The  Notting hill Carnival

I was lucky enough to attend Europe's largest street festival this past weekend and needless to say my expectations were surpassed in style. Huge floats, a jubilant atmosphere and colourful costumes were the order of the day.  Having lived in a small town like Windhoek I always read about carnivals of this scale and often imagined what it would be like to attend one. It was a mixture of different cultures whose different stories where told just by looking at the  visually attractive  floats and elegantly designed costumes.

My journey to the Carnival wasn't easy. I had the same plan as thousands of other carnival goers and as you can imagine travelling was a little bit of  nightmare. Buses were diverted and the main Notting hill tube station was also closed due to the festival. Of course I went with friends as going alone to something like this didn't seem optional, meeting up in a group was made so much more difficult than it should have been due to the masses of people found everywhere. When we finally met up with each other we decided to follow the parade right until it reached the end point. This was a way to ensure that we did no miss any of the astonishing sights on display at the carnival and allowed us to take as many pictures as humanly possible.

 My Only criticism of the carnival would have to be that it was overly sexual in its nature. People were dressed in as little as possible and were grinding all over each other. Alcohol was everywhere and most of the people at the carnival probably will not even remember seeing such an amazing parade.  It somehow made me feel uncomfortable in the beginning but I was able to overlook this minor  part of the event and focus on aspects I enjoyed. I loved the fact that there was a carefree atmosphere during he whole day, people forgot all their problems and came out to do one simple thing, which was have fun. Strangers smiling at strangers  and people being happy for no apparent reason was something I often don't get to see on a normal basis. My favourite part of the event was undoubtedly the food  (jerk chicken, rice, corn) and coconut water which was absolutely refreshing given the hot temperatures of the day. The music was so contagious and even though I am not much of a dancer I found myself moving to the beats of the drums and watching the dancers in the parade in complete awe. Summer is almost over here in London and this was by far the best way to savour the last signs of the sun before the cold strikes in a few months time.