Website: http://www.londonducktours.co.ukToday I went on the London Duck Tour. Tickets have to be booked weeks in advance so, thanks to VB, we were booked in to go today. We turned up early at the official bus stop near Waterloo station:
We were soon seated on the bright yellow duck bus. Although the seating was a bit cramped everyone was in high spirits - they were all excited about the unusual tour that awaited them.The tour was due to start at 1pm so at the appointed time a man climbed on the bus, walked to the front and introduced himself: "Hello, I am Ivan, being your tour leader today. I from my Ukrainian republic. Thank you, please." We all looked disappointed that the tour guide was unable to speak English properly but then he sat down and said "Hi, I'm Nick!" in a fluent English accent.
After a few introductory "Where is everyone from!?" questions, we were on our way. We first learnt that the Borough of Lambeth was named after "the place where lambs birth". We then set off towards Westminster and passed a big protest:
The tour guide cracked a lot of good jokes about Big Ben and Boudicca. I was impressed with his knowledge of the different statues on display in Parliament Square and Whitehall.We passed up through Trafalgar Square:
and then drove along Pall Mall (named, apparently, after an old-fashioned croquet-like game called Palle Maille). We were told about the weird things inside all the grand buildings we passed (e.g. a big swimming pool in one of them where the Queen would go swimming). Up next to Piccadilly we passed the Ritz hotel. Apparently Charlie Chaplin once worked here but was fired after sliding down a bannister...Past Green Park we learnt it was built on a leper cemetery (which is why it's green - the gardeners didn't want to dig down to make any flower beds!). Past Wellington Arch:
We went down past Buckingham Palace and through to the river again. We crossed Vauxhall Bridge and approached the imposing MI6 building.
This was the unexpected river-entry point. We pulled into a little road just next to MI6 and our road driver got off and our "waterman" got on. Without further delay we were moving forward, speeding down the ramp to the Thames and SPLASH! we floated down into the water:
Luckily the water didn't come in through the windows. We chugged along the Thames towards the Houses of Parliament and kept a pace with two canoers:
While on the river our tour guide told us some facts and figures about the river (e.g. how many fish species are there, it's history, it's name (from an old Latin word for "dark" since it's so muddy)). It was fun to see the sights from waterlevel and the river-facing decorations:
Unfortunately we didn't go any further down than the Houses of Parliament before turning around and leaving the river where we entered. We were soon back on the road and heading back towards where we started. We learnt that the Kinks song "Waterloo Sunset" was written while Ray Davies was recovering in St Thomas' Hospital.During the ride we attracted a lot of attention from the general public due to our flamboyant vehicle:
There was also a few opportunities for some arty photos:
Summary: It's fun to do a tour of the city you live in - even more so in a duck boat. I enjoyed the trip - especially because of the lively jokes from the tour guide.
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