Steel Bands from Outer Space

Saturday, August 25, 2007

It was a very pleasant, warm Saturday in London. Nothing major planned but we did have a few things that we wanted to do. We got up early and headed toward Notting Hill I had always wanted to go there but never had the chance in February, so finally we were going. This was the weekend of the Notting Hill Carnivale that is held once a year. It is a big Caribbean festival that had more than 1.5 million people from around the world visit last year. While the big party is not until Monday, the bank holiday, we were still looking forward to going on Saturday.

We walked down Portobello Road looking at all the street vendors at the Portobello Market. This is a huge market that is held every weekend in Notting Hill, and with the Carnivale going on it was especially big, the streets were so crowded you could barely move through them. We had been there for about an hour and half and decided we were starved, cereal doesn't stick with you long when you are walking a lot.

Here is a shot down Portobello Road at the beginning of the market


We had lunch at a New Zealand hamburger joint that we had been wanting to go to, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, yummy!!! They had over 30 different burgers to choose from, mostly hamburger and chicken, but lots of different toppings. Their oddest burger was called the Kiwi Burger and had egg, pineapple, beetroot, cheese, and relish atop a burger, not my style. While their burgers were great, their chips (french fries) were to die for. With our system refueled it was back to the market and the task at hand, shopping. Not really, we bought some tomatoes, cucumber, and a brownie, that was about it. But it was a lot of fun looking.

We also stopped in at The Travel Bookstore, this is the store that inspired the book store in the movie Notting Hill. It was a cute bookstore, with tons of travel guides to all over the world. We got our Scotland Top 10 book there, since we are going in 3 weeks.

The Travel Bookstore sign


After a few hours we decided it was time to head down to Hyde Park. This is where the steel bands were going to be playing and competing, the beginning of the actual Notting Hill Carnivale. We got there early, so we sat and had our brownie and rested a little bit, we were flat exhausted. Once we were ready we walked around and listened to several of the bands, got some videos and pictures, and walked around the park a little more. Both of us had a headache so we headed back to our flat a little earlier than planned.

A Close up of one of the steel drum players



An overall picture of one of the large steel drum groups




A beautiful bridge in the lake in Hyde Park



The rest of the night was very uneventful, watching tv, and just sitting around.