FROM ADELAIDE TO EALING, AND NOT BEFORE TIME....

We have been very fortunate to have the viking family from Adelaide - Erik, Leonie and Lauren Rask-Nielsen - include us on their recent maiden voyage from The Great Southern Land to Europe, and after some time tracing origins in Copenhagen and then finding out first hand how rude the French are, they arrived on the Eurostar (which the LegsyBoys have never been on) at the magnificent King's Cross St Pancr(e)as to begin a frenzied stopover.

Welcome....

If you've never been to the UK before then there's no alternative, and so we head to Piccadilly and board the Hop-On-Hop-Off red bus, a guaranteed way to tick the boxes of all the famous sites and sights of London.

The royal family's vintner - No wine under $100

Winston Churchill's cigar supplier

The world's first Hard Rock Cafe

The Walkie Talkie, Cheese Grater and Gerkhin

We do this for several hours before alighting at Oxford Circus and strolling down Carnaby Street for a bite to eat,

then it's back on board before alighting at the Tower Of London.

Traitors' Gate

EL&L are going there later in the week so we catch the river cruise down to Westminster,

always a highlight for any new visitor (come to think of it, it's always mesmerising for someone who lives here!). Houses Of Parliament and Big Ben - tick, Westminster Abbey - check,

Three wise men

and then it's a leisurely stroll up Whitehall just in time to see the changing of the Horse Guards (and what seem to be a spot of animal cruelty!!)

past Trafalgar Square, afternoon tea on Charring Cross Road and zipping into Foyle's bookstore (all six floors of it).

The following day it's off to Watford, the home of Harry Potter World! Goodness knows what they got up to in there (Buzzy and I went and checked out Watford and Luton football grounds instead), but I thought I saw Lauren riding a broomstick over Vicarage Road at one point! Afterwards, we jump into Concord and head up the A40 to the wondrous university town of Oxford, it truly is a magnificent place. We toured around the great university buildings - the fabulous Christ Church (the dining hall was used as the template for the Great Hall in the Harry Potter films),

You'd think academics would know their eating utensils!

walked past the giant dome of the Radscliffe Camera,

and passed by the Bodleian Library and Hertford Bridge (commonly referred to as the Bridge Of Sighs),

and entered the fantastic Museum of History Of Science, the world's oldest purpose-built museum building,

housing mathematical, scientific, physical and astronomical equipment and instruments from various ages,

Slide rules - remember them?

H.C.J.Moseley's apparatus first used to detect penicillin

including Lawrence Of Arabia's field camera and a blackboard with hand written formulae by Einstein himself.

Lewis Carroll's developing equipment

The Eagle & Child pub is the perfect place to have dinner, sitting where Tolkein and CS Lewis once sat sipping pints (we did the same in honour of those literary giants). A long day, but it only takes Concord an hour  to get home.

Pulling the local brew

Cheers Erik: "Jeez, it really is warm!!"

The new day was reserved for seeing museums, and where better than South Kensington. I dropped the vikings off at the Natural History Museum and left them to it for a day of roaming the corridors. So many places, so little time to squeeze in the Science Museum and British Museum as well, surely grounds to come back for another visit.

Next came the Tower Of London tour, and of course, no visit to the Hacienda LegsyBoys is complete without popping around the corner for dinner at Paolo's and to be entertained by the unique maitre d Stefano.

Saturday and all the girls head off for some London retail therapy...ho hum. Rik, Buzzy and Don Legsy have far more important - and cool - fish to fry. We take the tube to St John's Wood

and then it's just a 5 minute walk to the most famous pedestrian crossing in the world - ABBEY ROAD (see, I told you the boys were doing cool things).

Nothing like...

...keeping a...

...Porsche waiting!

The six photos taken for the album cover

Then just down the road we pop to the home of crikit - LORDS' CRICKET GROUND. We can't get in despite Rik's best endeavours to hoodwink the security guards, but pick up a souvenir or two.

The W.G. Grace Gates

Then it's over to south London for a coffee and a wander through the streets of Brixton, once a racial war zone but now a simmering mixture of cultures...and the birthplace of David Bowie.

Time to head back into the city where we meet up with girls for high tea in the Diamond Jubilee Tea Room at Fortnum & Masons on Piccadilly, a great way to cap off a fab day and indeed visit from Rik, Leonie and Lauren.

RLL spent their final day continuing their exploration of London's museums, including a visit to see the Rosetta Stone and other relics at the mighty British Museum (Tourist Note: how fantastic is it that the some of the world's greatest museums and galleries are completely free to enter in London). All too soon it was time for Heathrow Terminal 3 - thanks for coming amigos, it was a privilege to be able to share in your first overseas holiday...to paraphrase Daddy Cool - come back again, London's just crazy 'bout you babe.