Weeks 68-70 in France

These past few weeks have been special for us as we celebrated 50 years of marriage. Janet is sitting in the sun behind our heart filled table cloth right across from our heart collection on the opposite wall.

We thank the Lord for these years He has given us together on Earth.  We  are grateful to each other for honoring the vows we made kneeling across an altar in the Salt Lake Temple on February 6, 1970.To celebrate, we had dinner at a fancy restaurant in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel right next to the Versailles Chateau gardens.  We dressed up and had a wonderful evening together.  We were even served a complimentary chocolate treat.

At the entrance of the Waldorf Astoria

Dining in the Veranda Room

We even had an anniversary cheesecake.  Each of the 5 candles represented a decade.

Continuing our weekend celebration, we went to the French National Archaeological Museum in Saint Germain-en-Laye, just a 40 minute bus ride north of where we live.  It's sobering to realize how much farther back in time French history goes compared to U.S. history.

 

The pre-history of France had an amazing number of artifacts, including exhibitions showing the differences between Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal artifacts and remains.

Cro-Magnon skull and stone tools

Cro-Magnon skull on the left, Neanderthall skull on the right.

The museum had many artifacts from before the time of  the Roman conquest, but the sheer number of Roman artifacts was amazing.  The most poignant moment for us, however, was the statue of Vercingetorix, a Gaulish leader who fought the Roman conquerors but was ultimately defeated by Julius Caesar and taken captive to Rome where he was put to death 6 years later.

One of the many displays showing gold ornaments dating from as far back as 4000 years.


This past week has been unusual for us because the Paris Temple recorder was on vacation, so  Wayne had to be in the temple from opening to closing.  His long hours serving at the temple gave Janet lots of time to read, relax, go for walks and study French. She even got to try out her French at the Leader Price grocery store down the street. Thankfully, this coming week should be back to normal.  We send our love to everyone following our blog, and pray God's peace on each of you.