and so i woke up at 740 am and doodled around and went out around 830am, suspecting that i wun be able to beat the crowds... and i was right. the Metro was so crowded even at 845am... =( but the breathtaking view at the tidal basin made up for everything! i have never ever seen so many cherry blossom trees in bloom... i just wished i werent' alone and that there weren't so many ppl... and also watched bits of the National Cherry Blossom Parade, and went for the Jap street festival, where i bought authentic jap green tea ice cream, tako balls and my childhood favorite- red bean fish! (they used to have that years ago in Yaohan at Parkway Parade...) i also saw some really huge flower posters from Hokkaido and i really really wanted to get those, but i know i'll never be able to transport them back to California safely.. and so i could only admire... and i discovered that i really do like jap stuff, jap culture, jap food quite a bit... and the weather was perfect! sunny but cool enough... alright, i dont think i can describe how beautiful the flowers were.... so... let the pictures speak for themselves =)