Cherry blossom festival,Washington D.C-a beautiful sight

hi all,
As spring makes an entry around the world, the city of washington d.c has its own unique way of ushering in the spring…
Every year, the thousands of cherry trees along the Tidal Basin (in the banks of the Potomac river in Washington D.C)break into bloom in end march- mid april. The flowers last for just a couple of weeks at the most, and the peak period is just a few days. The flowers are white and light pink, and the entire river bank is a beautiful sight in white.
The trees where originally planted in 1912 as a gift of the then mayor of Tokyo, Japan.

The trees are closely watched and the blooming period is forecast. A cherry blossom festival is held to celebrate the blooming with lots of events. Thousands of visitors from all over pour into Washington to see the beautiful trees.

We went to see the cherry blossoms yesterday, and it was a wonderful sight. Though there are thousands of visitors, elaborate parking arrangements have been made around the area and shuttles transport visitors from the many parking lots to the Tidal Basin. Trees full of white blossoms line the entire banks of the Potomac river, and it is a lovely sight as you take a walk down the river. You can also take a boat ride on the Potomac river and take in the lovely sights of the flowers on the edge of the waterfront, as well as the Washington monument on one side and the Jefferson memorial on the other.
Outside the Jefferson memorial, a stage is set up and events are continuously taking place (we even heard some Pakistani songs !)
There are numerous stalls selling snacks and souvenirs (and yet the surroundings are maintained quite well!)

I had a lovely time seeing the beautiful blooms yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you all.

Chk out this link for more details about the cherry blossom festival

rgds,
sowpar

some of the pics i took....:

Hi Sowpar,

Beautiful pictures! You have captured them very well.

By the way, was it not raining in DC yesterday? Infact, we wanted to make a trip this weekend for the festival, but couldnt make it cos of our kids baseball classes.

But you know what, their classes got cancelled due to rain at the last minute....and then we thought we could have atleast made it here..anyway...we have to wait till next time..

Keep posting more pics ...

Cheers
Krithika( Jithiks)

hi krithika,
thanks for the compliments !
it started to rain in the morning,but it wasnt heavy and soon stopped...so it was nice,though quite a bit windy and cold....
bad luck u couldnt make it yesterday...y don't u try nxt week, if the blooms are still around....u could keep chking the updates...

rgds,
sowpar

Hey Sowpar,

Will try this weekend...but the kids again have their baseball...so need to wait & watch.

Cheers
Krithika

Hi Sowpar,
Nice pictures. We went to cherry blossom festival in Tidal basin in 2005.
It was a colorful and memorable. When we were there one nice American
lady volunteered and took pictures of us in excellent manner. Timely thread.

hi vidhya,
thanks for the reply....even we (dh & i) were taking pics of each other,so one lady volunteered and took pics of us too...nice of them, na ?

Originally Posted by vidhyalakshmid

Hi Sowpar,
Nice pictures. We went to cherry blossom festival in Tidal basin in 2005.
It was a colorful and memorable. When we were there one nice American
lady volunteered and took pictures of us in excellent manner. Timely thread.

hi krithika,
oh,ok. lets hope u can work out something to make it...keep us posted if u go there too...

Originally Posted by Jithiks

Hey Sowpar,
Will try this weekend...but the kids again have their baseball...so need to wait & watch.
Cheers
Krithika

So wonderful pics, dear! Thanks for sharing...

Wow sowpar
Nice article and good pictures...........................thanks for sharing

Hey, Thanks for sharing the beautiful pics,

Hi,

Thanks for sharing the pictures .After reading your thread asked DH to visit Cherry Blossom this weekend but no luck,he said busy .May be next week.



Cheers
Mitra