Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Finally, finally, after a dismal stretch of eighteen (who's counting?) days of rain, the sun came out and gifted us with a delightful day out among Vancouver's spectacular cherry blossoms.

There is an official Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (http://www.vcbf.ca) which runs for a month from March 24. In Metro Vancouver, at least 45 varieties of ornamental cherry trees have been planted over the last few decades and there are at least 18,000 street trees. There are three key blooming seasons for cherry trees: early blooming (January to March), mid-blooming (March to April) and late blooming (April to May). The mid-blooming season contains some of the most spectacular cultivars, especially the Akebono, which are currently at their peak. We printed off the tour map from the website and headed out on foot for a lengthy tour.

Even the most urban spaces had spectacular displays. This is the taxi stand at the Burrard Street SkyTrain station in the middle of downtown.

The blooms make a barren, most ordinary street look special.

They even make an ordinary apartment building look interesting, for a little while anyway...

Groves of blossoms were everywhere.

We especially liked this example of urban landscaping with a backdrop of blooms. The engraving reads:

"In rivers, the water you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes: so with time present" - Leonardo da Vinci

Closer to home, our West Vancouver village of Dundarave has its own blossom show which we enjoy every day while walking to the gym and shops.

It wasn't just cherry blossoms either, many other blooms were on show. Spring seems to be here in earnest now. Hooray!