. I’ve barely mastered cutting and pasting so you can see how downloading photos, sifting through them, composing text and proof reading it is a challenge for someone like me. Anyhow, today I thought I would do a quick update and touch on a few of the events that have kept us busy. We honestly haven’t just been sitting around sipping wine and eating steak tartare! (Ok, the wine part is a lie and I wouldn’t eat steak tartare for a million dollars but you know what I mean.)
Saturday morning we said goodbye to my parents. They arrived on Feb 13th and bunked with us for most of their stay. We spent a lot of time trying to show them the sights, making good meals and just visiting. I think they had a good time although the weather wasn’t totally cooperative for them. I will definitely share more photos and stories about their trip a little later on. For now, we’re very happy they made it all this way and we’re lucky to have them be a part of our experience in France. The kids loved having them here and will really miss them (along with all the treats and screen time that seems to coincide with having Mémère and Pépère Deschambault here).
Packing up the car for the drive back to Paris.
While they were here, my parents were very generous and offered to look after the kids so that Shamus and I could get away. We gladly accepted the offer and took the fast train to Barcelona. We stayed for 4 days and it was awesome! There is also a whole blog post to come about that trip but for now I suggest you add Barcelona on your bucket list.
After my parents left on Saturday morning, we drove out to Montpellier to visit the zoo. We walked around outdoors for 4 hours looking at exotic animals. Coming from the Saskatoon Forestry farm, the kids were pretty impressed! Giraffes, rhinoceroses, an anaconda, anteaters, monkeys, zebras etc….Plus it was free! which somehow makes it even more fun.
This cassowary was a favourite for the whole family.
While we were at the zoo, Evi lost her first tooth! It’s been wiggly and flapping in the wind for a few weeks already. At one point we had a string attached to the bullet of Etienne’s nerf gun with the other end attached to her tooth. We hoped it would help speed up the process but she backed out at the last minute. I’m glad the tooth finally fell out on it’s own. She was quite happy to find 2 euros under her pillow the next day.
Sunday really felt like spring was upon us. It was gorgeous out and we spent most of our day outside. The kids even dug out their shorts and I happily slipped into my birkenstocks. They are calling for temperatures between 18 and 21 degrees all week with sun and no wind!!!!
Along with warm weather comes new creatures. As I was enjoying my coffee outside on the step after lunch, I spotted what I thought was a stick bug on house (which gets me megapoints for an ongoing family game of spot the coolest animal). We captured it and made a terrarium for it. We filled the terrarium with food, dirt, water and of course some sticks. However, upon closer inspection we realised it was actually a carnivorous Praying Mantis (double points for me) and not a herbivore stick bug! It officially has become our France pet. It’s really a perfect pet in my opinion because I don’t have to pet it or clean up it’s poop or vacuum it’s fur/hair. I was more comfortable when I thought it was a vegetarian, but I’ve made it clear that I’m not in charge of feedings.
Can you spot it?
Cou Cou!
The next thing we have to look forward to is a new set of visitors. We are gearing up for the arrival of Shamus’s parents tomorrow. By gearing up I mean tidying up around here, stocking up on some nice wine, picking up some fine cheeses and fresh olives. The kids are pumped and I like Etienne’s observation: ‘I guess we had a little break from the old people’.
Anyhow, I will try to be a little more regular with my posts! In the meantime, I hope spring has arrived for you too and that March is good to you!
Multitasking in France: having a wine and chopping garlic.
A few weeks ago, while the kids were on their February school break, we finally made it out to see the Mediterranean Sea.
Shamus did a solo test run a few days prior to scope things out and to see if a day trip really was possible. ( I think he appreciated a little time on his own too). He left at 9 am and was back home in time to pick up the kids from school.
Although the trip is relatively short (only 1 hour 15 minutes), it tends to become much longer when you add kids to the picture. We often have to break the trip up mostly due to carsickness. The day we all went together, we barely made it to Nîmes which is less than half an hour away. That stretch of road could make anyone a little carsick but it is particularly hard on Nico. Once we arrived, we parked in the parkade and he immediately climbed out of the car to lay down on the cool concrete floor. Poor kid! No puking at least. Luckily it was not too long before he was feeling better and we walked around Nîmes for a little while before continuing on.
Fooling around in the fountains.
Our next stop was in Aigues Mortes, another walled city with a castle.
Etienne re-enacting being a Knight and protecting the castle (and his princess?).
We wandered around for an hour or so and bought the kids a bribe treat from the candy store. We continued on through a few resort towns on the Mediterranean, spotting wild flamingos along the way. I’ve never associated France with flamingos, but there are thousands roaming around in this area. Because it was low season, the towns were pretty dead. The pace picks up quite a bit when the warm weather hits.
Our first peek at the sea.
This particular beach is many kilometres long with soft white sand. It wasn’t very hot out (as you can see by the toques) but the sun was bright and warm.
We’ve arrived!
The kids spent their time looking for seashells…
Making sand angels…
Playing games…
And exploring.
This particular beach is backed by giant sand dunes scattered with long grasses. They had fun playing hide-and-go seek and jumping in the soft sand.
There’s something about a beautiful beach and being near water that feels so good. We’re all looking forward to another visit soon when the weather is warmer out.
This past monday I celebrated my 40th birthday. I traveled a long way to avoid the bumps but my plan to avoid a 40th birthday bash was thwarted even before I left. My ‘girls’ were not going to let me escape this milestone and threw me an early 40th/Bon Voyage party. They had beautiful cheeses and bread, chocolate, french pastries and wine, all my favourites! They know me too well. They also bought me this beautiful leather bag from Cuyana. I’ve been eyeing for about a year now and it’s been a perfect gift as I’ve been using it every day since I got it. It’s carried many a baguette already.
But that was kind of a fake party, a decoy for the real thing. I was still in my thirtie’s back then. The real thing arrived last monday and I learned that turning 40 turned out to be just fine….
It began early in the morning with hugs and kisses from the kids.
Once they were in school, Shamus and I went for a long walk. It was a beautiful morning, very spring-like with no wind. Even the Mistral gifted me by staying away.
Looking over ‘La Vallée de l’Eure’.
After lunch, my mom and I went for a coffee. We sat outside in the sun, it was quite warm out, almost warm enough for her to take her winter coat off! Even I peeled my jean jacket off (it was 14 degrees out).
We did a little bit of shopping downtown but because it was monday most stores were closed. We managed to find a few boutiques that were open and my mom bought me a beautiful cashmere sweater. It’s kind of nice to still be spoiled by your parents at 40 years old.
We had planned to meet the rest of the gang for cake at a favourite coffee and dessert shop. We soon realised that it was also closed Mondays. So we came up with plan B which was go to the bar for a birthday beer. No need to worry about what to do with the kids, they’re allowed in bars in France! I even saw a high chair in there! The kids enjoyed a coke out of the bottle, my mom had a large coffee, I had a small beer, and my Dad and Shamus had some biggies.
Shamus and Etienne had spent the earlier part of the afternoon getting things ready for supper. We headed back home for pizza and salad which was my birthday meal request. I had also requested a (slightly more expensive) bottle of fine red wine.
My ‘expensive’ wine, worth the extra 4 euros.
The meal was delicious! I find that meals are usually better when you haven’t prepared it yourself. For dessert we had a very decadent chocolate tart. The kids thought it was a little ‘trop riche’; I thought it was perfect.
So that was the big day! Of course celebrating in France with my family makes it that much more memorable. I feel as though I’m starting out my 40’s on the right foot though, and I’ll just keep on heading that way….
Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes on FB, email, instagram and the blog. Social Media can make a person feel pretty special (and even more addicted than usual to their iPhone). I also really appreciate all the positive feedback I’ve been getting regarding the blog, it’s been a lot of fun to be able to share our experience with everyone.
Yesterday was my mom’s birthday. We didn’t do too much because she told me not to fuss (of course). We drove into Montpellier for the day to do some shopping and sightseeing. We used the park + tram service and I think my parents enjoyed the tram ride quite a bit.
Waiting for the tram in Montpellier
Since the kids were still on their school break, we treated them to some indoor rock climbing while my parents did a bit of shopping.
Etienne (inducing a panic attack in me)
Nico and Evi scaling the wall
After all that fun, the timing wasn’t ideal to stay for supper and it wasn’t quite warm enough to walk around town so we decided to drive back home. So on short notice, we prepared a fuss-free party. I pulled out my pretty french tablecloth and put tea lights in our little glass yogurt jars (those things are getting a lot of mileage here). The kids have been sprouting lentils as a project so we used that as our center piece. We made a simple hamburger/hotdog supper and spruced up the party with fancy drinks and fancy mustards. Shamus and I kicked up our burgers a bit by melting blue cheese on them.
After supper we had a raspberry tart with candles and we presented her gift of a homemade birthday card and tea towels.
I knew she would love these towels because she picked them out in a gift shop and I asked her to leave so I could buy them for her. I also can’t find a Bingo game anywhere in this town to take her to so tea towels it is.
group selfie!
It was a nice day! There is another fairly momentous birthday just around the corner….
If you’ve been following the blog, you might recall that we were quite sick for a few weeks in January. I think the long days of travelling, moving into our new (very old) house, the kid’s new school and new bugs, as well as damp weather all had a role to play in it. Shamus was the only one who didn’t get sick although his allergies acted up quite a bit.
Etienne had it the worst. He was tired, coughing, and had fevers that we controlled with Advil. Evi had dark circles around her eyes and slept more than usual. At times she was hacking to the point of throwing up. Nico developed a whooping style cough but it only lasted a few days. I was basically coughing non-stop for 2 weeks. It was a very unproductive and incessant cough. The evenings would get worse and at one point Shamus put us all in one bedroom and quarantined us. We still dragged the kids out for errands and outings and but we could see it was a lot more tiring for them.
Evi at her worst
One day, I took a trip to the pharmacy and had a pile of medication on the counter expecting to pay a small fortune. When the saleslady told me the total was 5 euros, I said ‘Pardon?’ a few times while looking at her like she was crazy. It felt like one of those ‘start the car Shamus!’ moments. Kid’s Advil alone can be 15 dollars in Canada! She assured me that she was not crazy, that was the cost of drugs in France. So hot tip: if cheap drugs and cheap wine is what you’re into, this is the place for you.
However Etienne’s health was not improving, it was time to seek some medical help. Our trip to the doctor’s office was pretty interesting. We all went together at first but the receptionist informed us the line up was too long and since they didn’t take appointments it would be better to come back later. So that afternoon Etienne and I came back right after lunch. We were 3rd in line and this time the receptionist gave us the thumbs up. She asked us to have a seat and informed us that the doctor would call our name. I tried to pay her in advance, explaining that we were from Canada and we had insurance. She just told us it would cost 23 euros and that we would settle it with the doctor. We sat and waited and sure enough, Dr. Servian called out Etienne’s name and in we went . It felt a bit unusual because in Saskatoon it’s normally a nurse that calls us in, gets us all set up and the doctor sneaks in through a side door about half an hour later. Anyhow, he asked the appropriate questions, entered our address and information in the computer and checked Etienne over. Turns out the poor kid had pneumonia!!!! So we got a prescription and were told to come back for a follow up. He asked for 23 euros and there I was sliding cash across the doctors desk. Luckily I had the cash because he’s not equipped for a credit card. He gave me a receipt to take back home and hopefully we will be reimbursed.
The following Saturday, it was my turn to visit the doctor as I was still hacking uncontrollably. I got there quite early but once I arrived I did not see a receptionist at the front desk. There was just a bunch of sick people in the reception area. They informed me that there isn’t a receptionist on Saturdays; that people just wait their turns. It was quite crowded in there already so I decided to go back on Monday (still hoping I would miraculously be healthy by then). Monday rolled around and I still felt horrible so once again I was off to the medical clinic. The same process ensued- the doctor called me in, took down my info, asked some questions and checked me over. (he also took a pretty long phone call in the middle of checking me over). I didn’t have pneumonia but I did have bronchitis. He prescribed some antibiotics, a nasal spray and some ‘keep out of the reach of children’ heavy duty cough syrup. Apparently you shouldn’t mix alcohol with that cough syrup but I suppose it depends on what your goal is. Once again I found myself sliding some cash across the desk and away I went. I’m getting pretty good at this doctor business in France.
Etienne standing in front of the Doctor’s office.
Anyhow, we took our meds and we’re both feeling a lot better! Fortunately Evi and Nico’s health improved before a trip to the doctor’s office and they’re tip top too. It turned out to be a good experience but hopefully we won’t need to see a doctor again on our trip.
The French Door 
