Around the world, cherry blossoms are reaching their peak, outdoor markets are opening for the season, and short shorts are being unpacked and dusted off—spring is finally upon us. It’s that time of year when the weather is too gorgeous to worry about Obama’s new budget or North Korea’s continuing threats. To celebrate, here are some of the best images of the blooming spring.
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Vegetables and daffodils are seen on a 150-square-meter garden installed on the roof of the Palais de Tokyo museum near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This temporary rooftop garden was created by three-star Michelin French chef Alain Passard, who specializes in vegetable cuisine.
People soak up the sun in Tompkins Square Park during warm weather on April 9. For the first time since October, temperatures rose above 70 degrees in New York and surrounding areas.
A bee pollinates the flower of a cherry blossom tree at Branch Brook Park in Newark. After frigid temperatures during the first few weeks of spring, warm weather is expected in northern New Jersey this week.
Cold temperatures invaded northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during the first week of April, causing icicles to hang from the spring flowers.
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Visitors walk past azalea blossoms at the Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province in late March.
Kashmiri schoolchildren walk through a tulip garden on the outskirts of Srinagar, India, on April 3. Kashmir, known for its mountains, lakes, forests, and moderate weather, was one of Asia's most popular tourist destinations until a Muslim separatist rebellion broke out in the region at the end of 1989. With the situation improving, many tourists have started returning to Kashmir.
On April 8, the day before the 10-year anniversary of the fall Baghdad to U.S. forces, Iraqi workers garden in Firdos Square near the pedestal from which the statue of late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was famously toppled.
Kashmiri parkgoers walk past blooming almond orchards as spring arrives at Badamwari in Srinagar on March 18. Spring has arrived in Indian-administered Kashmir, which marks a thawing of the lean season for tourism in the Himalayan region.
President Barack Obama announces his 2014 budget proposal in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 10.
People enjoy a picnic on the banks of a pond covered with cherry-blossom petals at a park in Tokyo on a hot spring day.
Cherry blossoms reached full bloom in Tokyo on March 22 this year, marking the second-earliest blooming on record for Japan's capital.
A cherry blossom stands beside an ancient Chinese pagoda at the Yuyuan Tan Park during the start of the blossom season in Beijing on March 28. Thousands of residents flock to parks around the city during the one-month blossom season.
