“I don’t recall any of them having a refrigerator. We shopped before every meal …  most of the apartments I lived in had no shower or bathtub.  If we were lucky, we actually bought a hose and we stuck it on the sink.”
~Mitt Romney talking about his lodging in France when he was a missionary as required by his faith 

As part of Mitt Romney’s Mormon religion – he was required to spread the word of the Mormon faith as shared by Joseph Smith – the founder of the Mormon religion.  He has often talked about his 30 month mission as having lived in squalor as basically a poor Mormon with little means just eking it out like all the other guys.  Only not so much.  After he left Bordeaux – he stayed in Paris, France for 9 months starting in the spring of 1968.  The building he stayed in was owned by the Mormon church and had modern conveniences like an extensive art collection, chandeliers, washer/dryer, refrigerator, a personal chef, a houseboy, several bathtubs, centralized heating etc.  People who knew him and that building have called it a “palace”.

This building is not your average building; it is now the embassy for the United Arab Emirates in France.  You know – a real flea motel.  And by the way – this trip to Paris is how he avoided being in the Vietnam draft.

The Telegraph explains HERE:

“They were very big rooms,” said Christian Euvrard, the 72-year-old director of the Mormon-run Institute of Religion in Paris, who knew Mr Romney. “Very comfortable. The building had beautiful gilded interiors, a magnificent staircase in cast iron, and an immense hall.”

Mr Romney and his fellow missionaries worked ten-hour days from 6.30am trying to spread the word of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Several said that the future Governor of Massachusetts was a gifted doorstep salesman.

Jean Caussé, a 72-year-old Mormon who met Mr Romney in Bordeaux, said he “would be astonished” if that had been the case. “I never knew missionaries who had to do that,” he said. “I don’t see why he would have lived in conditions like that for two years when it was far from the general case”.

“It had beautiful stained glass windows, including a woman with bare breasts, which raised some eyebrows,” said Mr Eastman. “The windows depicted the four seasons,” said Mr Anderson. “Summer was lightly dressed, let’s put it that way”.

The ED Show has video of Romney saying how bad it was for him when he was a missionary:

A little video of the “palace”:

More pictures of 3 rue de Lota, Paris, France:

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