I was joined by about a million of my closest friends this weekend viewing the annual Washington DC spring ritual known as the Cherry Blossom Festival. Every year in late March/early April, white and pink flowers come alive on thousands of cherry trees located throughout downtown. The most famous and beautiful location is around the Tidal Basin where cherry trees ring the water and their branches form a canopy over the walkway around the perimeter. Traffic was horrendous, but riding my bicycle downtown allowed me to move quicker than the cars and to see the cherry trees along the shores of East Potomac Park as well as the famous ones at the Tidal Basin. 
The original trees were a gift from the mayor of Tokyo in 1912. Many of the tourists at the festival were Japanese, and yes, they took lots of pictures. Walking amongst the trees this year and thinking about their history brought thoughts of the people of Japan and their struggles to contain the nuclear power plant radiation while recovering from last month’s earthquake and tsunami. Thomas Jefferson presides over the festival each year from his pedestal in his Monticello styled monument. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s monument, a short walk from Jefferson’s, received many more visitors than normal this weekend. The major memorials in DC (Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, WWII, and Vietnam) are best visited during quieter times. They all tell a powerful story and respectful quiet is appropriate. That was of course impossible this weekend with the throngs of visitors. So if in the future you come to DC to see the cherry blossoms, come back another time to properly experience the memorials.
Friday was the peak day for the blooms and they will be mostly gone by next weekend. Cold, nasty weather shortened the peak blooming period this year and we had to wait until Sunday for a sunny day with temperatures above 50 deg F. The show was worth waiting for though and my words cannot properly describe the sight, so enjoy these pictures that I took.
No comments:
Post a Comment