Welcome

Добро пожаловать к этому международному месту открытки изображения. Benvenuto a questo luogo internazionale della cartolina di immagine. Καλωσορίστε σε αυτήν την διεθνή περιοχή καρτών εικόνων. Willkommen zu diesem internationalen Abbildungspostkarteaufstellungsort. Bienvenue à cet emplacement international de carte postale. Onthaal aan deze Internationale plaats van de beeldprentbriefkaar. Welcome to this International picture postcard site. (Please Click on the Picture for an Enlarged View)

Monday, October 20, 2014

Kouvola Railway Station, 1902.

Kouvola is a town and municipality in south-eastern Finland. It is located 134 kilometres (83 mi) northeast of the capital, Helsinki.
The city has a population of 86,943 (31 January 2014) and covers an area of 2,883.30 square kilometres (1,113.25 sq mi) of which 325.06 km2(125.51 sq mi) is water. The population density is 33.99 inhabitants per square kilometre (88.0 /sq mi).
Kouvola's central location within Finland's borders and as a border post between the European Union and Russian Federation makes it a quite lively town.] The town originally grew up around the junction of the north-south and east-west rail tracks. It was also a major road transport junction.

The card sent to me by Reino shows the Kouvola Railway Station as it was in 1902.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

World Post Day in Helsinki

The picture on the card is that of The Market Square in Helsinki at the South Harbour. The market is internationally famous. The booths here sell traditional market foods and treats, as well as handicrafts and souvenirs. There is also a heated café tent where you can comfortably sip steaming hot coffee even on the coldest days in winter.
South Harbour is a bay and harbour area immediately next to the centre of the city of Helsinki, Finland. It is the largest passenger harbour in Finland, and 5.4 million passengers travel through it every year. Most of the harbour's traffic is to Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia, and for cruises. 
Ella sent me this card essentially as it was World Postal or Stamp Day on 9.10.2014. The stamp is a personalised one by the Post Office in Helsinki. The stamp shows an illuminated water front in Helsinki. The postmark is peculiar to Helsinki only on this day.

I had featured a maxi card about Philately Day in Helsinki in 2013 (see my post dated 3.11.2013).

Thank you Ella.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

The Salzkammergut, Austria

The Salzkammergut is a resort area located in Austria. It stretches from the City of Salzburg eastwards along the Austrian Alpine Foreland and theNorthern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. The main river of the region is the Traun, a right tributary of the Danube. The name Salzkammergut literally means "Estate of the Salt Chamber" and derives from the Imperial Salt Chamber, the authority charged with running the precious salt mines of the Habsburg Monarchy. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


With its numerous lakes and mountains, the Salzkammergut offers many opportunities to take part in water sports, bathing, hiking, cycling, caving, golf and relaxing around lakes such as the Grundlsee orToplitzsee. The Katrinalm, an alpine pasture, is found near Bad Ischl. Typical Salzkammergut culinary specialities include dishes such as Kaiserschmarrn (cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins), Krapfen (similar to doughnuts) or Lebkuchen (gingerbread).
I think this card is one of the most beautiful cards I have ever received. 

Thank you Claudia for sending it to me. I think you are very lucky to be living in this wonderful region.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Socorro, New Mexico



In 1598 Juan de Onate’s Spanish colonization expedition arrived here at the Piro Pueblo at Pialbo. They renamed it Socorro owing to the food and shelter provided by Pialbo’s inhabitants. The pueblo and its Spanish mission were destroyed  during the Pueblo Revolt, and the area was not resettled until 1815. A west bank road connected Socorro to the Camino Real on the east side of the Rio Grande.

Thank you Sam-Quito for this nice card from New Mexico.

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Tom of Finland

Touko Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991), best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized homoerotic fetish art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade.


Over the course of four decades he produced some 3500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits with tight or partially removed clothing.

During his lifetime and beyond, Laaksonen's work has drawn both admiration and disdain from different quarters of the artistic community. Laaksonen developed a friendship with gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose work depicting sado-masochism and fetish iconography was also subject to controversy.


A controversial theme in his drawings was the erotic treatment of men in Nazi uniforms. They form a small part of his overall work, but the typically flattering visual treatment of these characters has led some viewers to infer sympathy or affinity for Nazism, and they have been omitted from most recent anthologies of his work. Later in his career Laaksonen disavowed this work and was at pains to dissociate himself and his work from fascist or racist ideologies. He also depicted a significant number of black men in his drawings, with no overt racial or political message in the context in which they appear; although they bear some commonality with racist caricatures of the "hypersexual" black male, these traits are shared by Laaksonen's white characters as well.


Art critics have mixed views about Laaksonen's work. His detailed drawing technique has led to him being described as a 'master with a pencil', while in contrast a reviewer for Dutch newspaper Het Parool described his work as 'illustrative but without expressivity'.


There is considerable argument over whether his depiction of 'supermen' (male characters with huge sexual organs and muscles) is facile and distasteful, or whether there is a deeper complexity in the work which plays with and subverts those stereotypes. For example, some critics have noted instances of apparent tenderness between traditionally tough, masculine characters, or playful smiles in sado-masochistic scenes.

In either case, there remains a large constituency who admire the work on a purely utilitarian basis, as described by Rob Meijer, owner of a leather shop and art gallery in Amsterdam, "These works are not conversation pieces, they're masturbation pieces."


Writing for Artforum, Kevin Killian said that seeing Tom of Finland originals “produces a strong respect for his nimble, witty creation”. Kate Wolf writes that “Tom of Finland helped pave the way to gay liberation”.

Thank you Dear Ella for these interesting cards.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Brunel's SS Great Britain



SS Great Britain is a museum ship and former passenger steamship, advanced for her time. She was the longest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic, which she did in 1845, in the time of 14 days.

When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat. However, her protracted construction and high cost had left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846 after the ship was stranded by a navigational error.

Sold for salvage and repaired, Great Britain carried thousands of immigrants to Australia until converted to sail in 1881. Three years later, she was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until scuttled in 1937. A sad end indeed for a wonderful ship.

In 1970, Great Britain was returned to the Bristol dry dock where she was built. Now listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, she is an award-winning visitor attraction (my friend Rachel can vouch for that) and museum ship in Bristol Harbour, with 150,000–170,000 visitors annually.

Thank you Rachel for these two lovely cards.