The fourth and final quarter (days 13-16) - Hail to the bus driver ...

The wheels on the bus did go round and round and we travelled more than 5000 kilometres over the 16 days. Day 13 was probably one of our longest on the road, although we did stop at a perfume factory and later in Avignon, home of a really old castle. Later that night we stopped in Lyon, France's second largest city, although for us the visit was only fleeting. I did have a snail at dinner. It wasn't too bad, unlike some of the homeless people there who were just plain rude.

Day 14 and it was off to Paris, via Fountainebleau. I stood on the same balcony where Napoleon addressed his troops back in the day. But this tourist town will be remembered for JB innocuously chipping one of his lower front teeth before chowing down on a Nutella and banana crepe. It just made me want to say crepe.

So it was off to Paris for our final stop. Like Rome, we initially did a bus tour of this thriving metropolis before going to the Eiffel Tower. What a magnificent sight! The top part of the tower was closed when we got there around 9pm but later opened and I was able to get some great shots. I got caught up with the sights so much when I realised we only had about 10 minutes to get down the tower. The lifts were packed, so along with a couple of others from the Contiki crew, I briskly walked down the tower to get to the bus on time. I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't that funny then. It was the first time in a long time that I got some decent exercise.

The next day we were left to our own devices. For me, the day started with leaving the hotel at 8am and getting back there at midnight. We went to the Louvre and saw Mona Lisa. This museum is just too big to absorb in one day. Or a week for that matter. There is a weird statistic that if you spent a minute at each exhibit, it would take nine months to see the entire collection. Babies are conceived in the same time!

Then we went to Notre Dame, but the lines were too big, so Ag joined me for the walk up the Arc de Triomphe. It's amazing that there aren't more accidents at this supersized roundabout. It's seemingly a free-for-all for everyone concerned, 12 roads coming together with no lines. It makes for compelling viewing, like watching a train wreck.

I would climb the Arc again at night with Rose, one of the Contiki crew who, like me, decided against paying €130 like many of the others to see Moulin Rouge in favour of exploring this awesome city. I'll add some more pictures later if I can, but we walked down the Champs-Elysees and back to the Louvre and the inverted pyramid, which apparently has some significance if you read books by Dan Brown. I haven't.

Day 16 and it was hard to believe that a little more than two weeks earlier I was crossing the English Channel - with my favourite hat on my head. I also left Europe without my trusty Vans shoes. While they weren't the chick magnets I had hoped them to be, they made walking around many countries more comfortable and enjoyable. I may be a fashion victim, but I'm not a slave to fashion. To my beloved shoes I also say rest in peace.

We stopped at a Canadian World War I memorial (yes, in France) where there are still undetonated mines in the ground. Sheep have been known to walk across the fields before being blown to smithereens. Ouch!

But the weather and the mood was a gloomy. For many, it felt like the last day of school. I liken the whole Contiki experience to the television series Big Brother, not that I watch that crap. Bringing a group of people together from different backgrounds and with different ideals, not everyone is going to get along and be friends. You just hope that everyone has a good time, and unfortunately, there were a couple that didn't appear to be enjoying themselves. I felt sorry for them.

Back in London, I went to Cousin Slugg's to put a load of washing on and realised that it was Halloween by the stash of candy he had in the kitchen. Yum! A group of trick-or-treaters came around (yes, there was some candy left) before I went back into the city to meet some of the Contiki crew for the wake. Needless to say, a few beers were consumed and I even bumped into a girl that I did the Shamrocker tour of western Ireland with earlier that month. Like me, her encounter with Europe had just ended.