London's showstopping royal palaces, its street markets, ancient landmarks, skyscraping glass towers and masterpiece-stuffed museums and galleries enchant all who visit the city. The "wonderful immensity of London", as Samuel Johnson put it in the 18th century, ensures that it is a stop for most Australians who go overseas and in 2012 there is only one place to be.
Australians are expected to take flights to London in their droves for the Olympic Games (July-August). Before that there's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (early June), to be marked with good old British pomp and ceremony and a lavish flotilla on the Thames. Literary types can revel in the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth (February). Retrospectives, readings, exhibitions and tours will recreate the atmosphere of Victorian London.
London might not be the cheapest destination on the planet but there is lots of it that's beyond cash. Getting lost among the lanes and cobbled-stone squares, old churches and garden squares, sitting in the royal parks and soaking up the timeless art and culture is priceless.
