Cherry Blossom Festival



Cherry Blossom Ballons!

Over the past weekend my fiancee and I took a trip home to see my parents. Last weekend also happened to be the last weekend and the parade weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. Since DC is only an hour from my home we headed up for the day!

Cherry Blossom Queens
 One from Japan and one from the US

We arrived around 9:30 and walked down to the parade route. We managed to squeeze in and get a pretty good spot. I got tons of pictures from the parade! Lots of High School Marching Bands, floats, horses and cars! We stayed for about 2 hours and the parade still wasnt done!

New York City Firemen

After watching most of the parade we decided to walk to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I wanted to go before the mad rush of people watching the parade started to explore DC, this way I was sure we could get tickets. We got there only to find out that we couldn't get into the exhibit until 3:00, it was only 12! So we walked around the "open" exhibits, meaning the ones you could see with out the ticket.



The Washington Monument



Then we when to the Ronal Reagan Building for lunch, also giving us a much needed break from all the walking! The building was packed with people trying to find tables, stand in line and eat their lunches. My parents stood in line while me and my fiancee scouted for a table. Which we eventually found and a while later, after standing in rediculously long lines it was time to eat! Yummy Chinese food and gyros! After resting and eating we decided to walk around for a while and eventually made our way back to the museum.



The Capital Building



The Holocaust Museum is quite an experience and would highly recommend it to anyone planning a visit to DC, and the tickets are free you just have to get there early because they only give out a certain number per day. But I warn you it is very graphic and has A LOT of reading. You are also given an Identification Card, which has an actual person from the Holocaust in it. You follow their story through the floors, and at the end you find out if you lived or if you were a victim of the Holocaust. It can be quite hard for some.* I've also heard you can get guided tours, but I'm not 100% positive.

My goodies for the day:

 ~2 commemorative cherry blossom buttons

~A commemorative shirt

and

~Me and my fiancee's Holocaust ID cards.



By the time we finished the museum and walked our way back to the truck it was already 5:30! Such a long day, but worth the experience!  I also collected a few items along the way! Both the button's and the shirt were technically "free" but we were asked to give a small donation, in which the proceeds benifit the homeless. We got 2 shirts and 2 buttons for 10 bucks! Quite a good deal if you ask me!

All in all I had a wonderful day! And am so happy I got to spend it with the people I love so dearly!