In Foix: And in recovery (hopefully)

October 5, 2017

Foix is a small city (population about 10,000), and the administrative center (Prefecture) of the Ariege Department. The Ariege is one of the least populated Departments in France, and Foix is the smallest prefecture. It is a beautiful place, with small pedestrianized core, bordered on the east by the Ariege River rushing down from the Pyrenees, surrounded by rich green rolling hills, and crowned by a dramatic and unique three turreted chateau.

Not a bad place to pass the time for a few days. There is a third tower to the chateau also, and hopefully in a few days we can walk above to a viewpoint to get a complete view. The green shuttered building beneath the chateau was our B&B for the first night. I'm sure it was a very nice place, but I didn't really take note.

Because it's a small place and not really a tourist destination, there's very little accommodation in town. There is the premier hotel and restaurant, Hotel Lons, which is quite nice - it's where we stayed when we stopped here three years ago. They didn't have a vacancy for three nights though but there is a second, lower quality hotel not far from it that did, so Rachael booked us there. We were just relieved to have any place in town on such short notice.

Because it's a small place, nothing is very far apart. It's just a quarter mile from our B&B to the new hotel, and another quarter mile to the train station across the river. We walked down to the vicinity of the hotel, Rachael pushing her bike, and were happy to find a small public space with benches in the sun. I grabbed one and lay down again, watching guard over Rachael's bike while she walked on to the station and returned pushing my bike a half hour later. So, logistically we're set - we've got all of our gear together again, have a place to stay, and a plan.

My hero Rachael the Wonder Woman, preparing to leave for the train station to retrieve my bike and baggage. I can't imagine getting through this without her.

Check in to our hotel isn't available for several hours. Staring at us across the square is the menu for Hotel Lons, so we stare back at it and decide to have lunch there. Rachael can have a real meal, and I'll see if they have anything I could tolerate. I'm obviously doing somewhat better today, since I could walk to the hotel and consider trying on something other than a banana.

Niice place although a bit overpriced, very accommodating, and the waiter even speaks nearly fluent English so we could explain the sorry situation to see what was possible. I got a tureen of brothy vegetable soup, and Rachael got a menu plan that included dorade and a side of plain pasta, which we shared. The plain, bland pasta in particular seemed perfect to my needs. I could have made a whole meal of just that.

Even if I hadn't eaten at all, I could have just accompanied Rachael and sipped herbal tea, looking out the window at the Ariege rushing directly below the hotel, and people walking across it over the old bridge. I've recalled dining here from our first visit - it's one of the prettiest settings for an indoor meal you could imagine.

The Ariege and Pont Vieux, from our table in the restaurant at Hotel Lons. If I've interpreted a French Wikipedia article correctly, the bridge dates back to at least the 12th century but was rebuilt in the fourteenth.

There must be a connection between the two hotels, because checking for both of them is at Hotel Lons. When we ask about our room, we're happy to be told that they can fit us into a small room in Lons instead, which suits us well. After some staring at their calendar they discuss whether any other bookings will need adjusting, they confirm it will work and hand us our keys.

Ten minutes later, I'm flat on my back again and don't much move for the rest of the day other than for too-frequent visits to the facilities. At the end of the day, I'm feeling anxious about whether I'm improving or not, because I don't think I'm retaining any significant nutrients. I'm clearly somewhat better though - I have enough energy and interest to catch up on the appalling news, filter through photos from the past two days, and start catching up on the journal. I don't feel like I'm dying any more, which is good.

As an aside, I also had the energy to research the antibiotic they prescribed (ciprofloxacin), and on salmonella. It sounds like in most cases, salmonella is not treated with antibiotics and most people recover spontaneously after 4-7 days. In some cases the infection is more severe though, may spread from the intestines and enter the bloodstream, and without antibiotic treatment can result in death. About 500 people die of salmonella poisoning annually in the United States. Good thing we decided to head to the hospital yesterday morning.

And, in my exhaustive research I discovered that the disease has nothing to do with salmon. It's named after Daniel Salmon, head at the USDA veterinary division at the time the disease was discovered.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0