Cherry Blossoms Blooming

So I went into D.C. today to see the cherry blossoms and use up the roll of film in my camera. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, but the city was flooded with people. I took the metro because there was no way I was driving. D.C. traffic is bad enough on a normal day. But the peak of the cherry blossoms? Crowded metro it is!

The cherry blossoms were beautiful, of course. I tried to get to the Jefferson Memorial, which probably has the best view of them, but it was so crowded that I gave up half way there. Out of curiosity, I also went to something called the Ripley Garden, which is off the Mall, between the art museum and the round building which I think is also an art museum. It was small but very nice, with flowers of every color. It was a nice place to get out of the sun and away from the crowds.

But the Washington Monument! What have they done to you? It is now open to the public, but you have to get tickets at the beginning of the day (8:30 am) on a first come, first served basis. I got there around 2pm, so there was no way I was going to get to go up inside it to take pictures of the cherry blossoms and the Mall from above. All signs of life have been stripped away from around the monument. There are now tacky wooden and chain link barriers lining Jefferson Avenue and everything between them and the monument is dirt except for some trees near the road. Somebody please tell me they’re still working on improvements and that this is just temporary! It was a horrible scar on an otherwise beautiful landscape.