Weeks 21 & 22 in France

Until Thursday, March 14th, the past two weeks have been very quiet.  I (Wayne) gave my first training session in French for both teams of temple workers on that day, and then we took a bus and train to Paris to meet my sister Claudia and her husband Ed.  We took time off from our temple assignments Friday and have spent three of the last four days with them. We have had a wonderful time together seeing sites in Paris and catching up on each other's lives and memories.  That explains why we are doing our blog on Monday instead of the usual Sunday evening.  While the weather is still somewhat blustery, spring continues to blossom everywhere here.  It's amazing to see so many flowers in early March.

 The first thing we did with Claudia and Ed on Friday morning was go to the Louvre.  Here are some of the many things we looked at:

 

We had to laugh at the last picture when someone called it a "selfie back in the day".

After the Louvre, we took the subway to the Bateaux Mouches and rode the boat up and down the Seine River to see the highlights of Paris drift by.  Here are some pictures we took during that ride:

 

We made Claudia stand in front of the angel wings someone had painted on the wall by where we got off the boat.  This is my angel sister Claudia, who finally got her wings!  She earned them by being an angel watching over the sisters in her branch as the Relief Society President.

On the way back to the train station, Janet and I had to cross through a "youth save the earth" demonstration.  Fortunately it was peaceful.  Janet thought it looked and sounded like a high school pep rally with singing, drumming, chanting, and many posters being waved.We were nowhere near the violent demonstrations which took place on Saturday on the Champs Elysees.  Claudia and Ed were unable to visit some things they wanted to see on that day because of those riots.

On Sunday, Claudia and Ed joined us for church.  Fortunately our ward has headphones through which they could hear English translations.  Claudia still remembers enough French to be able to communicate with many who spoke with her. After church (which included listening to our ward choir practice for which I was just recruited as accompanist and a musical number rehearsal I'm accompanying next week) we went to our apartment where Janet and Claudia prepared a 5 course meal featuring fruit, salad, bread and cheese, chicken cordon bleu, and strawberries and ice cream on freshly baked croissants.  It was great.  After a lazy afternoon of visiting, we went to visit the Paris Temple gardens and visitor center.

We all gathered in the patron guest housing lobby for a wonderful evening sharing our experiences during the Rome Temple open house and dedication.  What wonderful and spiritual experiences we had there.

On Monday, our last day together, we rode the subway to the Arc de Triomphe, but because of the crowds (really? in March?) we decided not to wait in line to go to the top.  This is a picture of them beside the tomb of the unknown soldier.

 

From there we took the subway to Sacre Coeur.  After walking through the very impressive French National Cathedral, we wandered around the Montmartre open air artist square. We then had a wonderful lunch at "Le Deli's" restaurant.  We said our goodbye's on the metro when Janet and I got off at Gare St. Lazare to catch the RER L train back to Le Chesnay.  Claudia and Ed head out tomorrow for Saudi Arabia to visit their daughter whose husband works there.  What a joy to share precious time with a dear sister and brother-in-law.

 

We return to our temple duties tomorrow, and look forward to serving the Lord by serving His children who come there.  Going to the temple is a great sacrifice for many who come, and it is our calling and great joy to help them feel closer to God while they are there.