It's just about over. Two full days left. Today we decided to head out to the Versailles Palace despite the threat of rain. After one night of drugs I feel 1,000 times better. I got a full night sleep and my persistent cough all but disappeared. The same goes for Deb but her cough lingers just a bit because they didn't prescribe antibiotics for her.

I digress, today was a fantastic day. I've been to Paris about 6 times in my life and I have never made it to Versailles. I'm sitting here in my favourite spot - in front of my window that overlooks the courtyard at the apartment - I'm listening to CHUM-FM and "One More Night" by Jordan Knight - how appropriate that seems.

Starting in 1661 with his father's modest hunting lodge, Louis XIV (Sun King) built the largest palace in Europe housing 20,000 people at one time. We thought that our Museum Pass would allow us to skip the line - no such luck. We had to line up in about a 1 hour line to the main ticket office. Once inside we were greeted to elegance at its best as the pictures below will attest. There was just much to see - opulence as is not often duplicated. It was very cool to see The King's Bedroom where Louis XIV died in 1715 at the age of 77.

I'm sure that the royalty crew who occupied this magnificent palace were hikers at heart and I'm sure that their suppers were all COLD when delivered. To go from the kitchen to the dining room took minutes - upstairs - downstairs - down the hall. And if the royals gang wanted to go off and see Madame De Pompadour they had to hook up the horses and go about 2 miles to The Petit Trianon. Under the Empire, The Petit Trianon was refurnished for Pauline Borghese, Napoleon's sister and later for Empress Marie-Loiuise.

Then it was off to the Grand Trianon - It was Louis XIV who built this small palace of stone and pink marble in 1687 to "escape the rigors of court life" and to enjoy the company of his mistriss, Madame de Mintenon. The Grand Canal that runs directly in front of the palace is huge beyond belief and was the site for Louis's many boating parties. He sounds like an amazing guy.

When it was time for home - the fact that we had purchased the wrong tickets (my fault I guess because I purchased tickets that said "Versailles Chateau" - who knew this was a subway station and not the palace). When we arrived in Versailles and we exited the train, we couldn't get off the platform - our "incorrect" tickets would not open the barrier to allow us to exit. Looking somewhat perplexed a local Versaillian took pity on us - trying to show us how to scan our tickets - no luck - when that wouldn't work he scanned his ticket and then proceeded to wedged open the barriers that were preventing our exit. He then proceed to walk us all the way to the Palace - but on the way was only too glad to give us his business card for his restaurant and showed us pictures on his iPhone of the table settings. Nice Man - hopefully someone gives you a good one soon - Merci Monsieur.

I tried to get a credit for these wrong purchases but no such luck - no English attendent = screwed. We'll use these tomorrow when we head out to Notre Dame. Beyond that - got the right tickets - got home in good time and had a fantastic dinner out with my girl. We did a little shopping at Printemps - a fantastic department store with a ton of top-end merchandise - we bought one little thing here for my Mom - but for the most part this is way over my budget particularly after 32 days in this overpriced country.

As I say, tomorrow is our last full day in Paris with an early Friday flight (9:30 a.m.) from Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and we'll be home by 2:30 p.m. in Vancouver - hopefully with Suzie's empty van to accept the luggage.

We're getting close to a post blog here - thoughts about what we saw - so stay tuned. Deb and I have decided that we're moving from Vancouver to living in Paris - LOL. Just can't wait till we get back home.

Stay tuned.