Searching for a Destination Unknown: This Day in History v.15

Friday, August 27, 2010

This Day in History v.15

What a welcome to London! The first week were there was the August Bank Holiday and the Knotting Hill Carnival. Talk about ridiculousness! In 2007 and in 2008, there were 850,000 people (each year) who went to the 2 day carnival....crazy.

A little bit about it:

Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which since 1966 has taken place on the streets of Notting Hill, London, each August, over two days. It is led by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean population, many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it the second largest street festival in the world, only after the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.

Its twenty miles of vibrant colourful costumes surround over 40 static sound systems, hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, over 40,000 volunteers and over 1 million Notting Hill carnival revellers.

This is the only annual event I got to go to twice during my year in London. It just happened to be the first weekend I was there and the week before I left the country. The first time I went with my new roomies and it was conviently close to where I lived and the second time I explored with Hannah. The music, the colours, and the smells were all delightful but thankfully I only went during the day because I think at night it gets a bit rowdy.

White boys in any country can't dance

WTF?

The music was so loud that my chest vibrated.

My roomie Van with some random chicks in the festival.

The costumes were ridic but colorful!

Uhhh????

Sooooo many people!

Crowds EVERYWHERE! Don't even think you can get on the metro or find a bus.

I was invited to my boss Melissa's friends house whose roof overlooked the carnival. Talk about craziness. It took FOREVER to get to. But it was awesome!