Le Temple de Paris in Spring

Sande and Mike Krieger and Karen and Nathan Morgan arrived in Paris four days before the Paris Marathon.  It was so much fun to have them here along with Kate.  The day after they arrived we all went to the Paris Temple in Le Chesnay near Versailles.

It is a little complicated to get to the Paris Temple on public transportation.  Especially since the Saint Michel RER C station near us is closed until May because of damage from the flooding of the Seine this winter.  We took my normal route to the temple.

First we rode the No. 10 Metro to Javel on the western edge of Paris.  Then we exited the station and walked across the street (while admiring the Eiffel Tower) to catch the RER C train to Versailles.  Once at the Versailles Rive Gauche station, we took the No. 1 bus from the bus depot across the street and got off at the Pre Catalan stop by the Leader Price grocery store.  Then we walked back about one block to the temple.  Not a simple trip but definitely worth the effort.


Temple de Paris



Walking to the Temple with Kate

Kelly and Karen

Nathan and Mike

Heading to the Gardens and
the Temple Entrance

The grounds at the temple are so beautiful, especially now that it's spring.  The trees near the Christus statue are blooming.

Gardens Behind the Temple

Garden and Fountain

Flowering Trees



Temple Entrance from the Gardens

The temple exterior is limestone similar to the stone used on the buildings in the Paris region.  The stained glass inside the temple is beautiful.  The floral motifs are based on the floral designs of Claude Monet's gardens at Giverny--lilies, cornflowers, lilacs and hollyhocks.  They are made to look like a French garden and were inspired by the fleur-de-lis, the national symbol of France, which represents purity and virtue.  There is no spire on the temple because of neighborhood height restrictions.  But there is a beautiful stained glass dome at the top of the spiral staircase in the center of the temple and the Christus statue in the garden.

Christus Statue

Kelly, Nathan, Kate, Jeanene, Sande and Mike

Karen, Nathan, Kelly, Jeanene, Sande and Mike

Smiling Kelly and Kate

We loved being in the temple with Kate and our dear friends.  We have waited many years for a temple to be built in Paris and I have loved going out there almost every week, and sometimes twice per week.  The journey is a bit more complicated compared to our 10-15 minute drive from our SLC home to the Salt Lake Temple.  But it has been worth the effort and I feel the Paris Temple is now my temple.  It has added a new dimension to this trip to Paris.