London: Aug 31: Notting Hill Carnival (again) and more

I had Monday off because it was what the Brits call a bank holiday.

First, I took the opportunity to re-visit the Notting Hill Carnival for lunch. It was more packed than yesterday, and there were more parties on the street, sometimes with real musicians (drummers). I also saw more policemen than the previous day. Walking became a crawl once or twice. The police definitely managed the flow of people; for instance, I tried to leave the district on the same street I entered, but I couldn't -- police had made it a one-way pedestrian street. I had to detour a few blocks to find the proper way out. Furthermore, there were crazy lines not just for food but to enter the nearby tube stations. (They closed the main/closest tube station due to crowds, but nevertheless the other tube stations nearby were so crowded that we had to queue to enter the station.)

After my festival re-visit, I met up with Di Yin and two other people to hang out for the afternoon. We met at Harrods, one of the Britain's famous department stores. Naturally, having met there, the first thing we did together was to wander through it. It's a big store; it appears to have everything.

We spent the middle part of the afternoon wandering through the very English Regent's Park. It's pretty. It was a warm, sunny day, a perfect day for a stroll in a park. We only walked through part of the park.

In late afternoon, I brought them to tour my company's offices. They were impressed with our micro-kitchens and canvas beach chairs, among other things. We relaxed for a spell, then called it a day and went our separate ways.

I snapped these pictures during the day's outing. Di Yin also took some. That link goes the first picture she took this day. The rest of her pictures are relevant. If you're in slideshow mode and begin seeing pictures of our local neighborhood, Southfields, you've finished the set and have cycled back to the beginning of her album, which are pictures I already linked to.