LaMarche family

Westminster Abbey

David and I had another amazing opportunity to travel - this time is London, England provided by Springs Window Fashions. We have 4 nights here and 2 nights in Hampshire, then we head back. We got four nights at home between the cruise and this trip - the kids have one week of school left!

Travel day, Monday, May 12-13, 2025 - our flight to ALO to ORD was delayed 4 hrs and it was a miracle we got to London on time for the first event. The London flight took off at 10pm and we arrived approx Noon time. Dave and I both slept decent and felt ok when landing. The best part was being lucky enough to get front exit row seats, so we could really stretch out our legs and had easy access to the bathrooms!

exit row - yesss - those little things matter when you're stuck on a plane for 8-9 hrs

Martha is at home with our kiddos to facilitate things and help them through their last week of school!

Tues, May 13, 2025

We were greeted at the airport and transported by the Springs hospitality team to the Hyatt Regency Churchill hotel - we had a little time to rest/shower. grab quick lunch, and get ready for the welcome event at the Westminster Abbey.

The Westminster Abbey is absolutely gorgeous. It has a 1000 year history. It started as a simple abbey with monks in 900s, was improved/enlarged in 1040 by Edward the Confessor, and commissioned to be a larger church by Henry III in 1245 with its full on size/height/buttress gothic construction. I didn't know it was a resting place/tomb site for so MANY noteable people! Isaac Newton, Elizabeth I, George Frederic Handel, Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, David Livingstone, lots of royals in history (Henry III, church was built for him), Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry V, Henry VII...the list goes on. The Unknown Warrior is a symbolic burial place for WWI British soldiers - the only one not able to be walked on. Royalty for hundreds of years have been crowned in this place, going back to William the Conqueror in 1066 (he's the first known monarch to be crowned king in that place), and many royal weddings (Prince William and Kate) have taken place there. The sun shining was a unique thing - people say the weather is never this clear.

I remember reading about David Livingstone and his missionary work to the kids during the homeschool years.

Winston Churchill acknowledgement - NOT a gravestone

coronation chair from the 1300s!

tomb of the unknown soldier - not allowed to walk on this one

Isaac Newton's grave

Darwin's grave

this is the backdrop of William and Kate's wedding

George Frederic Handel's grave

Charles Dicken's grave

Handel was apparently proud of his music - this statue depicts him with his hand pointing up because he was so confident his music was being played in heaven

some very old paintings rubbed off for political reasons

cloister dedicated to British Royal Navy - that little white circle in the lower left was caused by WW1 bombing and they never patched it.

unique upside down parasol type ceiling - like no other in the world - they seem to "hang down"

British post office

probably an unused telephone pole

After the tour of the Abbey we had a welcome reception and talked with a bunch of other people in our business and had little snacks and drinks. After walking around the town late (10:30pm) and not finding any restaurants open, we ordered room service and split a burger. Going to bed!

Wed, May 14, 2025

We got up early for a planned 8am breakfast meeting at 8am with Heather (president of BB) and Amy (vp of marketing) and another couple Adam and Amanda Shaw from Florida (owners). It was a nice time of connecting over family/work stuff!

Springs planned a bus tour of London for the whole group - so we boarded a big bus at 9:30am and drove all around town with a guide telling us all kinds of things. We got off once to see the changing of the guard and a band play at one of the Buckingham Palace entrances, walk around the gardens, and see the building a little closer.

I didn't take many pics for a couple reasons. 1. pics from a bus window are not great and 2. I was nodding off a good portion of the tour. The drone of the bus and the continuous tour guide voice put me to sleep! I saw Dave nod off a bit here and there too.

Here are the pics from the day:

guard on his horse

Buckingham Palace

There was quite a bit of commotion when some vehicles drove up to the castle - it is suspected it could have been the king himself. There is a flag on top of the palace when he is in town and not traveling, and the flat present indicated he was in London so maybe he was commuting back to the palace?

oh look an old wall...not sure what this is

We got back to our hotel (Churchill Hyatt) around 2ish and I did a little work stuff, ventured out to grab a snack for lunch, Dave did payroll, and I took a nap.

We got dinner at Mielo - a neat little hoppin' place - we got some lamb and chicken.

Thurs, May 15, 2025 - "free day"

We had a hotel breakfast, then our day was open! We decided to experience a London taxi, a Harrod's shopping experience, and a little river cruise and a tour of the Tower of London.

all the taxis look the same - we learned from one driver that the credentials needed to become a taxi driver in London are very rigorous!

inside - very spacious

Harrod's chocolate/candy floor

We booked a tour taking us down the river, and spending some time at the Tower of London.

Walking down to the pier gave us some good views of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower ("Big Ben" is the name of the bell inside that tower)

I just noticed I caught a BIRD in this picture of the Elizabeth Tower

the London Eye - a "ferris wheel" but not quite - there are 32 capsules that hold up to 24 people - it takes 30 min to go around, we did not do this

an old saying "when the lions drink London sinks" -- used to be more common when the tides coming up couldn't be controlled...but a dam has fixed all this over the last few decades

the boat that took us a ways on the Thames River

my one glimpse of The Globe - the replica of Shakespeare's open-air theater, the original was destroyed in the London fire in 1666. We did not go there

"The London Bridge"

the "Tower Bridge"

south-facing city skyline

The end of our tour was a tour of The London Tower, which isn't exactly one tower. It is an old fort/city/building that was initiated by William the Conqueror - a Norman conquest of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. This William is the beginning of the monarchy today - a thousand-year history!

the whole thing in one view

this is the inner building, the one built by William the Conqueror - everything before this were outer walls/moat

the actual jewels/crowns are stored in this building - when the monarchy uses them there are signs that say "in use" but they are all on display here. No photos were allowed. The biggest diamond in the world - 3000 carats (looked like a little clear potato), all the crowns, scepters, etc that sparkle like crazy.

old living buildings from the time of Shakespeare

view of the Tower Bridge from inside the tower

memory of those tortured/killed/beheaded here

the ravens

writing on the wall of people who were imprisoned and tortured

Dave and I were "toured out" after this. We shared a serving of some "fish and chips" at a little stand outside the tower.

We grabbed a taxi back to our hotel to relax and got ready for Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty's theater - it was a phenomenal performance - live orchestra, singing was 10/10, and the show was well done. No video/pics allowed during performance.

.We got some local pizza and headed back to the hotel - a short 15 min walk to help digest the food.

Friday, May 16, 2025

Last day in London - we decided to visit the Churchill War Rooms. It is an impressive walk-through of the actual rooms in the basement of the treasury building that Winston Churchill and his whole team of people used to operate out of during WW2 during the 1940s. It was a self-guided tour with devices/headsets to narrate wherever you were. A ton ton ton of information, so it was a bit like drinking history from a firehose. Glad we went though, it gave a very accurate feel of what life may have been like inside that secret hideaway that never got bombed in the Blitz. This was before Pearl Harbor and the US was neutral and hoped to not get involved.

Transatlantic Telephone Room - where Churchill would call Roosevelt over an encrypted radio signal with updates on the war

a secretary's note to type up

The underground rooms are on the map at the bottom of the garden and looks like a small T - like a little gray tetris puzzle piece. The red marks are where bombs hit all around it - the location of where the British were secretly directing the war did not get hit

After that we enjoyed the sun for awhile. We had watched some London tour videos and found a place we wanted to get a fresh crisp beer and a London Pie - a meat filled pastry whose roots date way back. We went to Windmill Pie and Ale - it was the perfect local pub.

I had steak and mushroom - it was very delicious.

We made a walk through Selfridges - London's most famous department store with American roots. Didn't buy anything, just had a little walk through.

London has never. ending. shopping. There have to be thousands of stores. Every street - LINED with stores and the streets don't end .

Dave enjoyed a stop into Bang & Olufsen's audio store to check out their latest speakers. Amazing sound/very cool technology and look. They are famous for making their speakers look like modern art.

Our farewell dinner was held at the Natural History Museum. We enjoyed a boy's choir under the skeleton of a blue whale and that was a beautiful way to end the London portion of this trip.