Powells in Sicily!: Paris Pics

Paris was wonderful! The weater was in the low 50's during the day and low 40's at night. After dinner the wind picked up usually in the evenings and we could only handle walking so long in it. We flew out of Catania with a layover in Rome (Milan on the way back) on Alitalia/Air France. Yes, it's the ghetto airline, but also cheapest by over $100 a ticket!! However, they did lose our suitcase on the way home and it has yet to be returned. Apparently it's sitting in Milan, didn't make our short layover.

Here is a photo flying over Mt. Etna. I wish we weren't on the wing, because it's truly awesome to see the top of Mt. Etna from an airplane. You realize how tall it really is, when the towns below are microscopic yet the volcano is seemingly so close!!

We arrived around 4:30pm and by the time we got our luggage, took the metro into Paris and walked to our hotel it was about 7. The airport is very large, and reminded me much of O'Hare. It was smooth and super clean. The metro system is efficient. We never had to wait more than 3 minutes for a train, and most of the time walked right on. It was fantastic! Quick tip: If you are going to use the trains multiple times (it's a huge city, I'm guessing you will) buy a "carnet" pronounced (car-nay) of tickets. It saves time as you won't have to buy a ticket every time. I think you get 10 tickets for 11.40 euro and so it's 5 rides if you're with a partner!

We stayed at the Grand Hotel Francais. It's located near the Nation intersection, a bit southeast from the Opera and Bastille. It's not in a touristy area, which is sort of irritating if you are tired and just want to walk right back to your hotel. However there is a metro stop a block from the hotel and it's super easy. Since it wasn't right downtown, we had a lovely room with a nice bed for half the price (I think it was 130 euro a night. not sure) The hotel itself is immaculately clean, the bed was the most comfortable I've stayed in Europe so far. I forgot to take pics of the room, very basic but recently renovated. It's rated #43 in all of Paris on Tripadvisor, and I would stay there again. Oh and I don't recommend spending the 10 euro per person for their breakfast. It's served in the basement, and you can get an entire baguette at a bakery for 1 euro. Here's the website: http://www.grandhotelfrancais.com/index.en.html

We called the kids to check on them and headed out for dinner. We ate at Les Galopins the first night, near our hotel. It was recommended to us by our friends as well as the hotel.

It's a small cafe like setting, with very friendly wait staff and menus written on large chalkboards. It was so homey and I think I ate almost an entire loaf of a french baguette while waiting for my dinner. The bread was out of this world.. so fresh and delicious!! (I'm not a fan of italian bread). We hadn't eaten all day so we indulged. I had some sort of beef and augratin potatoes and Derrick ate a sausage the size of a coke can. He could barely walk afterwards, very romantic right :)

We were tired from a day of travel but had to atleast see the Eiffel Tower before going to bed so we took the metro over to the other side of the city. Stepping out of the metro these were our sites as we walked down the Seine holding hands. It was a lovely evening!