Frere and Soeur Bonnaudet, at their home in Puyvarault. The photo in the back is of Frere Bonnaudet in his younger day, as a sailor on several large ships. He started at age 14 as the cook on a sailboat that went to sea for 1 month at a time to fish.

Here we are with Albert Bonnaudet, Elder Dalrymple, and Elder Tom, part way through a semi-formal dinner at the Bonnaudet's home. We were finishing a huge platter of shrimp, one of several courses, including the shrimp, soup, vegetables, potatoes, lamb, cheese, and of course Flan for dessert. Eating in people's homes in France leaves you completely stuffed!

There are many churches in France named "Notre Dame". The most famous of course is in Paris, but there are a lot of others. This one is on the edge of the old part of La Rochelle, and was built in the late 1500s. There are many stained glass windows in the church walls. Liz and I visited it one day on a morning walk.

For a sense of history for this old church, here are the placards on the wall, listing the names and time of service of each of the main priests who have served here from 1582 to 2009! And to think that in Montana we think something built in 1852 is extremely old!

Around the corner from our apartment is a building that has this particular construction pattern, looking a lot like buildings in Switzerland and Germany. You can see the floor joists for the second floor where they poke out under the upper level. This building is likely at least 300 years old, maybe more.

This little truck/sprayer goes through our neighborhood every morning about 07:00 to wash the streets clean. There are no cars allowed through this area, so a tiny machine is needed.

One of three impressive towers in the old part of the city. This is called the "Tour de la Lanterne", as it was an important lighthouse. It was built about 1485, and has multiple rooms inside that were used for military personnel who helped guard the port entry, as well as for prisoners from captured English ships and Protestants - who were not allowed in La Rochelle.

Closeup view of the upper part of the Tour de la Lanterne. The lighthouse is the smaller tower on the left. You can see that it is almost round, and it contains a spiral staircase that goes up to the top of that tower. Next to the upper lighthouse is a small, narrow "sidewalk" that goes all the way around the large tower. Take a good look at it before going to the next photo.

This is us on the small walkway on the upper tower. It is about 165 feet tall, and provides a beautiful view of the city. Imagine being up that high and hoping that the 20" wide stone walkway, over 500 years old, was well built!

Introduction to the Musee d'Orbigny. This is a pistol from the 1600s, and was part of a special display in the museum. More museum photos to follow.

The d'Orbigny Museum had a special display of paintings, maps, artifacts, and descriptions of the "Siege of La Rochelle", which took place in 1628-1629. The city of 20,000 Hugeunots (Protestants) was surrounded by the troops under the control of Cardinal Richelieu and kept from getting any food or supplies. When the city surrendered, only 1500 were still alive. The defenses of the city were destroyed, and the remaining people had to renounce their religion or leave.

This is in one of the main museum rooms, and is a tapestry given to the city of La Rochelle by Louis XIV. The elders and Liz and I spend a couple of hours touring the museum to see the Siege of La Rochelle display and multiple other things. We'll go back another time to see more.

A wealthy businessman in the 1700s founded a local hospital and supplied it with funds to operate. These are some of the "apothecary" (pharmacy) jars that held various herbal and other types of medicines for the hospital supply. Each one had the name written on it before the final glaze was applied.

Oneof my favorite ceramics in these display cases. No, the bugs are not loose in the display case. For whatever reason, the artisan chose to have them running around the cherries and branches. I don't know why the bird didn't eat them. (the bugs and the cherries)

This is an example of some of the talented ceramic work done in this country about 100 years ago. The elements almost look life-like! (I'm not sure I would have picked the topics)

It was a beautiful and sunny day, but a little chilly when we took a sandwich and went around the corner from our parking lot and ate lunch. This is next to a civic government building, and they have a few small benches where you can just sit and enjoy the views.

We went for a walk out by the University, along the walkway next to the coast. This ancient wooden lighthouse and sailboats caught my attention. I can almost hear the water lapping on the shore when I look at the photo.

This refrigerated section in the LeClerc store where we do a lot of our food shopping is only for fresh cheese (sort of like cottage cheese) and many, many varieties of yoghurt! Dairy products are a significant part of the diet here.

Liz and I standing in the park across from Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. We were there for a mission conference with Elder Dallin Oaks. We had to catch a train in La Rochelle at 5:40 in the morning, and after arriving in Paris had a couple of hours to look at the sights before the conference started. This cathedral was begun in 1163 and completed in the 1300s. It is amazing to me that this monumental structure could have been built without modern machinery or tools.

This is the interior of Notre Dame cathedral. It is a huge church. Most of the people in it were tourists, but there were quite a few sitting or kneeling at the benches in the main hall. (I thought it was inappropriate for tourists to walk down the main aisle and take pictures where people were praying or just meditating.) It is a beautiful building, and one of Paris' main attractions.

I could have put a lot more photos of this on the blog.

This is a unique wood carving, the only one of its type I've ever seen. It represents Jesus and Joseph, in his workshop probably. It was simple and beautifully done. This was one of many little side chapels in Notre Dame.

On our way from Notre Dame cathedral to the church, we were waiting at a stop light and started talking with these girls, who we found out were from Belgium. They spoke a little French, more English, and their native language was Flemish. We had a good discussion with them and asked them to look for the missionaries when they went home from their holiday.

We had enough time to visit the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. It is a lot smaller than the Louvre, but contains some beautiful art works. There is a section with many clay sculptures by Degas, and this is one of my favorites.

One of our favorite places in the museum. There are a couple of rooms that contain mostly paintings by Claude Monet, and Liz is standing in front of a few of them.

We did not take any photos at our conference because we were asked not to. So this is about it for our Paris visit.

On our way home from Paris. The train is very comfortable, even in 2nd class. There are quite a few stops along the way, but it travels at over 120 miles per hour. We got home about 12:30 in the morning (3 hours after leaving Paris). Bed felt really good!

We eat a lot of apples here. The ones we like the best are some old standbys, Golden Delicious and Jonathan. There are several French varieties, but I don't especially like the flavor. They might be for cooking rather than eating fresh. Towards the end of the market day (they shut down around noon) we can buy an 8 pound basketfull for less than $3.

I don't know what these are called in English, but they look similar to shrimp. There are some very small shrimp in the back to the left that are dark brown and small, but some members told me they are the best tasting of all the shrimp. They are more expensive than the pink ones.

This is the Hotel de Ville, which was built in the 1400s initially, but some of the structure was later done the early 1700s. We pass it quite often, and we never tire of seeing it. This is a classic older French building - many of them have unique towers.

Rosalyne and Jacques Mars at their apartment home. Liz and I were invited over for lunch, and had a very nice meal. The French love to eat, and they make the meals a real social event. I don't think we've had a meal at anyone's home that lasted less than 2 hours. They serve in courses, and enjoy talking during and between the courses. She made a rasberry baked pudding for dessert, which is what you see on the table.

The Mars live in an area that used to be a large marsh. Drainage canals were dug that dried out the land and made it useable for buildings. There are pathways along the canals, and they like to go for "promenades" when the weather is nice.

Sister Campion and Liz, looking at photos of her family and ours. She is 82 years old, and has a nice home in one of the quieter parts of the city.

We went on a walk for our morning exercise, and ended up on the beach outside the old city. The tide was out quite a way - you can see how shallow the water is in this area but to the left there is a deep channel that boats can pass through into the city.

Many of the doorways have ornate carvings, stonework or general construction. I don't know the age of this one, but it likely 200-300 years old. Many of the doors are works of art, and the door knockers can be very interesting. I'm adding a photo closer up so you can see the detail on this one.

Closeup of the door knocker from the previous picture. It reminds me of the one in the movie "Scrooge" that we used to watch at Christmas. The lion head is a popular pattern for some reason.

This is a French "tarte" just out of the oven. It is a very popular kind of food, made with a thin pastry crust and then covered with vegetables, egg mixture, cheese, and other toppings. This one is made of "poireaux" (leeks) and tomatoes. In the U.S. and Canada, they are called quiche, but that is not the name used here.

For those who didn't believe the last picture wasn't pizza, here's a view of a slice of it. You can see the leeks and the egg/cheese mixture more clearly. It tastes great! One of our favorite French foods that we'll be making when we come home. If we don't decide to stay!