Europe String

Guest Blogger: Abby Yao is a Filipina postgraduate student in London preparing her dissertation on women and diaspora. Diagnosed with travel addiction, she also exhibits symptoms such as the persistent urge to blog about everything from pop culture to fine art, for which there is no cure.

On the last Bank Holiday weekend of the year, hundreds of thousands of Londoners flock to the streets of Notting Hill for Europe’s largest street party. West London is transported to the West Indies by parades of Mas bands and samba schools, splashing colour on the rows of white flats in the area. Sound systems dotting the neighbourhood ensure hours of non-stop music and dancing. Nobody goes hungry with stalls offering everything from jerk chicken, curry goat, Jamaican patties sugarcane, corn on the cob, fresh coconuts, and even currywurst. It will be a whole year before the next carnival, but it will be worth marking your calendars for next year’s celebrations on August 24 to 25, 2008.

For more, check out Abby’s Notting Hill Carnival 2007 Flickr Photo Set.