Pull out the Red Stripe!! Notting Hill Carnival

Somewhere near Trafalgar Square on our way to Leicester Square. I got us a little lost-surprise surprise!

Charing Cross Train Station

Leicester Square

Covent Garden

Notting Hill Carnival-Have to drink the Jamaican beer as this is a festival to celebrate Carribean's in London!

Most pubs/bars close down and board up their doors and windows to prevent any damage/mess and bring their business to the street

600,000 people came on Monday-Bank Holiday. 400,000 the day before on Family Day

All the stores board up as well. And get graffittied in the process. Most of the residents either leave, sit on their balconies for the best view without battling the crowds, or rent out their toilets for 1 pound per visitor! Those people must have made hundreds!

The smokiness is coming from all of the food stands that lined the streets.

Second largest street parade in the world-first largest in Europe. Can you see why??

I've been so dissapointed in the blandness of British food, that I couldn't pass up the spicy Carribean food!

Jerk Chicken and a ginormous dumpling. And it was GOOD!

Chloe was telling us about this apartment complex. Apparently when they built it, they forgot to put in a "lift" (elevator), hence the side addition that looks like an after-thought. This is because it totally was an afterthought. Oops.

So Notting Hill area is one of the most expensive zip codes in London, and this is the trash situation from the Carnival. When we left at 7ish, the streets looked like they couldn't handle anymore trash, and it goes until midnight, so needless to say, the cleaning crews had quite a job ahead of them!

the Parade

Decided to leave the carnival and go to the less crowded pubs of Carnaby Street to get a few pints to end the night!

So Robyn and I started out the day by heading to Trafalgar Square. I meant for us to walk up Charing Cross Rd. to Leicester Square, but instead we walked down Northumberland Ave. and came to the River Thames and Embankment instead. We found our way back to Trafalger Square and finally Robyn foudn us the road ont he map to Leicester Square and Covent Garden. Haha, I really impressed her with my directional skills of London.

We ended up meeting Chloe around 2ish at Tottenham Court Road tube station. To get to the carnival was crazy. They had closed down entry to most of the tube stations around the carnival so that they could utilize the escaltors and tunnels for people exiting the stations only. With over one million people attneding the two day carnival, you can only imagine what the tube situation was. They literally had people pushing you into the tube, and even when you thought it was impossible to squeeze even one more person in, somehow like 4 would get on. Luckily we only had about 5 stops from Tottenham Court Road because it was boiling hot, Robyn had her face in some ladies smelly armpit, and we were all getting a bit light headed (not that if you fainted you would be able to fall down-you'd still be standing, just unconscience).

The carnival was defintiely fun, but really crowded as you cna probably gather. After about 5 hours of walking around, we headed out for something a little less crazy! Great experience though!