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!

Lesson Learned TFL-Bayswater Art Market and Peter Pan!

Kensington Garden-on what BBC called a SUNNY day. liars.

Peter Pan statue-Don't know if the statue or J.M. Barrie's books Peter Pan in Kensington Garden came first

I found it odd that they built that random skyscraper right across the street from such a tranquil place since most of them are in the City! Maybe they don't have zoning here either.

Thought this was so cute!

Bayswater Art Market-Didn't see anything I liked except for the artist I bought from last year in April

hahahahaha. a memorable artist from my trip there last April

Other side of Bayswater Road-at Queensway Station

On my walk to Notting Hill-you can tell even from this shot just how sunny it was outside.haha

On my way to Portobello Road

A sampling of Portobello Road stores that are not antiquariums

So I learned a very valuable lesson today about traveling on the weekends with planned tube engineering works-it's a pain even if my tube stop isn't closed (tfl stands for Transport for London). I thought because part of each of the lines I needed were open, that I could hop lines to get to where I needed to be. Well this worked well enough getting to Queensway where I could walk up and down Bayswater to get to stops like Lancaster Gate, Notting Hill Gate, and Marble Arch. So I spent about 2 hours walking arlound the art market, in Kensington Garden, and up Portobello Road (yes, the Portobello Road market was yesterday, but I cannot wake up in time for the market anymore-that's the good thing about the Bayswater Art Market-the artists get there around noonish!). By the time I was done with this, and ready to go home, I was exhausted and had no idea what I was in for. 2 hours later, 5 tube station changes later, and one standing bus ride, I finally made it back to Bob's. Apparently, things don't work the same way going back Southeast as they do going Northwest on the tube map. And the 137 bus decided to play it's role by not going to Oxford Circus, and instead of being every 8-10 minutes, being every 40 minutes. Lesson learned London-stay in on the weekends or within walking range! Still a good day though!