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...