This is at our District meeting here in La Rochelle. The four missionaries on the left are from Nantes, north of us about 80 miles, but we alternate them coming here, and the elders from here going there. They traditionally (don't ask me why) make burritos for our lunch. Three of the elders in this photo have left now, two transferred to other cities and one finished and gone home to Holland. (For those who live in or know Alberta - he worked in Barnwell for a summer a few years ago and loves Alberta).

View from the far side of the harbor, back towards the old port area. The three towers that are landmarks in La Rochelle are towards the back of the picture. Just behind us is a huge aquarium ( a couple of photos of that later). We're having quite a few nice days now, although it is still chilly.

This is one of three large catamarans in the harbor. They are used to take tourists out on the ocean for visits to surrounding island areas. The number of sailboats in this area is amazing.

Down by the old port is this narrow opening (behind Liz) that allowed ships to come into the harbor. The tower behind her was built in the 1400s. There are two lighthouses in the port area, and they are still used to guide ships into the harbor when it's dark or stormy.

This is one of our "quiet spots" in the area. It is part of a large courtyard surrounded by these archways, and the central part is a garden with flowers and many bushes. Liz is sitting on one of the benches that allow people to just sit and visit or enjoy the garden. It used to be a building for a women's religious order, and is called the Cours des Dames (the Courtyard of Ladies).

Closeup photo of one of the arches. These are relatively new, probably built in the late 1700s. The architecture through here is sometimes quite blocky, but other times is extremely graceful.

This is the Hermosilla family. We had dinner with the Elders at their home, which is in an apartment building a few miles from us. He is originally from Chile. Their three boys are active and busy. We enjoy their enthusiasm.

On our P day we went to the aquarium here in La Rochelle. It is an amazing place, full of tanks ranging from small to gigantic (one of them holds 56,000 liters of water). It takes about three hours to walk through it and see all the displays, which contain fish from all the oceans and main water systems in the world. I've seen large aquariums in Oregon, but they can't compete with this one.

Just for the sake of all those still concerned, here's a photo to show that someone found Nemo! This little fish lives amongst the tentacles of sea anemones, which for most fish prove deadly. It was one of 10,000 specimens in the aquarium.

This is in one of the larger tanks, which is about 20 feet deep and contains hundreds of fish, including 8 sharks and a couple of rays. They must keep the sharks well fed, as they and the smaller fish seem to get along just fine!

This is Elder Collins, and Bishop Bertrand and his wife, Joel, outside our chapel. Elder Collins was about to leave to Paris, where he'll be working for the next few months. The Bertrands are great people and recently had us out to their home for lunch. He's a retired firefighter, and now has time to play the piano and accordion in a local band, besides all his church work.

This is casual dining at its best. Relaxed in my scrub top for a late dinner (we usually eat late - this is France!). On the menu for this night was couscous with lots of veggies and chicken, whole wheat bread, and grapes. I learned recently that in the Middle Ages, a baker lost his position if he put bran in the bread! No wonder the French much prefer white bread.

Couscous is sort of a type of pasta (you can buy it in grocery stores in the U.S. and Canada) that you just put in hot water and it fluffs up, ready to eat. The topping is vegetables with meat or chicken, and originated in northern Africa. It is popular in France because of the previous colonies in Morocco and Algeria exported some of their foods. Chick peas are always in the topping.

Ahh! La Rochelle - our home and beautiful, old city. This is the Hotel de Ville, or in other words, the town hall. It is several hundred years old, and we'll get a better photo of the rest of it another time. We went to the post office one morning (it's just across the courtyard from this spot) and the sky was so blue and the flags were blowing in the wind and I couldn't resist taking this photo.

Less than a week after we arrived, we were in the car as the elders drove us to a zone conference in Angers, about 120 miles north of here. We met with our mission president and his wife for training, and two weeks later were back in Angers for interviews with President Staheli. The elders fixed chili and rice for lunch - good, filling missionary food. That's President Staheli sitting next to Liz on the right.

Here are the missionaries of La Rochelle. We had the elders over for dinner - Elder Dalrymple from Las Vegas, and Elder Collins from Provo, Utah. We enjoy their exuberant spirits and the good work we do together. They are great young men and are doing their best in their work.

This is a very small part of an open air market that is near our apartment (2 minute walk at most) every Wednesday and Saturday. People come from all over the city to shop here. We go primarily for our produce. The quality is very good and the prices and selection are better than the grocery stores. Plus it's right out the door! This extends for about three blocks up and down and around the streets nearby.

Among the many vegetables we see in the market are poireaux (leeks). We had some in Missoula, but didn't figure out what to do with them. We are learning that they can be used for a lot of things, and we enjoy them. Leeks in pot roast, soups, quiche, just as a cooked vegetable etc. They certainly add color to the market!

The market sells not only food, but flowers, kitchen utensils, pots, slippers, some clothing etc. Liz bought this little rose bush (about 10 inches high in the pot) and it has graced our apartment with 5 or 6 small beautiful roses. We hope it survives long enough to repot it and put it on our window sill when it gets warm enough.

Oneof our favorite fruits in Europe - these are called Clementines, and resemble mandarin oranges. We had a lot of them in Russia, also. These come primarily from Spain, and there are several kinds. We have some on our table all the time for dessert or just for snacks, and replenish our stock every few days.

Being a port you would think that this area would have some fresh fish, but it turns out that not only does it have some fish, but it had the second largest fishing fleet in France. We've only tried one type of fish so far - I thought it was quite good and Liz was less impressed. But there are a lot left to taste. Later this spring, there will be even more variety.

This area is one of the largest producers of oysters in the world. The markets are full of them, various prices for different types, I guess. These are some of the most expensive, about $4.00 a pound. I'm sure we'll try some at some time, but we're not in any rush.

Some of the cars here are very small! The one we use (photo another day) will seat four quite comfortably, as long as they don't have too long of legs. This one in the parking lot near our apartment doesn't have that capability, but I bet it gets good mileage! It has an automatic transmission and a diesel engine.

On our way home one evening, we passed the beautiful Old Port, and stopped to admire the fading daylight and sunset. Every day here has new sights, some of them the same place, but ever changing.

This was one of our last photos before we left Missoula. We always enjoy our walks about 1/2 mile to the bridge over the Bitterroot River, and it was a beautiful day with some small rain and snow flurries in the area. We miss the mountains, but I'm sure they'll still be there when we go home!

On our way out of Montana, between Dillon and Lima, we had to stop at the Calf-A restuarant in the tiny "town" of Dell for a roast beef sandwich and apple pie. If you haven't stopped at Dell on your way up or donw I-15 you've missed a real treat. Real Montana food for hungry travelers!

On our way down to Utah, we stopped to see Sean and Deb, who ended up stranded in Rexburg by the severe weather in the midwest (they couldn't get their flights in to Madison, Wisconsin). We drove by the Rexburg Temple for our first look at the beautiful building.

The night we stopped in Rexburg, we went out for dinner with Sean and Deb and family. We spent part of an afternoon with them at a sports complex, where we had a good time and worked up an appetite. Mattias (front left) looks like he has his mind set on that burger!

There had been a lot of snow in Utah when we arrived in Payson, staying with my sister Nola and her husband George Bakers. Their apple orchard has been cut down to make way for a cherry orchard (the cherries are dried and sent to Japan, where they are very popular). That's Mount Timpanogas in the background.

Nola and George were very generous and allowed us to stay in their guest house in the backyard. It lacked a few amenities, but bundled up we kept quite warm!...........Well, we actually stayed in their guest room in their large, beautiful home. Their kids used a snowplow to make this stack, then dug out the middle to make a snow hut, complete with a bench in the front. They had a lot of fun with it.

Here's George on his dozer tearing out the apple tree stumps you saw a couple of pictures ago. He is a physicians assistant, but all his patients call him Dr. Baker. He's also an experienced heavy equipment operator and restores 1957 Chevrolet cars. Nola is a nurse who works for the church Missionary Medical department. They plan on moving to St. George area (to Hurricane, Utah) when they retire - where they don't have much snow!

We left Payson for a short (one day) trip to sun and no snow, traveling south to the St. George area. There is a park there which has about 10 camp sites and the most beautiful red rock cliffs and a small stream. It's called Red Cliffs, and is one of our favorite camp spots. We hiked around the cliffs and visited an Anasazi Indian site near the camp ground, then drove back to the snow and winter.

We went to Salt Lake area a couple of times, and spent part of an afternoon visiting our granddaughter, Gracie Elizabeth. She's a sweet girl who really enjoys being with us. We gave her some gifts we had saved for her from our mission in Russia, and she's wearing the apron we brought for her.

A visit to Utah in December isn't complete without a stop at Temple Square at night to see the lights. Colin and Lisa and their children went with us to enjoy the color, and a meal at the Lion House Pantry. It was cold, but the beauty compensated for the chill. This is a view of the Assembly Hall just south of the Tabernacle. The tall Seagull Monument on the left of the photo is to remember the saving of the pioneer's crops by flocks of seagulls when they had an infestation of crickets.

I snapped this one a day or two before we went into the Missionary Training Center. It's at the back of George and Nola's property, and I happened to look out the window in the evening and grabbed my camera to capture the Lombardy poplars in the waning light of the evening.

Here we are at the Missionary Training Center just after one of our classes. We spent a week there, with 72 other couples who were leaving for missions all around the world. We talked with young missionaries and couples headed to Russia, where we served in 2005-2007, and used the little Russian that we still remembered. After spending part of the last weekend with George and Nola and having dinner with Colin and Lisa and family, we were ready to go.

A slight change in location! La Rochelle, France.

This is a typical street in the Centre Ville (City Center), which has quite a few pedestrian streets and the rest are primarily one way - a nightmare to navigate with a car but pleasant for walking around. Straight down the street ahead takes us to the Vieux Port (the old port, built in the 1300s and 1400s), from where many ships left to take immigrants going to New France (Canada) and the eastern United States in the early 1700s.

No, this is not a postcard. Liz took this photo at Vieux Port when we were on a walk. The whole old city is one "postcard" picture, and we never get tired of looking at the views in different light, different weather, different times of day.

We love being here and will post many more photos of the city, people, trips, even of us.