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.

It's a whole new ball of wax.

Any tips or hints most welcome. 

Please NO "get well soons".

Yes I'm grumpy.

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

Xray in Centre Medical and Angels of Paris

It's a good idea to have the French Larousse App on your i-something or other 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 arr. i.e. 75004, 75019 etc. Et voila, Google provides addresses, hours and a map. My Angel in Paris, author Rosemary FLANNERY, told me this. She suggested I come to the Centre Medical she used and she could give me a 'canne Anglais' to walk with afterwards.

Rosemary is in 75009. I am in 75004 but 2 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 did.  

I waited all of 10 minutes. Then showed my passport and insurance papers(no good for anything but hospitalization). I explained/read the words above that my cheville/ankle was sprained and paid 23 euros.

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

Aside from the sex change tout va bien. New York was never like this bebe!

I decided to take the ancensor rather than the stairs with my sprained ankle. It helps to know -1 is sous sol or downstairs.

Ta Da. I had to wait for reception to open at 9:00 am. I had been warned I would have to wait 15 minutes? Y'all come to NYC folks and 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 them at St.Vincent's when I got a cat scan for sciatica. Is everyone getting them from the same source? My French friend recently went to Japan to see the cherry blossoms. She could have stayed home and gone to 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 the shots of my ankle and asked me to come back Saturday morning for the results. Tomorrow is a public holiday. THAT WAS IT. I was out of there by 9:15 am. !!! 

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

Enfin, my angel, Rosemary FLANNERY. Don't ask me why she spells her last name in all caps. This woman can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

I wrote about her book here. Please PBers take a look. It's a heavenly book in my humble opinion no pun intended.

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 my favorite salad (on the left) for the holiday. I bought three.

Waiting for the next bus, I wanted to yell at this French girl (putting on her new shoes). "Get HIGHTOPS for goodness sakes", but you can't do that sort of thing in Paris. In New York you could get away with it. I went home to make tea for my afternoon guests at the Salon Parisbreakfast. 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 natch.

 

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

Major Miam !

My sister is in town and had no idea I was somewhat 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?!

Murder in Pigalle and Cara Black's Sunglasses

I always fall in love with mystery author Cara Black's glasses. When we met last Saturday it was a coup de foudre/instant love all over again.

Find me these tortoiseshell sunglasses from H and M ($8.00) PBers and the 5" x 7" watercolor above is yours I kid you not.

Cara Black led me on a Magical Mystery tour of the Ile Saint Louis where her main character, stylish Parisian Aimée Leduc 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 fearless Cara waltzed in with all the aplomb as if she lived there. Nothing new for Cara but trepidation for yours truly.

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.Aimée 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 Leduc is a heel breaker.

We catch Aimée's concierge Madame Cachou 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 Cara 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 Cara! 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 in Cara's mysteries.

Cara points out exactly where a body was found near Pont Sully in Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis.

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

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

She also points out where Hemingway bought his fishing tackle on rue Sully, though he has yet to turn up in any Aimée Leduc mysteries. Hmmm...

Cara happily poses by one of the most prestigious, private hotel particuliars on the island, Hôtel de Lauzun

Someone opens a gate and 'in like Flint', Cara wafts with yours truly tagging along nervously. The guard queries if we are supposed to be there and Cara nods yes. 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 then waft over to chez moi where there is no interference or guards and Cara marks up things I should mention to you in both books, Pigalle, her 14th and Ile Saint-Louis her 7th.

Dear PBers if you are lucky enough to meet darling Cara at a book signing, please do not mention yours truly. Just fawn over her deservedly and BUY her books for heavens sake! They're awfully fun reading (did I mention that?). We're both very lucky to have Cara take us round the Ile Saint-Louis on a private tour non?