The Pharmacy is Green

Once upon a time a girl had a headache. She went to the cupboard and it was bare. She went to the Super Marche and it had no aspirin. Where was that aspirin, you ask? Silly silly people. Everyone knows the aspirin is at the Green Pharmacy. No. Not green as in eco-friendly. Far from it. Green as in giant neon flashing green cross above the entrance to said Pharmacy. The pharmacy is green. See?

You cannot find paper products at the Green Pharmacy, nor laundry products, or candy, food, or other odd stuff we find at the drug store here in America. But you can find tampons (sorry). And you can find beauty hardware products v. beauty products per se. Like mirrors, many many magnified mirrors, some with fancy lights. Every Green Pharmacy has them and most of them display them in the windows. The significance of this eludes Momo, but one would have to conclude that people in France like magnified mirrors and most of them are sight impaired if one goes by the magnification numbers. 10x. Who wants to see their face magnified 10x? That would be frightening. Almost as bad as seeing your neighbors naked by accident. Mon Dieu.

In America by contrast, a Pharmacy is not neon green. They are a variety of boring colors, and most are just simple beige or gray. A neon green cross is so much more entertaining. Aspirin - the wonder drug. You can find that yourself on a shelf in the American pharmacy or even in a Super Marche in America. Even a petrol station. Americans need access to lots of aspirin apparently. Even though CDG airport did not have any aspirin, it is ok. Every other airport has more than enough aspirin for sale to make up for that short sightedness.

In France you cannot buy Naproxen in the Green Pharmacy without a prescription. Oh oh. Another thing to know before you leave America. Bring your Aleve with you! But buy Advil there. It is available at the Green Pharmacy, but you must ask for it by name and then they will retrieve it from a special locked file drawer in the back. Otherwise you will get some generic variant and we Americans are loath to do that.

The Green Pharmacy is open strange hours. Momo never did figure out those hours, but you can be sure that it was closed when she tried to go there. Fortunately, there is one Green Pharmacy open (sort of like on-call) later than the others. In America, a pharmacy can be open 24 hours a day. Many are open 7 days a week and more than 12 hours a day. In France you have to pre-plan your illness in order to coordinate trip to a pharmacy - so if you intend to get sick or get a headache, you must make sure it is during Pharmacy hours, never on Sunday, and often not a good plan to get a headache or sick on Monday when many Green Pharmacies are closed as well.

L&P were very lucky. The never needed the Green Pharmacy. When they needed a little medication their French Vet was able to dispense what they needed. In case you were wondering, they needed eye drops. Paris can be very dusty before the men in green do their cleaning - especially when you are 12 inches from the ground.

Did Momo also mention that most Green Pharmacies are no bigger than our itty bitty Paris apartment living area. That would be closet sized. American closet size, not European size, which are very very much smaller. And the clerks wear white coats. There must be a universal pharmacy rule that requires white coats. Dispensing aspirin in a white coat makes the French comfortable it seems, makes the aspirin quite genuine. Here in America, aspirin sits on a shelf for you to pick yourself, and it can come in many packages, from the plain to the ones that are attached to free items like a new comb. After all, after your headache is gone, you might want to comb your hair. Thoughtful. Sometimes in these stores that sell aspirin in America, you can get a deal where if you buy one bottle you can get one free. Golly. Everyone needs 3,856 aspirins just in case you live to be 123, or you are supplying the neighborhood with salicylic acid. At least in France you will get a reasonable amount- maybe 20 pills. Why waste the stuff. After all, each headache deserves its own trip to the neon Green Pharmacy. Except on Sunday, Monday or holidays. Save some from your 20 packet!

Sorry, but L&P have nothing to say about the Green Pharmacy, except it might be the only place in France where they did not venture (they were not invited it seems). Are all French Green Pharmacies not chien friendly? Momo and Mr. Momo thought the Green Pharmacy was an interesting experience, but they prefer being able to buy toilet paper or a greeting card at the same time as their aspirin. And maybe a package of gummie bears as well. So, neon Green Pharmacy, you rate a very neutral 5. Better than Monet's village, but not nearly as good as the Pastry shops!