Notting Hill Carnival
One of the things that we were most excited and nervous about for our time in the apartment in Notting Hill was that we were going to be there during the infamous Notting Hill Carnival! The second largest carnival in the world, after Rio's, and the largest street festival in Europe, it expected a crowd of 2 million people over the course of two days! Our apartment was 1 block from the parade route, which our neighbor told us was a perfect location. But we got a little nervous when we saw most of the businesses and many of the houses around us board up all their windows (and our neighbor gave us a bike lock to use on our front gate to keep people from using our below-grade doorstep to wee on!)
While it was true that it was easy for us to explore the carnival and return to home when we felt overwhelmed, we didn't realize how incredibly LOUD all the groups would be. Each float had a massive truck with it with a sound system louder than I've ever heard; and to make up for the time periods with no groups going past, there were stationary sound systems at scattered places around the neighborhood.
Sunday was called Family Day, although I assume most families might not consider it totally kid-friendly. The fun started at 6am with J'ouvert when apparently (we didn't go) everyone in the streets dowsed each other with paint and colored flour, so things were already a mess when it officially started at 10am. The parade and events seemed surprisingly loose, but we weren't sure if it was because it rained all day. Many of the groups parading through the streets had groups of kids, mostly wearing rain ponchos.
There was a very large police presence
and they were said to be controlling the alcohol and drugs, but we still saw lots of watchers and even performers passing bottles of wine and hard booze around.
Monday turned out to be a day with beautiful weather. We enjoyed seeing the groups go by. Many of the spectators wore face paint and costumes!
Unlike American parades, the groups didn't just parade past - most groups, along with their loud sound system truck, would stop and play/dance/sing at random moments for 10 or 20 minutes and then slowly move on. This meant for us that all day long, in the street or in our apartment, we could hear the BOOM BOOM BOOM of the massive bass. People everywhere were having a blast dancing but I can't imagine the hearing loss of people who spent 6 hours at a time right next to the speakers!
While it was true that it was easy for us to explore the carnival and return to home when we felt overwhelmed, we didn't realize how incredibly LOUD all the groups would be. Each float had a massive truck with it with a sound system louder than I've ever heard; and to make up for the time periods with no groups going past, there were stationary sound systems at scattered places around the neighborhood.
Sunday was called Family Day, although I assume most families might not consider it totally kid-friendly. The fun started at 6am with J'ouvert when apparently (we didn't go) everyone in the streets dowsed each other with paint and colored flour, so things were already a mess when it officially started at 10am. The parade and events seemed surprisingly loose, but we weren't sure if it was because it rained all day. Many of the groups parading through the streets had groups of kids, mostly wearing rain ponchos.
There was a very large police presence
 |
| Can you spot the bottle being passed? |
and they were said to be controlling the alcohol and drugs, but we still saw lots of watchers and even performers passing bottles of wine and hard booze around.
Towards the end of the day, you could see glassy-eyed people sprawled against walls, looking like it wasn't particularly fun any more...
Monday turned out to be a day with beautiful weather. We enjoyed seeing the groups go by. Many of the spectators wore face paint and costumes!
Unlike American parades, the groups didn't just parade past - most groups, along with their loud sound system truck, would stop and play/dance/sing at random moments for 10 or 20 minutes and then slowly move on. This meant for us that all day long, in the street or in our apartment, we could hear the BOOM BOOM BOOM of the massive bass. People everywhere were having a blast dancing but I can't imagine the hearing loss of people who spent 6 hours at a time right next to the speakers!
As you can see, everyone was having a great time!
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