Palais de la Decouverte

Today we went to the Palais de la Decouverte. It's a hands on museum, they say the first, first where I do not know. It is similar to the Exploratorium in San Francisco except you have to read French or know what you're learning when you press the button. I can read a little French and Caleb seems to know what we're learning when we press the buttons, so we passed.

for paying customers only

Today we went to Cookie's for lunch. Cookie is a friend of the family. He made us a delicious salad, and gave us more ideas of things to do and places to see. After lunch we went to another English bookstore, Tea and Tattered Pages, where I may not be welcome again. Gotta love the anonymity of the city. Anja had to use the bathroom soon after leaving the bookstore and went back as we knew they had one for customers and we had just purchased four books. The woman was giving her a lecture when I walked in, "not a public restroom, blah blah blah" so I gave her a lecture of my own, and she then used the bathroom. I was much better behaved in this instance than I was at a restaurant near the Saint Michel the other day where she was not allowed to use the bathroom. Luckily everyone understands English swear words so there was no problem communicating with him. It is tres difficile to be a tourist with stomach issues. But with a mother like me I guess she doesn't have to worry about defending herself. Luckily, She does not yet get embarrassed of us. That's gonna be tough. I vaguely remember a poem or saying on Jane Flood's fridge that said something about being nice to people or not judging them as you really don't know their story. I believe in this in most instances. Though sometimes when they are clearly not living by this rule, it becomes too difficult to stretch your imagination to think what ailment or sadness they have in their life causing them to be such pricks. Though for the most part, people have been very nice, and the bathroom issue is true in all cities, annoying for some, agonizing for anyone with stomach or bladder problems. I prefer a business that will re-direct than one that will just say, "No" or "Only for paying customers."

Herboristeries and Churches

Learning the names of some herbs. I managed to find some Gattilier (vitex) today as well as some Bardane (burdock) at the Herboristerie. My french teacher says I am very good at pronunciation, but sometimes when I try to talk to people at stores, I end up having to write down what I am looking for, luckily I am also good at spelling, or I'd be SOL. L' francais est tres difficile. C'est plus facile ecrire et lire que c'est parle et comprand. Undoubtedly I spelled something wrong after bragging about my limited abilitiy, but you get the idea, je quai. Anja is improving. She is taking mushrooms and Spirulina currently. Back in Cluny, we were on a big Chai binge made with Dandelion and Burdock as well as the usual Cardamom, sometimes black pepper, Anise, Ginger. Then we ran out of Dandelion root. But Caroline kindly dug some up for us at her country house in Lys. We haven't yet had time to process it yet, and I haven't found any Dandelion here in the city at the Herboristeries. I was happy to find the Burdock today. I did not know how to say root in French when she brought me leaf so I had to act it out. Many people at stores in Paris speak a little English, unlike Cluny where most people do not speak any Onglais at all. This morning I was trying to learn the names of various herbs in French to prepare for shopping and was marveling at how different they were, when Caleb came along and said, "yeah, It's almost like it's another language." Odd how one expects some things to be the same, or similar for no particular reason. I tried asking by latin name and got nowhere even pronouncing things with my best French accent. They were strictly by common name. One thing that is very nice about France is they do have a good many whole dried herbs one can obtain at any Pharmacy / Herboristerie.
Anja was able to do a great deal of walking today with out pain until the evening, despite the fact that we had to drag her out of the house this morning. We went to the flea market today and two English bookstores. We got kicked out of both. They both closed early, one due to Jeanette Winterston ( I think that's her name?),, the "Sexing the Cherry" woman was doing a reading at Shakespeare and Company. She said, " Hi" to us, our big brush with fame just before we were asked to leave, or go downstairs and wait for the reading to begin. We had to exit so she could hide upstairs properly. The children's books are upstairs where we spend most of our time at that store, so we went to the Abbey bookstore where they offered us coffee and Anja was able to use a bathroom behind a movable bookcase rather Harry Potter style, the man said. The Abbey bookstore had way too many books for it's size so was rather cozy. We also went to Notre Dame today which has some nice Gargoyles on the outside and some beautiful stained glass. Caleb marvelled at how it was all built out of stone, very intricate. People were less quiet there than they were at the Sacre Coure, though there was a husher at the door of each. Interesting job, telling people to shut up all day. Caleb read that Notre Dame is still a working church (with congregation I imagine that means) whereas the Sacre Cour, even though it is much younger is mainly a tourist destination. Though you can pay money to light candles at either one and they are both beautiful, never ceases to amaze me the creative / destructive force that religion is / has been. Well perhaps my children won't have to be ruled by religion. Sofie declared today that she wants to go to 'robber school.' Perhaps she takes after uncle Sean. Have you all bought his book yet, 'God Wants you Dead.' Anja likes everything to do with magic, and nature herself. I do hope they are motivated by something, in any case...

Paris!!!!!!

That's the Eiffel Tower between Caleb and myself, and then again from the top of the Ferris Wheel. Below that is the louvre in the background. Today, we did laundry at the laundry mat, walked around window shopping, and generally laid low at the apartment / gite here in Montmartre. We are supposed to see friend of the family, Cookie on Tuesday, the girls want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower tomorrow and Caleb and I want to find one of the flea markets, so we will again busy ourselves dumain (tomorrow- pronounced Doo-mah). Scoping out more good ethnic food. In Cluny, they have French food, french fries, etc... Here in Paris, they have everything, Brazillian, African, Asian, etc... I write this as I eat Lay's potato chips in front of the television. We are watching Pirates of the Caribbean again.

Bolero Variations

Last night at the Pompidou Centre, we saw Raimund Hoghe's Bolero Variations. We only saw the first half, thanks to Sofie who impressively sat through forty five minutes of slower than slow movements when she expected to watch a dance performance. The choreographer's interpretation evidently included some of the slowest, probably difficult, manipulations of the human body, very subtle, fingers bending. Arms slapping around their bodies in the fashion of a hug were some of the most sensational of the moves in that first forty-five minutes. The first ten minutes taken up with an old hunchback (possibly Hoghe) walking slowly at an odd slant around the stage forming a large square.
Because we had just viewed a huge amount of Modern Art at the Pompidou previous to this event, it all melded together to make for a most amusing day. Anja walked around the museum exclaiming loudly in English things like, "Do you think they painted that canvas white or just hung it up as is?" The girls did their own version of Bolero at intermission before we left for good. Many an amused expression was cast in our direction. The usher asked if Sofie was suffering from ennui - boredom when her and I were the first to exit the theater. It was all a bit too artsy for me. Made me want to don my black, and go to a cafe to consume coffee and cigarettes all night, but we uneventfully came back to our apartment and turned on the TV, yes we have TV for two weeks, to view another interpretation of Bolero which was at a much quicker pace though admittedly we still didn't view it in it's entirety.

Paris -the first couple days

Been in Paris for a few days now. It is a wonderful city. It reminds me a bit of San Francisco because we are staying on Montmartre by the Sacre Cour, but has the metropolitain which is a fabulously convenient subway not unlike New York, but feels safer, perhaps more civilized, being Europe. Though Caleb assures me it's probably a false sense of security being a tourist, and that if I lived here, I would be more aware of the less obvious dangers. But I think my 'false sense of security' comes from the media assuring me that the U.S. has more violent crime, murder, rape, etc... I just love cities though regardless of their crime rates, pollution, over-population. I enjoy the stimulation, the people watching, the endless things to do, the ability to see, get most things you want. We've been to the Louvre once, but will probably go again. It is massive. We focused mainly on Italian Renaissance the first time. We went to the Centre Pompidou yesterday and looked at the modern art. Picasso and Monet were fun to show Anja. She really enjoyed areas in which she could view working artists: In the museum there was an exhibit with working painters, and on the streets people doing portraits and caricatures. She was inspired to sketch the Sacre Cour herself, while we sat on the train waiting for it to take us around the hill on our little touristy ride down to Pigalle, where we got off and had a walkabout, before finding some Sushi to tide us over till the one flop of a meal we've had at the Americanized "Flunch." We rode a giant ferris wheel to get another view of the city, outside the Louvre. We keep seeing the Eiffel Tower from afar, perhaps we'll end up there at some point. We have also been to the Jardin Aux Plants, with it's medicinal herb garden and Natural History Museum, which was a site to behold with an amazing collection of bones, dinosaurs, primates, bears, human fetuses, baby rhinos, now we know how the snake swallowed the Rhino (a bizarre headline in the news we read a couple weeks back- we still don't why?) This probably sounds like a lot of for a few days, especially with Anja having a spell of the lyme. Now that she's done with her Bartonella treatment, she has a week each month, in which she is clearly ill with knee and hip pain, different from the Bart. calf pain. Started on the 18th this month. She has actually been spotted on Paris streets riding in a Marigold Maclaren. I suppose some action will have to be taken, again, so as to prevent purchasing a wheel chair. She's a trooper though, and a great traveler. Sofie is very generous with the stroller I might add and is traveling much better, now that she's in the swing of things. She really makes sure she gets everything she needs, and more. Anja also has an agenda. We've been to Shakespeare and Company once and will surely have to return at the rate she reads.

Tomorrow we go to Paris if the trains are running. The SNCF is on strike. The railroad workers want to protect their right to retire at fifty with full pay. Some say this should change due to the fact that the job is no longer hazardous as it was in the past. The public is apparently against the strike, though their are many supporters still. The public opinion is what matters here in France. That opinion influences the governments actions greatly. This concept is very foreign to Americans who feel controlled by the government / corporations. So the strike may not go on too long. I do hope the older workers atleast get what was promised them years ago and all along unlike so many Americans who are losing their pensions now. It is refreshing and relaxing to be in a country that is run this way full of people who are well rested and seemingly happy. The french have a seven hour work day. The children have long days though. They get out of school at four thirty. They have Wednesdays off, but attend on Saturday. The late hour of release is partly due to the two hour lunch though most of them stay at school for this I am told. I thought we'd see more children. I think we'll have to make a point of spending Wednesdays in the park or at children's lessons so the kids can see more kids. They had lovely pseudo- Thanksgiving here on Saturday. Caroline and Tom got a Turkey and their friends Haigai (sp?-HI GUY) and Annabelle with children came as well as higuy's brother Uri and an american woman who lives nearby with two little brilliant english speaking boys. Was very fun. I also learned from Caroline today that if you have three children like Haigigh and Annabelle do, you receive huge discounts on travel in France. You can pay half fare on trains even when not traveling with the children. They want more french people around I guess, and are willing to pay to make that happen. Seeing as there are no benefits and we don't have residency here, I think I'll just stick with my two filles (girls). Because we are not residents, it costs 25 euros to see a doctor without insurance, which is almost as much as it would cost at home- 40 dollar co-pay with insurance. Medicine is cheaper, though we are currently paying three insurance companies. Two back home that don't do anything for us here except secure our ability to retain insurance in the good ole USA especially for Anja and Caleb since they were denied other insurance. And insurance here for hospitalization or emergency medical care, though I'm not sure either of these are necessary. It's all very confusing and I doubt if either company would do much for us if we were in need especially after seeing, "Sicko" recently. Happy to be here. I think the french live longer because they have less to worry about and get more sleep.

Yesterday, Samedi was the biggest market day of the year. I awoke to vendors setting up outside our house which is above Caroline and Tom's art gallery on the main street here in Cluny. Up the road a bit there was a sort of horse parking lot with many horses to pet and talk to. Some children were climbing on them and laying on them. They were extremely docile and some of them very large. Sofie asked at one point why the horses were so droopy. Some of them were just that, droopy. They may have been slightly medicated even, as I had the great misfortune to witness one of them being branded. A man twisted the lips of the horse with a tool which kept it from moving I think while another man branded a symbol which looked like a dollar sign, not a Euro sign or a franc, but a dollar sign just by it's mane behing the ear a bit. There were vendors up and down the street with an interesting selection of items, fleece, sausage, fromage, four wheelers, sheets, mattresses, sweaters, and of course crepes with sucre or Nutella. Andouille sausage was another possible purchase which is a specialty from around here. I believe it contains tripe and liver and other exciting parts of a pig. We are not that advanced, even foregoing the Escargot pizza thus far. We have certainly had our share of the fromage though. Last time we ate lunch out I did successfully manage to even order an item not on the menu. Les Nouilles for Anja who hardly eats anything but. I'm very pleased with myself. I had Choucroute Poisson, which is saurkraut with cream and seafood in it and fish on top. Delicious! Would have never thought to combine Saurkraut with anything but Sausage. Eating out has been hilarious starting in Montreal and ever since as we all wait expectantly to see what the server understood or misunderstood. We may have finally overcome that barrier or perhaps it was just a spell of bon chance. Remains to be seen if we can successfully make the transaction at La Poste tomorrow to pay the gite deposit in Paris. We are going on November twentieth for two weeks staying near the Sacre Cour, an area I hear that is up a hill with a lot going on and most importantly to the children, plenty of Chinese food. They want to go to China. For the food and the pandas. We are considering the Canary islands as the weather cools, or atleast Barcelona. Tom and Caroline are looking forward to an event in their art gallery in December. I hope to be here for that. One of their lovely friends brought flowers and lollipops for the girls this morning. You must excuse me. I have a fairy ball to attend now.