First day of the Cherry Blossom Festival

While we were at the Kite Festival on Saturday afternoon, the Cherry Blossom Festival was holding various performances on a stage close to the Washington Monument so we stopped by on and off to watch.

First up was the Japanese Choral Society of Washington. The older ladies sang a traditional Japanese song. They really reminded me of my grandma and I thought she would like it if she were there.

We then caught the end of Furia Flamenca who we watched last year at the Spanish Embassy during the EU Embassy Open House. I love Flamenco dancing so I was excited to see them again.

An aikido group in the area demonstrated some defensive throws, which look cooler on the photograph than it was in real life. It was like watching a defense demonstration with no instruction on how to do it. No kicking or punching or weapons = lame martial arts demo. We left in the middle of it so maybe it got good afterwards.

In between performances we walked over to the river where the cherry blossoms line the Tidal Basin.  The blooms weren't all the way open yet, they are now, but they were still pretty.  They are so delicate and beautiful.  Too bad they don't last longer.

I love these pictures Albert took :)