I have to complain, though, about the numbers of national chains in the voting. I mean, are people really going to vote for Papa John’s over Pizza Paradiso? Or Starbucks over Sparky’s for coffee? Over half the entries in the Women’s Clothing Store category are for chain stores. Is it that there’s a lack of local shops, or that the readers of the post just don’t know about them? Or that the chains are just doing a better job than local stores?

(Some of my votes: Amsterdam Falafel Shop for cheap eats, Sticky Fingers Bakery for bakery, and Politics and Prose for best bookstore.)

As seen along the east branch of the metro’s red line, looking east.

As I was trying to find out more information about this stretch of road, I came across this article that ran in the Post last year. The article talks about the growing diversity of religions in the Montgomery County area. It’s really something, though, to drive down New Hampshire Ave and see such a diversity of faiths represented. As much as we may moan about the increase in population in the area and the subsequent crunch in housing and on the Metro, it’s nice to know that we can all get along.

I was at the Ikea in College Park looking at furniture this afternoon. When I got back to my car, I found this VW golf parked in front of it. I got a kick out of the placement of the sticker.

You have to try the green tea frappe. I had the non-dairy version, and I couldn’t believe how good it was (Starbucks, eat your heart out). I spoke with the owner while I was there last time, and he is a tea snob in the best way. He creates all the tea drinks himself, and uses high-quality matcha tea, as opposed to the more common sencha type. They also have iced unsweetened green tea, which is something that’s pretty hard to find. I’m a bit of a tea snob myself, so I tend to notice these types of things.

The food is really good, too. I should warn that some of the sandwiches are a bit on the small side, so you might want to get a small side to go with it. Their “Green Specialties,” though, come with a lot of food.

Java Green has lunch specials during the week, and they recently started to open on Saturdays. They’re worth checking out, especially if you’re one of the many people who work in the area.

So if you’ve noticed rush hour getting worse over the past year or so, you can take to heart that it’s not just you imagining things. There are indeed increasing numbers of people living, and thus commuting, in DC. I wonder how long the local traffic infrastructure will hold up. Driving downtown is already crazy, and driving in some of the close-in suburbs is quite unpleasant. Metro is reaching ever-higher levels of ridership. Also consider the lack of affordable housing in the area. It’s hard for a single college grad to find an affordable place to live, not to mention an immigrant family. Area governments are going to have a lot to deal with in the near future, and they need to begin planning for growth now.

Despite concerns of bad weather earlier on this week, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. In turn, the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s street festival (a.k.a. Sakura Matsuri) was mobbed. This picture is of the crowd along the food serving area. The beer garden is marked by the giant inflated Sapporo beer bottle.