notting hill carnival

Last weekend was the Notting Hill Carnival.

Lots of people, lots of music, lots of police, did I mention lots of people?

Portobello Rd.

Cookies!

The masses approach...

And buy...

And eat...

The chef taking it easy

Big crowd in the background

Mounted police

Police getting bussed in

Overall, it went a lot more smoothly than the previous years.

Only one reported knifing and 200 or so arrests.

Notting Hill is pretty much back to it's nice, residential self again.

last weekend...

Last weekend we went to the Chelsea Physic Garden.

It was an oasis in an otherwise posh and bustling part of the city.

My favorite parts were:

The "listed" rock pool built with volcanic basalt and massive shells brought back as ballast by explorers from Iceland, as well as bits of masonry from the Tower of London.

The seemingly unexciting slime at the bottom of that mini stream above, which is actually "nature's stickiest glue". It captures insects with make-believe bubbles that look like fresh liquid and then trap and consume the insects themselves!

The "living stones", plants that look like the stones surrounding them- talk about good camouflage.

And the fern house- full of luscious ferns from all over, including some rare and delicate ones from Ireland.

The garden was founded in 1673 by a group of apothecaries who wanted to grow plants for use in their medicines as well as teach their apprentices to care for the plants they needed. In the course of history the site was acquired by Dr Hans Sloane (after whom nearby Sloane Square is named) and the rent for the site was fixed forever at £5 (which is still paid).

The long history means that many important plants were introduced to Britain first in the Chelsea Physic Garden. The garden went through lots of ups and downs and in 1983 was threatened with closure. This forced them to set up a charity to run it and open the gardens to the public!