Vive la France

Just a quick summary of the week we missed - not much was happening.  Transfers happened Monday through Wednesday so we were without a vehicle and stayed close to home.  Elder Shepherd arrived on Tuesday and is in a trio with Elder Daines and Elder Thompson.

Elders Thompson, Shepherd and Daines

Elder McNeil and Elder Christiansen arrived late Wednesday evening from Zagreb.  Elder Christiansen is coming from the MTC.  We're happy when they get to start their service in the best city in the mission!

Elders Christiansen and McNeil

I was excited to learn that Elder Christiansen is from Lolo, Montana.  So we have something in common and can see if we know some of the same people there.  I have been gone so long that I don't really know who is still in the area that he would know.  We had District Council with the Elders on Thursday, then we were off to Paris early Friday morning.

We were up at 4:00 am to get to the airport for our 7:00 am flight.  We're not sure how it happened, but we ended up in business class on all our flights.  We could get used to it.  It's not first class (there is no first class on Austrian Airlines) but was definitely less crowded and more comfortable than economy.  We were served meals on real dishes with real silverware.

Yummy breakfast on the Sarajevo to Vienna flight

Breakfast was the best meal we had!  They served delicious, creamy sweet Greek yogurt with fresh fruit, a hot croissant, scrambled eggs and emmental cheese.  Very typical European breakfast that I love!  We had an hour layover in Vienna and landed in Paris about 11:30 am.  We hired a shuttle to take us to our hotel.

We had dinner the first night at a restaurant a few doors down from the hotel.  As we walked to our table, a couple stopped us and asked if we were missionaries.  We had our names tags on, so it was kind of obvious... They were from Bountiful on a quick tour of Paris.  We had a nice visit with them and saw them again when we went to church on Sunday.

Dinner at Tribecca on rue Cler in Paris

Rue Cler is the name of the street where our hotel is located.  We like to stay there because it is what I always envisioned Paris would be like and it doesn't disappoint.  It is a pedestrian street with outdoor markets, patisseries, boulangeries, other shops and restaurants.

Viennoiseries Maison artisan boulangerie on rue Cler

We spent a lot of time and money at this patisserie on rue Cler.  It has the best baguettes, quiche and pastries.  They even served sausages and sauerkraut for lunch one rainy day.

Mushroom quiche and croque monsieur on rue Cler

 

If you don't recognize what "croque monsieur" is... it is a baked or fried ham and cheese sandwich.  The cheese is typically emmental and is on the outside of the bread rather than melted inside.  It is crusty and chewy and very delicious.  There is also a variation called croque madame that is topped with a fried egg on the cheese.

I've had a nagging cough for almost a month now.  Because I didn't feel 100% our Paris touring was a little different than usual - we weren't constantly on the go and walking for miles each day.  We went out for awhile, then returned to the hotel to rest and get warm before venturing out again.  Since we have been to Paris before, it worked well for us this time.  We even took a taxi to church rather than the metro.

We bought tickets in advance to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.  It was spectacular - why have we never done this before?  We didn't do the climb; John opted for the elevator because of his knee replacement.  We did climb down, if that counts.

We stood in the middle of the busy street to get this photo of Arc de Triomphe

View of Champs-Elysees from top of Arc de Triomphe

Karen and John atop Arc de Triomphe

I keep pinching myself each time we are in Paris - I love this city and feel so grateful that we have been able to return every few years.  We are so blessed to be healthy and that we are able to travel and enjoy other parts of our beautiful world.

Eiffel Tower from outside the park

Eiffel Tower at night

Outside the tower

We decided to eat lunch at the Eiffel Tower this trip - another thing we wonder why we have not done before now.  Our advance purchase ticket bought our lunch and access to the top of the tower with no waiting in line for hours.  The view was awesome and the food was pretty good.  It was a delightful afternoon, even though it was cold and windy.

Lunching at the Eiffel Tower

John tried pasta with fresh haddock

Karen had beef confit with mushroom sauce

View of the beautiful Seine River from the Eiffel Tower

We strolled down the Champs-Elysees, even did a little shopping

Tuesday we moved locations to the Novotel in Versailles, where our humanitarian conference was held.  All the senior humanitarian missionaries in the Europe area met together.  It was fun meeting everyone and hearing about the work they are doing in their countries.

Europe Area Welfare missionary couples by the "Tree of Life" at the Paris Temple

One afternoon we toured the palace of Versailles.  It was raining and nasty cold and I was glad I had been there before so I wouldn't feel badly about missing parts of it.  I had to find a quiet, dry place to just sit for awhile during the long afternoon.  I should have just stayed at the hotel but didn't want to miss out on anything fun!

The temple held a special session for our group.  The temple is beautiful, as they all are, but this one in particular.

Front doors of the Paris Temple

Christus in the temple gardens - we were told it is the only one outdoors

One of the highlights of this trip was John's reunion with one of his Ockey cousins.  We learned a few months ago that a couple named Ockey was coming to Hungary.  Del is a first cousin and he and John  have not seen each other for about 46 years.  Del's father and John's mother are siblings.

Del Ockey and John Cooper

Del and Caryl Ockey, Karen and John Cooper

They had a great time reliving old times and telling stories on one another from childhood.  We hope to be able to visit them in Budapest before we come home.

Cathedral of Notre Dame in Versailles

Cute little shop we found by the cathedral in Versailles

Boutons means buttons in French.  This store was so dang cute, we had to go back when we had time to go inside.  It is a notions and yard goods shop, but had very little fabric.  I didn't purchase anything but it was fun looking.

We had promised the Elders we would bring them French chocolate bars.  We fed seven Elders today - our 5 plus the 2 from Tuzla.  We made sloppy joes and cold slaw.  John thought the almost 5 pounds of hamburger was way too much, but there was not a scrap of food left.  Dessert was the chocolate bars.

Elders and their giant candy bars from France

We made them promise they wouldn't eat the entire bar tonight - I don't want any calls about being sick during the night.  These are seven outstanding young men and we actually missed them while we were away.  They are goofy and immature but we love them anyway.

The trip was wonderful and we had a great time.  We are also glad to be home again.  We really do feel at home here and we missed our branch.  We are grateful to be serving here at this time and for all the wonderful blessings we have received.