2 days before Paris, Lucas started coughing. The night before we left on our roadtrip, Lucas vomited at 2 a.m. He called out to me and when I went into his room, he was sitting up, saying "oh no, mama" over and over again. He'd vomited some milk on his pillow. I changed him and as I was carrying him back to bed, he vomited again, this time all over me. He'd also had a little fever, so Fred & I were thinking of postponing the Paris trip. The next morning, Lucas was fine and back to his normal self, but we took him to the doctor - just in case (in hindsight, it was a good thing).
As we'd told the doctor about our roadtrip to Paris, he prescribed fever suppositories, anti-vomit, cough medicine and antibiotics just in case we need them.
Our 8 and a half hour drive to Paris was very nice - Lucas was very good, singing and playing, and happily looking out the window. We were pretty surprised as he took on that very long drive very well. We'd only stopped twice in that 8+ hour leg. And Lucas didn't complain at all.
But our first night in Paris, Lucas again woke me up at 3 a.m vomiting. He also had a raging fever. So I administered suppositories every 6 hours but didn't start the antibiotics just yet, as we wanted to wait and see if his body will fight off the bacteria himself. That was a mistake. I'd also read the prescription for anti vomiting meds wrong and didn't give it to him immediately cos I'd read that Lucas needed to eat before the meds when it was actually the other way around.
Anyway, the next morning Lucas asked for water and promptly threw up all the water he'd drank. His fever was also very present. I started him on the antibiotics and anti vomiting meds then but he refused to eat anything at all, even his favourite Kinder surprise. At this point he was still drinking - he had a cup of hot chocolate and was still active inspite of the fever.
The main reason for us to be in Paris was for me to present myself at the Malaysian Embassy to renew my passport. So off we went, we covered Lucas well and took the metro to Port Dauphine. We spent Day 1 doing all my passport stuff as I needed to find a money changer to change euros to GBP. The passport is being renewed in London (the Paris embassy is administrative and sends the renewal requests to London). The pick up is a month after you submit your passport at the embassy in Paris - but I'd requested that the new passport be couriered back to me instead to save me another trip to Paris. That request would have been easily complied with if I'd known earlier that I'd need to go to a post office to buy the courier envelope.
We traipsed all around Avenue Victor Hugo looking for a post office; after which we had to retrace our steps back to the embassy. All this time, Fred & I were trying to feed Lucas but he never touched anything.
As the embassy was closed for lunch we stopped at a Starbucks in Avenue Victor Hugo as I wanted Lucas to have some hot chocolate since he didn't want to eat or drink anything else. I was getting worried at this point so we decided to give the hot choc a try. Lucas was already tired and irritated by then, as he saw me in line getting the coffee & HC, his head bumped against a woman's bag as he was walking towards me and he started crying and screaming. At our table, after he'd calmed down, he couldn't wait to get to the HC but as it was too hot, he again started crying and he accidentally knocked the small cup of HC over. Which was fine - the staff came over to clean the mess immediately but as soon as the table was cleaned, Lucas threw a tantrum and this time deliberately knocked over my cup of HC! The poor staff had to clean our table twice in 5 minutes and this time even had to clean the window that was splattered with HC!
But they were really, really nice about it. Whoever said that Parisiens are a nasty lot are WRONG! This trip, I've met nothing but nice Parisiens everywhere we went!!!!!
The staff at Starbucks replaced the grande hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and chocolate sauce and even though I insisted on paying for it, they refused payment. The barrista added cold milk so that the new cup of HC would not be too hot for Lucas, and one of the staff about to leave for home came over to say hallo to Lucas.
At the hotel, the staff were equally nice. They went above their duty to be hospitable and when they knew Lucas was sick, checked up on Lucas a few times. As we checked out early, the hotel didn't charge us for the extra days that we'd booked.
We cut short our trip to rush Lucas back to Tarbes as he'd stopped drinking or eating and we were worried that he'd be dehydrated. Fred drove like a demon all the way back to Tarbes - we didn't want to bring Lucas to a hospital in Paris in case he had to be admitted, so we hightailed it back.
Today Lucas asked for water and is drinking milk - but he is still not eating solids. His fever has gone down, and while he is still not himself he is feeling much, much better - thank God!
For those of you visiting Paris and is looking for a nice, cheap hotel; check out Hotel Du Moulin in Montmartre (http://www.hotelmoulin.com/).
This hotel is situated in a small street, near to Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur. Fred thought this area maybe dodgy but we were happy to see that the area where the hotel is at is close to bars and cafes and restaurants. It was "happening" and the area was totally bustling at night! The patrons of the cafes and bars were young, hip and well dressed and this area is not at all dodgy. Its safe to walk around, and well lit.
As far as the hotel is concerned, our triple room (one single bed and a double bed - check out chambre 1 in hotel website) was a dream. It was extremely clean, the beds were very comfortable and this hotel does not stinge on pillows :)
I would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to check out the Montmartre district. The Hotel Du Moulin is run by Koreans who speak English and French and the staff are wonderful. Breakfast is provided for 7 euros per person (baguette, croissant, jam, butter, a pot of coffee/ tea, orange juice, fruit, cheese)
The only downside is the parking (if you drive) is not in-house. You have to walk quite a bit, and pay 23 euros a day for parking.
When we go back to Paris again, I'd definitely stay in Hotel Du Moulin. I really like the Montmartre area, and its 7 stops on the blue line metro to the Champs Elysees area.
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