Paris Impressions: October 2011

Huge Paris Update for YOU!

It’s been a while since my last entry but now I have many photos to share and some comments, too!

Since the last entry I have happily finished my last chemotherapy treatment YAAAYYY!!!! and am doing fine and certainly enjoying being in Paris. I cannot say enough good things about the French healthcare system, even from the point of view of an “outsider” and one who must pay completely out-of-pocket. I must also add that I cannot say enough good things about the French people I have met and the people I consider my friends here. I have experienced nothing but kindness, generosity and such support that had made this sometimes challenging journey, actually enjoyable.

Heartman is happy, too!

And he is READY to out adventuring again!

What has brought me here is a shortage of the critical drugDoxil (marketed as Caelyx in Europe and Canada) that is the best treatment, with less severe side-effects, for my particular situation. We have a serious drug shortage in the U.S. that is leaving people without the lifesaving drugs they need for various cancers, particularly ovarian cancer, cures for some childhood cancers, and many others as well as anesthesia drugs and drugs to treat many chronic diseases that people can live with, if given the treatments….even Tylenol and Benedryl!

I am so very fortunate to have found a way to get the care that I needed here in Paris.

So, what has been happening besides the medical stuff?

EYE CANDY!

I have been a very good girl and mostly only LOOK at these! Oh that is torture!

But pure visual pleasure at the Lanôtre windows...............................and the treats at La Durée

La Nôtre Check out the real GOLD LEAF on the strawberry tips.

La Durée - one wonderful source of the artistic sweets

Mont Blanc - chestnut dreams

BUT, I have to admit that I did indulge with an Angelina hot chocolate! OMG!!!

Oh, and one other time, the “Paris Brest”

But these were eye candy for me only..les macarons!

LIVING HERE

Mid-September I moved into my friend, Inda’s apartment in another part of Paris from my own. Inda is in New Zealand now and generously offered me the use of her apartment while I got chemo treatments and to stay on a little longer to enjoy Paris. This neighborhood is lively, diverse and very convenient to everything one needs; grocery stores, pharmacies, boulangeries, Métro stops and bus.Oh, and there is a Vélib station just outside the door. More about that later.

A Heartman is beside himself with this wonderful sounding piano! I can hardly keep him away so I can play. I do like his periods of silence he puts into his music though. Inda, he is amazed that he is actually in YOUR apartment!

I, too am enjoying the piano with the beautiful sound in the living room. It gives me the illusion that I can play, even though I am only improvising…and missing notes and getting the timing all wrong. It is enjoyable nonetheless! You can hear some of my "noodlings" at my YouTube site - http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee

The apartment is beautiful with lots of light, high ceilings, these lovely hardwood floors and Inda has it sparsely furnished so there is this feeling of spaciousness.

And the views...

The views from apartment. I admit I have cropped this photo of Sacre Coeur but it is a pleasant sight.

And one night, when I hear this boom, I looked out and saw this! Fireworks, in celebration of le vendage, the grape harvest in Montmartre!

And out the front window, across the Avenue Parmentier…..

Views out the kitchen window into the interior courtyard.

THE METRO

Clean. Safe. Convenient. Inexpensive.

SEATS! Each station has its own complete design. Here are a few of the seats that I sat on.

OK, this one is a bus seat. Buses are pleasant and you can see the city while you are traveling, but they can be slow, especially at rush hours it can take forever to reach your destination.