Flee From The Flowers: Spots Away From The Crowd

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THEY'RE HEEEEE-ERE. THE National Cherry Blossom Festival has begun, and so has the tourist season. Everyone from Buddhist monks to Midwestern vacationers has come to look at the pretty flowers, and all you want to do is be alone.

They're standing on your escalators (on the left, of course), they're taking your table at Capitol Lounge and they're clogging up your streets. Want to get away? Here are a few places the herds won't think to visit, where you can sit in a corner and snarl at anyone who comes near.

Your best bet is to go somewhere that isn't Metro accessible, but since you probably don't have a car either, that isn't really an option. Instead, stick to Metro stops the tourists won't be familiar with, like Columbia Heights.

Radius Pizza, in Mount Pleasant, is your basic pizza and beer spot. It's less swank than Pizzeria Paradiso, but that one is located in Dupont Circle, which is practically tourist Ground Zero. Visit Radius early to take advantage of their weekday happy hour (5 p.m.-7 p.m.), when drafts and appetizers are half-price. On Mondays, you can also snag half-price pasta dishes.

If you want to stick to the Red Line, try Cleveland Park. Yes, it's perilously close to the zoo, another tourist spot, but you should be safe from the mobs if you find a suitably dark bar. Atomic Billiards, has beer specials between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and plenty of pool tables to distract you from the wanton trampling of our fair city occurring outside.

And when the bar is closing, you can sneak down and look at the cherry blossoms yourself. A true D.C. denizen knows they're most beautiful at night anyway.

» Radius Pizza, 3155 Mount Pleasant St. NW; 202-234-0808. (Columbia Heights)
» Atomic Billiards, 3427 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-363-7665. (Cleveland Park)

Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post