No visit to France can be considered complete without at least one visit to an open air market. This is one of two that take place within two or three minutes walk from our place, and it's open at least two days a week, sometimes more. They sell mostly vegetables, fruits, seafood, and cheeses, and people come from all over town to stock up for the week. A fun place to visit and to shop.

I just had to throw this photo in. Every night about 19h30 (that's 7:30 PM) a large garbage truck rolls around cleaning things up. This particular night, they had to drive right up below our window, as a local business closed and just dumped everything in the street! They are very efficient, and have one crew that comes and picks up trash, another one picks up yellow bags of recyclable meterials (and that's a lot of stuff here).

Just 30 seconds walk from our apartment is the Rue Amelot. There is a cafe just up the road, and a restaurant down the road. Both have outdoor tables, but this one has the street name on it, so it's easy to locate.

This is typical in any French town, especially the smaller ones. All of these building are probably about the same age, but the "new" ones could be 200-300 years old just like the rundown one, but they have been redone in the last 30 or 40 years. The "old" one will likely be sold in the next few years, and someone will have it remodeled and refinished to look very up to date.

On our way back from Angers (about 180 km away) after our interviews with our mission president, we drove off the main highway to visit this imposing cathedral at the small city of Lucon. There is a war memorial on the left, commemorating the lives of residents of Lucon in WW I. The cathedral architecture is very unusual, combining a number of styles.

We walked through this cathedral, and enjoyed the quiet and the many paintings on the walls. Most of the stained glass windows were very plain, but in the floor we saw a block of stone that covered what is apparently the underground burial place of the bishops in that area from long ago. (in the photo: Liz, Elder Tom, Elder Scordari)

The one stained glass window that was not plain was at one end of the church, instead of in the high walls, as they usually are. This one I thought was especially nice, showing John the Baptist reaching toward Jesus, and in the words below, saying (as correctly as my Latin will allow me to understand), "Behold the Lamb of God". It also shows people around John, and a man in a boat on the Jordan River just behind Jesus. Notice the color of Christ's clothing - I'll make a comment later on.

One of the first flowers we saw bloom around La Rochelle is wisteria. It grows as a vine around doorways, walls, and over trellises and is magnificent in some places, as at this courtyard with a large doorway.

I don't think I've ever added a photo of our apartment on the outside. Here's Liz standing out in front - that's our doorway (the tiny one), and our windows on the 1st floor (French) - commonly called the 2nd floor in the U.S. There's a little pot with a small rose bush in the right window, and lacy curtains with birds and angels (no, I didn't pick them out myself!). The store below sells sewing stuff as well as women's clothing.

One of several old doorways around the city. This is one that is particularly ornate, and also had sunshine on it when we went by. Even the window frame has rather fancy carvings.
The lady in front is extremely young!

Detail from the previous photo. I don't know when this was repaired, but the fixed side on the right looks like the original doorway was made in 1627.

In early April, we had a wonderful visit with Nolene Bench (Spencer's daughter), her husband Clayton, and their two children - Amelia (4+) and Emmett (1+). They stayed with us for 5 days, and we visited a lot of places around the city. Trips to and from the airport were a challenge - the car we have is very small, so Liz and Nolene took the bus while the rest took the car, along with luggage. We got to our apartment almost at the same time.

During the evening, we went for a walk along the harbor. The sun had been down for a short time, and they turned on the lights for the Chain and St. Nicholas towers. Liz enjoyed pushing Emmett along in his stroller.

Liz and Amelia standing by an ancient anchor at Tour St. Nicholas. The city has at least two of these very rusted anchors on display, along with the chain that used to be used between the two harbor towers to block ships from entering until they had paid their customs dues.

Here is the Bench family at the beach in La Rochelle. The forecast was for clouds and rain, but they were blessed with a beautiful day. Take a quick look at the Lantern Tower in the background - next photo is close up.

This telephoto picture show.....not just Clayton up on the upper part of the tower in the previous photo, but also the top of Amelia's head, just in front of him. Talk about a fearless almost-5 year old! They walked totally around the walkway 100+ feet in the air. This was their final visit downtown before leaving that afternoon to return to London.

This is one of many stained/colored window in the Cathedral of St. Louis, one of several, but I believe to be the largest church building in La Rochelle. It was started about 1780, but wasn't completed until the mid 1800s. This window is dedicated to the many sailors who have lived in La Rochelle since the early 1100s.

This inset in the previous large window is of Jesus calming the storm on the sea of Galilee. Peter is behind him, usually portrayed in a yellow robe, while Christ almost always is seen with red and blue. These people were masters in their trade, and I love to see the many windows in the large churches.

This stained or painted glass is at the top of another large window. It's a portrayal of the story of Abraham and Isaac, and I love the detail - the angel with his hand on Abraham's arm, Isaac as a young man, not a child as is often portrayed, and the ram caught by the horns in the thicket. The makers of these windows seem to have had real understanding or strong traditions about scriptural events. The green and red robes represent priesthood in a lot of these windows.

About 40 miles from La Rochelle is a small forest with a beautiful sandy beach that goes on for miles (or kilometres if you prefer) and miles! In the forest area are a lot picnic tables, and our small ward had an outing there on May 1st (a national holiday). It was sunny and so beautiful - what a great day.

Here we are getting ready for picnics and games and time at the beach. The forest is not like the forests in Montana, but the scent of pine was refreshing.

Our two elders who are currently in La Rochelle. The original two have moved on, as they get transferred about every 3-4 months. Elder Tom at left is from Highland, Utah, and Elder Scordari is from Italy. We all enjoyed being able to get out of our Sunday best and get a little sandy.

Here's Liz at the beach with Fabienne and Suzanne, two of the sisters in our ward. They shook hands with her the first Sunday, but have since taken her completely in and she gets lots of "bisous" (kisses on both cheeks) at all the meetings and activities. Fortunately, they don't give the male missionaries the same, although they do for the male members of the ward!

After spending time at the beach, I went back and got a partner and joined the boules game in progress. The ground was rough and covered with pine needles and branches, which made it even more difficult, but we all enjoyed it. Except that our team of 4 lost by 1 point. That was okay, since it was my first time ever to play it.

After watching the men play boules (or petanque as it is also called), Liz and our Relief Society president, Tove Rigby, got a set and started their own game. They did well and had a good time. Liz got one her boules up against the "cochonet", which is the ultimate goal in the game. You can see one of her tosses coming down the path, still in the air.

Down the beach about 1/4 mile, there were a number of these sand sailers. A few came whizzing by - with a good breeze they really whipped along. Now I wonder if that qualifies as an accepted activity for missionaries since we can't sail in the water.

This is me at the beach at La Faute sur Mer. I decided to build a "sand temple", but it had to have a good wall because of the wave surges. It lasted a couple of hours. I got sunburned a bit - we now have hats and sunscreen!