London Duck Tours Read wonderful birthday gift from my friends

My Birthday was a month ago but I remember this gift exactly. My friends invited me for Duck Tour in London. They knew that I love to see new places and they were  right. I enjoyed this tour so much. 

 

ZOSIA and TOMEK 

THANK YOU FOR WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY GIFT

How beautiful a day can be, when kindness touches it!

 

London Duck Tours

An amazing amphibious adventure - when we hop aboard one of the distinctive yellow vehicles, we enter the wonderful world of amphibious travel. See the world-famous sights of London, learn interesting facts about the city, and be entertained with an action-packed live commentary before

 the thrilling splashdown onto the river Thames!

Ducks, originally used in the Second World War, have been completely rebuilt from scratch and modified to meet the stringent safety regulations set by the road and river authorities.

 I came before time to the stop. Waiting for my friends I was walking in river path

 We had super sit there

Originally known as the Millennium Wheel, the London Eye has been sponsored by several global companies including British Airways, EDF Energy and Coca-Cola.  For several years it offered the highest public viewing point in London, until it was superseded by The Shard in 2013. It has appeared in many films, pop videos and documentaries, and has been used as a focus of national celebration for the London Olympic Games in 2012 and the London New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Westminster Abbey

The undisputed masterpiece of the 13th to 16th centuries, Westminster Abbey has been at the beating heart of British religious and royal history for over a thousand years.  It’s been the location of every single coronation since that of William the Conqueror in 1066, and has celebrated no less than sixteen royal weddings.  It’s also right in the middle of Westminster, cheek by jowl with the Houses of Parliament, and still used as a church for day to day regular worship. Most London Duck Tours routes feature the Abbey in their list of sights and landmarks.

Nelson’s Column

The most favourite Corinthian column with a man on top, this 169ft 51m tall monument is a tribute to Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died in 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar. The monument was constructed some 35 years after his death, from 1840-1843.
Designed by William Railton the original cost exceed £43,000. The actual statue of Nelson, by E H Baily, that tops the column, and the four lions to the base, by Sir Edwin Landseer, were only added in 1867.  So a fitting tribute to a great British Hero, but one that took many decades and designers to complete.
The pedestal area features four relief panels cast entirely of captured French guns. They show key scenes from Nelson’s life – The Battle of Copenhagen, The Battle of the Nile, The Battle of Cape St Vincent and, of course, The Battle of Trafalgar.

 

 

Wellington Arch

Partly due to a feeling of national pride after the victories in the Napoleonic Wars, and partly due to a love of all things classical, two colossal arches were planned for London in the early 1800s.  The structures we now call “Wellington Arch” and “Marble Arch” were commissioned in 1825 but both were originally intended for other uses and locations.
Originally named the “Green Park Arch” when constructed in 1826 to a design by Decimus Burton, the Wellington Arch was planned as an imposing and triumphal gateway into London from the west, and would form an outer gateway to Constitution Hill. This was seen as the entry point to the capital, and indeed nearby Apsley House, the London residence of the Duke of Wellington, was nicknamed “No.1 London”

Tate Britain

The Tate Britain Gallery situated on the north bank of the Thames on Millbank holds the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art. It is part of a network of four museum galleries, these include the Tate Britain (until 2000 known as the Tate Gallery) Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives and the Tate Modern, also in Central London.
In 1892 the National Gallery of British Art was given a new location on the site of a notorious former prison, The Millbank Penitentiary. The prison had been used as the departure point for thousands of Prisoners of Millbank (POMs) sent to Australia for a range of severe and petty crimes. The prison was closed and demolished in 1890.
The new gallery was designed in the neo classical style with a grand porticoed entranceway and central dome resembling a temple. On top of the pediment the statues Britannia with a lion and unicorn emphasised the museums function as a gallery of British art. The gallery opened its doors to the public in 1897, displaying 245 works in eight rooms from British artists dating back to 1790.
In 1932 the gallery was renamed The Tate Gallery following a large donation towards the building’s refurbishment by the sugar millionaire Henry Tate of Tate & Lyle. He also donated his own substantial and significant collection of art. The expanded gallery would also house the works of British artists from various other collections, as space in the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square was running out.

 Splashdown

 

 

Houses of Parliament

Completed and opened in 1859 the “new” Houses of Parliament were designed by Sir Charles Barry with interior design by Augustus Pugin, all in the then highly fashionable neo gothic style. The extensive sight covers a huge 8 acres of prime London real estate. It has over 100 staircases, 11 internal courtyards, over 2 miles of corridors, and a mind blowing 1100 rooms. London Duck Tours hopes they give the new MPs a map…or a sat nav to find their way around the corridors of power!

 

 

 

The famous office of Mr Bond

All James Bond fans will recognise it instantly, as the Mi6 building has been seen in many feature films including GoldenEye (1995), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002), Sky Fall (2012) and, most recently in SPECTRE (2015). For those with a special interest, dare we say obsession, with all things James Bond, then we do recommend our James Bond Tour, which operates on the first Sunday of every month – and unlike his martini, you’ll be shaken and stirred! But back to Mi6…

MI6

Mi6, known as the The Vauxhall Cross SIS Building, is the official headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service. The mid 1990s designed building is located at the Albert Embankment on the bank of the River Thames.  Opened by the Queen on its completion in 1994, the building is best viewed from the river and of course from your London Duck Tour!  Designed by Terry Farrell, it is nicknamed within the intelligence community as “Legoland” and as “Babylon-on-Thames” due to its resemblance to an ancient Babylonian ziggurat.

 Lambeth Palace
This red brick medieval palace is the official home of the Archbishop of Canterbury – the leader of the Church of England, a role that has existed for over 1400 years. Located on the south bank of the River Thames, directly opposite the Houses of Parliament, Lambeth Palace offers some remarkable and often painted views of Westminster.
London Duck Tours recommends a brief wander along the riverside towards Lambeth Palace from our departure point and past the London Eye at sunset, just as the Embankment lights are switched on, as they really do frame the romantic views of the Thames and Westminster perfectly. 

It was wonderful Birthday gift from my friends