Washington made its annual transition from winter into the long tourist season on Saturday as thousands of visitors descended for the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival just ahead of a cold front and expected snowfall. With the annual National Marathon also drawing crowds to the National Mall, the action — and traffic — began early in the morning and stretched through the afternoon.
By mid-morning, the crowd at the Tidal Basin stretched all the way around the water’s edge as locals and tourists from all over the country, Europe and Asia snapped photos of the famed blossoms. That is, until John Gould’s 12-year-old cat Pud, started stealing the show.
Pud had nestled himself on a cherry tree branch and was taking a nap while a rotating crowd of about 50 onlookers crowded below to take a picture. Gould said he often takes Pud for a walk downtown.
“He’s met senators, congressmen, Today Show hosts,” Gould said. “There’s easily over 100,000 people who have taken his picture.”
While the crowds on the National Mall grew as the day wore on and the sun warmed temperatures to nearly 50 degrees, several visitors said the bustle was not as intense as they expected.
“I like it this way though — you don’t feel overwhelmed,” said Hayley Brill, a Silver Spring resident.
In addition to the cooler temperatures, the marathon’s numerous road closures likely kept many tourists away until the afternoon as temporary traffic jams followed the parade’s route around the city.
By mid-afternoon, however, rush hour-sized crowds were filling the platforms and trains at the downtown Metro stations.
Marathon runners had not been able to use Metro to get to the race as the agency had decided to open at it’s regular time of 6 a.m. That meant the race’s roughly 12,000 participants had to figure out some other way to get to RFK Stadium by the 6:15 a.m. call time.
“It was a nightmare,” said Brendan, a half-marathon runner from Pittsburgh, who declined to give his last name. Brendan said he ordered a taxi a day ahead and ended up picking up a friend on the way who couldn’t find an open cab the morning of the marathon.
“But what a city to run in,” he added. “It makes up for it.”
