Nagoya Castle and Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical Garden Spring Visit

I've been so busy trying to enjoy as much of the limited cherry blossom blooming as possible that I haven't had time to write anything new in the past few days. So, a bit delayed, but the weekend before last I took M to Nagoya Castle and the Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical Garden hoping to enjoy two of Nagoya's best places to catch the famous cherry trees in bloom. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency the blossoms started to open on March 19th in Nagoya, but with the cool weather they hadn't reached peak blooming stage as I had hopped. At Nagoya Castle we spotted some people picnicking under the trees which a still covered mostly in buds.
At the Higashiyama Zoo we found a lot of people hoping to catch the trees in bloom, but few flowers and mostly buds