London, Day One

(finally I can post!)
So I arrived at about 10am at Liz and Rob's flat in the Kilburn area of north-west London. We had some breakfast, and then went to the annual Notting Hill Carnival. The carnival is like a cross between Halloween parade in the Castro and Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC. It's like the halloween one because it is one full neighborhood that just shuts down and is crammed full of human beings listeing to music and milling around. It is like Puerto Rican Day because it has a distinct scummy feeling to it. It was packed, both with people, and with police (as you can see in the photo).

We left the carnival before it became crazy (only 7 stabbings this year vs. over a hundred last year). Had coffee and drinks, and made our way to the eastern end of London, where we were scheduled to have dinner with Marc and Anne, two friends of Liz and Rob, as well as Rob's younger brother, Don. Kelly Miely joined us as well.

We all met up and had drinks at a bar, and then went to the infamous Brick Lane (the city's Bangladeshi center) to "have a curry" as Rob calls it. We ate, drank, had a good time, got back home late, and passed out.