Hanami in Amstelveen

This April, I had the immense pleasure of visiting the Cherry Blossom Park (Kersenbloesempark) in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, when the trees were all in full bloom. The weather was amazing, as was the atmosphere: loads of people enjoying the serenity that picnicking below the cherry blossom brings. No wonder the Japanese practice hanami (花見, flower viewing) every year.

Back in 2000, Amstelveen's Japanese community celebrated 400 years of ties between the Dutch and Japanese by donating 400 sakura cherry trees. These were planted in the forest next to Amstelveen, the Amsterdamse bos. Now, 15 years later, the trees have grown beautifully and are blossoming nicely every April, in the area known as the aforementioned Cherry Blossom Park.

Of course, I didn't just bring a nice lunch: I brought my camera, and took a bunch of pictures! Using Adobe Lightroom, I stitched them together into panoramic photos of the scene. Please find them below, and let me know what you think!