Here's your chance to marvel at Washington DC's famed cherry blossoms from home
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The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival will be hosted online as social distancing remains the norm.
April is the time of the year when captivating cherry blossoms pop in time for the spring season.
Like the season it represents, cherry blossoms are associated with love, renewal, beauty, and even the impermanence of life and moments around us.
In the U.S., the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. attracts visitors and spectators from all walks of life every last week of March to the first week of April.
It was part of Washington's local tradition to commemorate the goodwill between Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki and the city, with the former donating the cherry trees as a symbol of friendship between the two cities on March 27, 1912.
Since then, pretty pink cherry blossoms would bloom around this time to the delight of Washington residents and tourists.
The COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, means that there will be no crowds and loud festivities to mark the occasion as social distancing remains the norm.
To make it up, organizers are inviting the public to celebrate virtually instead by visiting the National Cherry Blossom Festival website.
This year's so-called peak bloom of the cherry blossoms is projected to happen on April 2 and 5.
Spectators from home can see the cherry blossoms by accessing the #BudCam and #BloomCam sections on the website.
“Live view of the National Mall Tidal Basin from the roof of the Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C., courtesy EarthCam,” the website said.
“BloomCam will rotate views approximately every 60 seconds. Note that due to the high amount of users, the video feed may freeze for a couple of seconds. If the feed is not loading, please refresh your browser.”
The Tidal Basin location mentioned is where the thousands of cherry blossoms are planted and is the best place to visit to enjoy the yearly dainty spectacle.
Meanwhile, if you want to witness more cherry blossoms, the historic Honpō-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan will be staging a virtual concert on April 3 to celebrate the peak bloom of surrounding pink and white cherry blossoms. The event is ticketed and priced at £15 or around P1,000. Tickets are available for purchase.
Take a look at some of our celebrities who enjoyed cherry blossom season abroad:
