As the title suggested, this was not one of the mundane trips that everything went as planned. It was eventful, to say the least, but not the type of events we prepared for.
Toulouse was added to our list of French cities to visit because of its proximity to Carcassonne, a medieval town with the most iconic castle on the hilltop, one of the oldest medieval castles in Europe. We boarded our train for Toulouse early Monday morning. We arrived in the Cité Rouge (the red city) just after 10h30.
Right Outside Gare de Toulouse
Our plan was to tour around the red city on Monday and Tuesday to get to know the city, maybe a couple of museums, dedicate the entire Wednesday for Carcassonne, then prepare to head home on Thursday. A nice relaxing visit, nothing jam packed. Well, Levina had a different plan for us all. She started complaining about her gum just hours being in Toulouse. It was sore and was bothering her a lot. She couldn't even eat an ice cream. That's a big problem. Ice cream is necessity in 30+ Celsius. Sounded like a visit to the pharmacy was warranted. The pharmacist recommended a gel to put on the sore gum, applying 3 times a day. We did just that, following the instruction to the tee. For sure by next day (Tuesday), the discomfort would subside if not all gone. I was sure of that, unfortunately mistakenly.
On Tuesday morning, Levina woke up with her face lope sided. 😢 The entire left cheek was swollen.
Poor thing! She looked worse than she was in the picture. She had trouble opening her mouth fully, couldn't chew anything too hard, and couldn't eat anything too cold, couldn't even smile. Now, getting her to a doctor was our number 1 priority. We walked to the nearest doctor's office, without an appointment. The French health care system works similar to our Canadian one. To see a doctor, you need to have an appointment. Well, we were desperate. Maybe the doctor's assistant would take pity on us after seeing Levina's swollen face? We didn't have to do much convincing really. The assistant, not a word of English, was super nice, more than willing to squeeze us between the patients. It was our lucky day! The doctor spoke really good English, making small talk while checking Levina. He actually lived in Vancouver for a while. That explained why his English was so fluent. We met a few French people who had been to Canada, but Montreal was the most popular choice due to the language spoken. We haven't met many who have visited our beautiful West Coast. He was the first one. He responded that he had never seen the puffy cheek condition before; however, he suspected that it was some sort of bacteria infection, happily prescribed us some antibiotics, instructing us go to the hospital if the swelling didn't go away after day 2 of medication. We felt a lot at ease after getting the prescription. Levina felt much relieved and started making fun of her own puffy cheek, but she hated the taste of the medication. We decided it was time to truly enjoy the red city. Here are some beautiful shots of the city.
Viewpoint from Pont Saint-Pierre
Overlooking Musée de l'Histoire de la Médecine
& Pont Neuf
View of Pont Saint-Pierre From the Ferris Wheel
View of Dôme de La Grave from the Ferris Wheel
View of the City Centre From the Ferris Wheel
Look what we found?
The owner is French and Canadian.
We really missed poutine LOL
Our relief for Levina's puffy cheek was short-lived. Evania googled Levina's condition, out of curiosity, like any teenager these days, always turning to Google for answers. It turned out Levina had an abscessed tooth, at least according to Google, and it's a dental urgency, not to be delayed or ignored. Evania, very seriously looking me in the eye, said you are going to take her to see a dentist, right Mom? This is VERY serious. Having access to information gains your knowledge, but sometimes it's scary. It stresses you out. It adds extra burden to you. I thought we were on a 4 day visit in Toulouse without much of an agenda. Now our mission is to get her to a dentist ASAP.
The next morning, bright and early, we headed towards Dental Urgent Care, a local dental office run by a group of retired dentists. It clearly stated on their website that all patients must make an appointment prior to the visit. Well, we decided to try our luck again. We got there at 8:30am, and the office wasn't open yet. On the door was a note "Appointment Required". Meanwhile, Nick spotted a sign across the street "Cabinet Dentaire Pediatrique". Does it mean pediatric dental office??? What do we have to lose? The office was well lit, and someone was at the front desk. The five of us walked in out of desperation. The receptionist, looking at Levina whose face was still very lopsided after a full of antibiotics, knew exactly why we were there. However, apologetically he responded that there was no opening that day. He said the good news was that she was already on antibiotics. We would soon see the swelling go down in 48 hours. We bought ourselves some time to stop the swelling, and we could find a dentist when we returned to our country. Ok, I didn't think he understood the seriousness of the abscessed tooth. Or maybe it wasn't that serious. Maybe Google lied!!! Seeing we were not very satisfied with his response, he provided us with the number of another dental office. We would have better luck with them. We reluctantly left the office, standing outside contemplating our next move. It didn't matter which dental office to go, appointments were required. Addressing the issue upon returning to Bordeaux didn't sit right with us. Right then, the receptionist rushed out, saying that he might have something for us. We were so confused, but remained hopeful. Maybe it was meant to be. The dentist arrived early, and had a few minutes before her first appointment of the day. She agreed to take a look at our puffy cheek girl. YES!
The dentist was a young woman, very gentle and patient with L. Looking at the X-ray, she showed us which tooth was causing the swelling, and was to be extracted. Unfortunately, the swelling was too bad still. She would have to wait until the swelling went down a bit. Checking her schedule, she slotted us in for 1:30pm the next day. Looking at her computer screen, I couldn't help but notice that every day between 12pm to 2pm was blocked off on her calendar. That's right! It is the holy grail lunch time for the French people. The whole nation is out in full force during those two hours to take care of their most important organ, stomach. She had sacrificed part of her lunch break to do the surgery on L. What did we do to deserve such generosity from her?
We proceeded with our original plan to visit Carcassonne afterwards. And L was worried about the tooth extraction procedure she was about to undergo the next day. However, we were all feeling a little relieved, knowing exactly what was going to take place and when. The end result of all would help L get her normal smile back.
Carcassonne, one of the oldest medieval castles in Europe
On Top of the Castle, Very Windy,
Almost Marilyn Monroe Like LOL
Noah Just Had to Get in on This Act LOL
On the big day, L was nervous. Of course. Who wouldn't be? She's never had a pediatric dentist. Our dentist back home never talked to her about her favorite colors or art. But this one did. That put her at ease somewhat. There was a big screen TV right above her head (not in the picture). She also put on "Les Sisters" for L. What was missing was someone giving her a pedicure, haha! In France, it takes 6 years to become a dentist. To become a pediatric dentist, you would need to do an extra year of study, 7 years in total. In the entire Toulouse, there are only 6 pediatric dentists. We were sitting in the office of 1 of the 6's. The more I thought about it, the more I felt we had picked the best city to visit. It was meant to be.
Levina Getting Anesthetics
By now, you're probably wondering how much debt this urgent dental care put us into? Well, I was holding on my Wise card extra tight as if it would help reduce the bill. The final bill came to 95 EURO, equivalent to $140 CAD based on the FX rate that day. I was a bit shocked and pleased at the same time. I know for sure tooth extraction would cost way more than $200 back home, not to mention 2 X-rays taken plus the dentist's holy grail lunch hour. I'm starting to like France's health care system now. We owe the dental office a 5 star Google review.
We felt we could finally appreciate the beauty of the red city. Well, it was here all along, but we just weren't in the mood to enjoy it.
Musée des Augustins, a fine art museum, used to be a church,
a collection of beautiful sculptures and paintings from the 17th - 18th
Levina Inspired by the Art Work
Working on Her Own Masterpiece
A Beautiful Stained Glass Window at the Top
The lighting coming through the big window of the museum was perfect.
Levina insisted a selfie be taken
To celebrate Levina's bravery and the strong sibling bond during the trying times, we decided to eat! If it weren't for Evania, Levina's suffering would have taken another turn in the near future. These days, we largely rely on Google reviews to find a good restaurant with decent fairly priced food. Chez Marco stood out. With a 4.9 rating, we were eager to find out if the actual food they server live up to the high reviews.
Evania Ordered Tomato Burrata
(Tri-tomato with Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese)
the Dressing was to die for
1/2 Magret de Canard (Half Duck Breast)
Cooked on An Open Fire
Levina's Salad - Fresh Lettuce with Crsipy Chicken Breast
Covered with Parmesan Cheese
Onglet de Boeuf de la Triperie Gasconne
Noah Went for Steak Of Course
My 1/2 Magret de Canard (I opted for tri-tomatos for my side)
Porfiterole - One of Most Popular French Desserts
This was a memorable voyage. So much happened; so much to tell; too painful to forget, literally!
