Settling in to Cluny

Here are some photos from our walk to the Abbey yesterday evening with Caroline and Tom. Anja was with us but is often the photographer these day. We met our french teacher this morning and will meet for a lesson on Tuesday. There was a lovely farmer's market which happens every Saturday here in Cluny very close to our apartment which is right in town just above the photo gallery Tom and Caroline run downstairs. We are very grateful to them for renting us this lovely place and giving us so many opportunities to get to know this community.

Along with the theme of confessing the sins of our forefathers, I found out today the name of our street here in Cluny, Rue de L' Ecartelee means a woman drawn and quartered. Noone seems to know if it is because this happened here, but one would assume.... Went for a walk about led by Caroline and Tom by the Abby which has a long history of which we have only begun to learn. Sofie and Anja discovered a play structure and a grassy hill to run up and down. Tomorrow we have big plans thanks to Caroline and Tom. French lesson at eleven, market day, and dinner with some of their friends who have children also. Time for some much awaited rest now.

France/ journey from Netherlands

We are in our new lovely three bedroom apartment above Caroline and Tom's art gallery. The building / maybe the whole town is medieval from the 13th Century. I haven't been out yet. Sofie is feeling ill. But Caleb says there is a bakery or two and stores very near and it is a lovely village. There are lovely giant ancient keys in the doors. and Caroline and Tom have filled the place with new Ikea linens and cooking pots, silver ware, etc... It is a fabulous mixture of old and new. Our journey via train was comical at best as we had way too much baggage. Anja had a stroller piled high with bags that would flip backwards if she failed to hold it up for a minute which happened at least a few times. Caleb had way too many bags and a car seat and couldn't manage them up or down stairs all together, so he had to make multiple trips. I had two giant rolling bags and bags on my back and hanging on my shoulders with Sofie tagging at my side whimpering as she fell asleep at the end of each leg of the journey. We took a ride on the subway in Paris to transfer stations from Paris Nord to Paris Gare Lyon, where we caught our next train, which we managed to get on three minutes before departure time, Phew!!! We are never doing that again! Even Anja swore off extra baggage! She was a real life saver with her ability to navigate stations with a stroller piled above her line of vision!

We saw a little street theater on some plein in the center. He showed us the world's rarest form of juggling, squeezed his body through a tennis racket and played with fire. The girls gave him a couple Euros. They were highly entertained. Sofie bought herself a tiny tea set for five euros today and Anja got a bowl with some bulbs set up to bloom soon. They told her she couldn't bring it back to the states, but it's OK to go to France so she's glad to be going to France now. Anja is a great traveler. Both of the girls really enjoyed playing on Rembrandtplein with the 3-D sculpture re-creation of Rembrandt's painting, Nightwatch. Rembrandt painted it in a church we saw today. He couldn't do it in his little house that we also saw today, because it was too large an undertaking. We went on a canal ride today which was beautiful despite the rain, and very informative. We looked at the fabulous gables on the very old 17th century architecture of the canal houses. We learned that the little shabby houseboats go for a quarter of a million Euros (one Euro is a dollar forty one today, I think). Then the houseboat people have to pay for their spot on the water as well. And they don't have any sewer so their waste goes through the canal and sent off into the sea near to England. YUK! well, we've heard that story before. There are some grandfathered in non-sewer folks on lakes and rivers in the U.S. too. The people living in houses from the 17th century have to get government assistance to maintain them as it is an expensive undertaking keeping them up like the historical society wants one to. There are many bicycle thieves here and a huge number of bikes end up in the canals and are occasionally dredged up. Bike joy riders will just dump them over the side of a canal to hide evidence after their one ride. I think he said there are sixteen lochs to maintain water levels and 57 percent of the buildings are leaning as because they are sinking a bit. Amsterdam is below sea level like New Orleans so a lot of work goes into keeping the water levels low enough. Amsterdam and New Orleans are not completely different in character either. They are both known for their live and let live, smoke, drink, sex, etc... attitudes. Haven't been to the Red Lights District this trip and have only briefly entered coffee shops to gaze at the menu as children are not allowed. They are however allowed to go to bars / pubs / cafes. We haven't eaten out more than once a day and not at all today, as a few days ago we discovered Albertijne (sp?) the Dutch equivalent of Albertsons supermarket with plenty of Biologisch / organic food.

Amsterdam

We are staying in a little hostel in a great location across from a lovely Italian / Turkish restaurant which is a common combo around here as Italian food is desirable and Turkish people are many. We are near the Dutch Theater which is where the Jewish people were rounded up in WWII. Today we went to the Van Gogh museum which also had a wonderful exhibit on Barcelona 1900 including Picasso, amazing furniture, incredible frocks of the bougoise(sp?), and more. I spoke to one of many kind Dutch people today to find out how much to tip. Ten percent he said. He also told me to go on a canal ride, see the Amsterdam museum, the Nemo museum (hands on) for children, and go to a Brown bar to chat with any old man to learn the history of Amsterdam. What is a Brown bar one may ask, and I did. Apparently it is a bar that is brown rather than painted a gaudy color to attract out of towners. Our only concerns are how much baggage can we drag on to a train or three to make it to France, and how are we going to get the children, and myself out of bed before noon? It is ten thirty and we are back from dinner now. The children are doing quite well. What my mother says is true, "They know how to make sure their needs are met!" Still can't say anything in Dutch other than Dankuvell. Caleb and I are both Dutch in ancestry. I think he's from the onderdanks (sp?) and I, the Vanderlips. If we don't open our mouths, noone knows we're not Dutch, though the children give us up all time. Nice to see so many tall women like myself! Sofie blends well with the blond children too.

Rijkt museum

I don't know if I spelled that right. It was Rembrandt and other Dutch Masters. Sofie and I enjoyed the paintings of misbehaving children in the presence of their misbehaving adults. We will have to see the Van Gogh another day. We went to the Anne Frank House yesterday, and will likely visit the zoo tomorrow.

The Personal Is Political

It seems there is often a lot of worry about giving a victim anonymity which I respect, but don't fully understand. Why does one need anonymity from a crime you did not commit? What are you protecting yourself / others from, awareness? Some people, or possibly most people who read my blog may not understand why I mention having been molested as a child. Of course a blog is the perfect place to increase awareness, thus weakening the impact of this crime on all the people still suffering from it. I would also like to put it out there that I was raised by upper middle class educators in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I attended the best public schools in a liberal, college town. Perhaps my father, step- father, uncle, and all the other molestors of this league or should I say Ivy League believe they are too intellectually superior for mundane morals. In any case, my father very admirably apologized and we have found ground on which we can continue relating. My ex-step-father ran to England with his new wife who is a social worker specializing in Molestors so he's in good enough hands though she's in permanent denial. My uncle is still undisclosed unfortunately, unless his family reads my blog. This is the unfortunate side and could be a hard price to pay for family secrets. It is likely that I will not dwell further on any of this, but if you comment or email, I can answer any questions. Blogging makes my life less complicated because now I have put out my political message. Awareness decreases crimes against women. I believe in speaking openly about my history to help others who may be victims themselves. It is not only withing boundaries of intimate relationship that you will find me discussing crimes against women and children. Admittedly, I'd rather talk herbs... or Amsterdam, which is fabulous!

In Amsterdam

All the commands are in Dutch. Blogging is easy enough anyway. We have arrived. Caleb and I arose at ten A.M. The time change is six hours I believe. So it was then 4. It is now 12:30 and the children are still sleeping. Caleb and I were half an hour late for breakfast, but kindly still offered a mountain of white bread and tea / coffee / orange juice. Oh, and I forgot, chocolate spread. A European favorite. Planning on a museum today if we can wake the children.

CAT SCRATCH FEVER

There is one health care provider who has an herbal formula for Bartonella. He refuses to tell anyone what is in it. Judging from the antibiotics alone that are also good for Tuberculosis and Staph, I suspect there is some Usnea in it and other herbs that are good for staph, strep, TB.... Because I am an herbalist and a control freak, I have trouble with this idea and haven't given it to my child. If I make someone an herbal formula, I'm going to tell them what is in it. Though if this herbalist / health care practitioner wants to compare himself to the pharmaceutical company's he will still look good. Unless someone has an allergic reaction, goes to the hospital and is asked what they are on? In any case Anja is getting much better on the antibiotics which are a much shorter course than the mystery herb formula would be. She was experiencing some bad pains but not so much lately. Huge improvement. She still has till the beginning of October on the medication. She had a lot of calf / shin and hip pains as well as neck and head aches, among other less definitive symptoms. So far she hasn't had any of the problems considered side effects of antibiotics. Maybe thanks to the fact that she is using herbs, including Pau D' Arco, Terri and Karen's trishrooms, Milky Oats, Cherry concentrate regularly and others sporadically or as needed / wanted. Her favorite being watermelon. Which was recommended by one of her doctors. She will never forget him. Oh yeah... Anja is almost done with Harry Potter and if we'd give her more time to read she would have been a long time ago, but we've had so many opportunities to swim and be outside this summer. It appears to be over here already. Forty degrees last night, might freeze tonight. Brrrr!

Health Insurance Rant

The girls and I have health Insurance through one company and Caleb another as he failed to pay a bill on time and was dropped due to a heart problem probably left over from Lyme. It would seem they are trying to drop the rest of us now as we tried to pay one bill by three different credit cards -all good- and they entered the expiration date incorrectly each time and then tried to charge us an extra fifty for there troubles. They may only hire dyslexics and I'm being paranoid? They told me they won't cover us in Europe and recommended another company who has denied Anja for Lyme with on-going treatment despite the fact that she is almost done with her Bartonella treatment and uses doctors who won't accept insurance. I appealed the denial but process is too slow. Lyme doctors no longer use insurance. It allows them to keep their license. Some Lyme doctors have lost their license for continuing to treat their patients when the patients were declared cured by the insurance companies. So the Lyme specialists do not take insurance of any kind. And if there is a break in insurance, you (the patient) lose. All this may not be news to those of you who have seen "Sicko" already. I don't know. I haven't seen it yet.

Whose got Baggage?!

These are the animals my eldest daughter Anja intends to bring to Europe with her. Luckily the Europeans are relaxed about nudity as Anja won't have room in her baggage for clothing, though I am sure these important stuffed people will have to be carried on. Today my mother took the family to Olan Mills portrait studios. There was much turmoil about how Super looked in the final choice. Anja was deeply dissatisfied that we chose the picture in which her fingers were covering Super Jim panda bear's neck. She thought my hair was inconsequential compared to Super's neck. I'm so vain. I do however spend more time fixing Super's neck than my hair. When we got back here to the lake, Anja took about fifty pictures of Super and friends to console herself.