To soften the blow of missing our first Japanese spring my friend Katie and I met up in D.C. for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Both of us lived in Japan for 6 years and moved back stateside in the fall of 2018. We stayed at my aunt’s house in Virginia and took the metro into the city first thing in the morning. We arrived at the Smithsonian station at 7 AM and walked towards the cherry blossoms as the sun was rising.
As we got close to the Washington Memorial and spotted the cherry blossom trees surrounding it we couldn’t stop smiling. Katie and I traveled to Kyoto during sakura season, we visited the amazing hydrangea garden in northern Okinawa, and it felt just like old times even though we were a little homesick for Japan the whole time. We hung around the Tidal Basin for 3 hours and I took over 500 photos! It was easily one of the best mornings of my life.
“The National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC, and celebrates the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan”, according to the official website. Don’t miss the Japanese lantern and the pagoda. Also, check out the first cherry trees which were planted by the First Lady and the Japanese ambassador’s wife. If you’re planning on visiting make sure to follow the Cherry Blossom Watch on Instagram for daily updates!
Afterward, we walked around the CityCenterDC and had lunch. We took photos at the Insta-famous watermelon house, rode scooters to the Cherry Blossom Bar (a seasonal pop-up bar) and had some delicious drinks before calling it a day. Scroll down to see almost 100 photos from our magical morning!
^^ thanks kind stranger for taking a cute photo of us! ^^
^ so many airplanes coming in and out of Reagan National Airport, would’ve killed to see the trees from above ^
^^ the ducks were so cute and made me wish I had a zoom lens to capture them better ^^
Have you had the privilege of seeing these beauties in person? If not, time to add it to your bucket list!!
See more from DC: 3 Day Spring Itinerary | CityCenterDC + Watermelon House + Cherry Blossom Pub | Georgetown | Chinatown + Capitol Hill
