Dans Paris

Our trip from our arrival in Genève, to catching the Tour de France in Laffrey, woofing on a farm in L'Epine and circling the Mont Blanc massif has been a wonderful adventure. We soaked in sights, made new friends, ate well and experienced the great outdoors.

It probably was not the smartest thing to do, but it seemed rude and counter to the whole cultural immersion spirit to not do it. Taking a dip in Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) is the favorite mode of relaxation for the locals and you were crazy not to partake. In spite of it being a still body of fresh water, Lac Léman seemed perfectly safe. It was easily the clearest looking lake I've seen and heck, Evian was nearby.

I don't know for sure if the rash came from Lac Léman, I started breaking out into a rash the day after the dip in the lake. It became much more aggressive the following day and so I went to see a local doctor. I was too irritable (haven't been able to sleep because of the itchiness and fighting the urge to scratch was beginning to get maddening) to figure out how to handle health insurance abroad and in French. The doctor prescribed antihistamines and cortizone and charged 22 euros- 22 euros for an uninsured non-citizen- that's all I had to pay for the visit. That's comparable to my copay in the States!

I wish I could say that resolved everything with the rash, but it continued to spread and it started succumbing to the itchiness. A visit to the hospital in Thonon two days led to an antibiotic prescription and a cleanser. Price for hospital emergency room visit? 55 euros. Unfortunately the side effects of the medications include nausea and drowsiness and I'm to avoid sunlight. This basically makes me both miserable and useless on the farm. I'm also pretty hideous at this point.

We scheduled a follow up appointment with a doctor in nearby Douvaine three days later. At this point the rash has stopped spreading, but has barely subsided and I'm all pock-marked/scarred. It's been almost a week and the third doctor asked if I ventured into Lac Léman...

Apparently there's nothing that can be done other than to wait it all out and moisturize and continue to use cortizone for the itching. The third doctor seems certain in his conclusion that I'm sensitive to some parasite in the lake. Argh. John's been in the lake more than I have and there's nothing on him! At this point our relationship with the raspberry farmer, who had a bit of an anti-American disposition to start with, has broken down. While we have encountered locals and other Europeans who seem to have a preconception that all Americans were ugly Americans, we had managed to dispel that until we hit this farm (who also had a grudge with city people and city life as well, which was a bit rich coming from a farmer who admitted to never ever having visited a city). It seemed best to part ways and as we left we were given a diatribe on how Americans all leave the light on when not in use, or cleaned up after themselves (which totally did not apply to us) and never participated in farm life and fun like enjoying Lac Léman. Really?! I so regret ever having fun in Lac Léman! Of course, they write off the third doctor's conclusion as impossible. I do find it interesting though that my face is the only part of me unaffected by the rash and I never did submerge my head in the water.

We headed to Paris to stay with a friend who recently moved from New York. With the exception of the raspberry farm, we've really had a wonderful trip everywhere else and wanted to end it on a positive note.

Dr. Mira Kamdar is a writer and India expert. She is an American francophile partially of Indian descent. She will be working this school year at the Centre des Etudes de l’Inde et l’Asie du Sud at the EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. She is also a friend who was generous enough to put us up until our next stop.

We've all been to Paris before, but it's been a while and the city is a lovely walking city with all the musées, ponts, jardins et monuments. We spend our time refamiliarizing ourselves with the city and athough we spend all our time on foot, we appreciate the free-cycling program launched by the city. Our next stop in out tale is another major city that has very recently launched a similar bike program... London.