They say that every picture is worth a 1,000 words. So I've attached 60 photo's of my special memories from the start of the trip through to Paris.

While I've pushed the shutter some 4,350 times on my newest Nikon D7000 and picked just a small portion of these to provide a summary for y'all, here they are.

I need to say thanks to a few people who have made this trip a tremendous success. This was truly a trip-of-a-lifetime. Firstly KLM for the exceptional service across the pond and all through Europe - no real issues except one broken zipper on my bag - so a job well done.

Secondly, a nod to Holland America for our 24-day cruise - the service was exceptional and the food above average for cruise ships. I'd like to throw out a special thank-you to our table mates - Charles & Marie and Oscar and Annabelli. We couldn't have asked for a better table night after night - it was just good chemistry and we hope we'll see them soon or Charles may have to find someone else to cut his lawn in Sydney. To our wait staff - Agus and Depa - you were amazing - everything that I asked for including the "extra seafood" portions on those special nights - my waistline shows up very well on photos now.

I'd like to thank Giulia Renula for the use of your great little apartment in Rome - Lennart Hiemstra for your houseboat - it's another item crossed off the bucket list and Emma and Alex in Paris - your apartment on 51 rue Blanche definitely provided the four of us with accommodations and all the trimmings. I only hit my head 12 times going into my upstairs bedroom - I've now learned to duck well in advance.

It's important to thanks T&J for an amazing trip - while it's difficult to travel 24/7 with anyone you made it very comfortable and enjoyable. I'd also like to thank you guys out there for reading my dribble every day - so far I've had over 850 reads on this Travel Blog so it makes it all worthwhile - THANK YOU.

And lastly the most important person I need to thank for all her support during the past 21 years is my amazing wife. As most of you know I can be a tad tough to get along with on very limited occasions but she continues to support me on everything that I/we want to do - she walks step-by-step with me down each road that we travel - she is truly one of the greatest loves that I've every had in my life in these past 60 years - thank you sweetheart - I LOVE YOU !