What's With All The Mood Lighting?

Thursday November 10th, 2022

As most flights to Europe go, this was a 7 hour red-eye direct to London arriving at 9:45am London time. This means you have 7 hours or less to try and get some sleep. Yeah, not for this girl. I tried. We played a geography game for an hour then watched Top Gun Maverick (solid) and the mild turbulence during the movie made it feel like we were in one of those fancy seats that move at the movie theatre HAHA. I closed my eyes for a few hours but sleep never came. Maybe it was the funky mood lighting in the plane all night…  blues, purples… felt like a nightclub! Or maybe it was the butt cramps for the entirety of the flight. Good times! 

The simplest, most cost effective and direct way to get to Paphos was via London Gatwick but with an almost 24-hour stopover. That means we get a full day to explore! I booked a very reasonably priced hotel right outside the terminal and when we went to drop off our luggage found out it was 7bp (british pounds) to store our bags until we got back of 10bp to get early check-in and get the room. UHHHH no brainer!  Room it is! Thank you ma’am! So that was a lovely unexpected surprise as there is no guarantee they’ll have a room available that early, but there was and so we were able to get the room, put our stuff there, relax for an hour before taking the train into the city.

By the time we got into London proper, it was 1pm. Got out at London Victoria to centralize ourselves and with the Tube workers being on strike, we wouldn’t couldn’t rely on that to get us around. But really we only have about 5-6 hours to explore, enough to tire us out before going back, getting to sleep early for a 4:45 am wake up to catch the flight to Paphos. Plus, we’ve both been to London and so it was more of a re-visit. It’s been 12 years for me, so it was nice to catch some of the sights again.

London Victoria station is in the heart of the city and walking distance to most main sites, Westminster, Buckingham, Hyde Park, London Eye, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square etc etc… so we hoofed it around. Last time Scott was here Big Ben was under repair so he got to see it in all its glory, nice and shiny now too!! We wanted to go into Westminster Abbey as neither of us had been inside, but not for 27bp…we went into St-Margaret’s instead for 0. 

Given the proximity to Rememberance Day, there was a lovely Field of Rememberance throughout the garden outside Westminster Abbey full of commemorative crosses and poppies for fall soldiers all around the world. It was lovely. Anyone could walk through, place a poppy in a section that was appropriate. There was a section for Canada. We also heard some music and so followed our ears and came upon the guards practicing for the Rememberance Day service that would be aired on the BBC the next day. 

Down by the river we came across a wall covered in hearts. Upon closer inspection we learned that the wall had been covered in hearts to dedicate to anyone who had perished from COVID. It was sobering. The wall followed along the river for as far as we could see and every heart had a name or names in it. Truly remarkable to see. Two lovely but very sombre dedications.

Not having slept (much for Scott, or at all for me) we were getting tired by 4pm. But kept at it for a bit longer, hoping to find a store that sold the Mystery Hour Board Game (long story, ask me in person). Sadly, we only found 1 promising store that sold board games and unfortunately did not have it. We finished off our London exploration at The Shakespeare pub right across the street from the train station. A few drinks, some nachos and we were both exhausted and ready to get some sleep.

Did I? No… I did not. Hello travel insomnia, my old friend. As I type this I am now over 48hours with nothing more than eye rest. By the time night rolls around around I will be in the 60 hour range. Scott on the other hand…

Maybe it actually IS the mood lighting, because the hotel had it too! Funky purple headboard lights - Moo was loving it!  Time for a photoshoot he says!