The Dutch Royal Family

Millions of Dutch people dressed in orange flocked to celebrations around the Netherlands Tuesday 30^th April 2013, in honour of a once-in-a-generation milestone for the country's ruling House of Orange-Nassau: after a 33-year reign, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander.

At 46, King Willem-Alexander is the youngest monarch in Europe and the first Dutch king in 123 years, since Willem III died in 1890.Like Beatrix before him, Willem-Alexander has assumed the throne at a time of social strains and economic malaise.

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princesses Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane on the balcony after the abdication of the former Queen Beatrix. This photograph was taken on 7^th May 2013.

This pretty card was sent to me by Dineke.

Frederic Sackrider Remington - painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer

Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West, specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th-century American West and images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U. S. Cavalry.

Remington was the most successful Western illustrator in the “Golden Age” of illustration at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, so much so that the other Western artists such as Charles Russell and Charles Schreyvogel were known during Remington’s life as members of the “School of Remington”. His style was naturalistic, sometimes impressionistic, and usually veered away from the ethnographic realism of earlier Western artists such as George Catlin. His focus was firmly on the people and animals of the West, with landscape usually of secondary importance, unlike the members and descendants of theHudson River School, such as Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran, who glorified the vastness of the West and the dominance of nature over man. He took artistic liberties in his depictions of human action, and for the sake of his readers’ and publishers’ interest. Though always confident in his subject matter, Remington was less sure about his colors, and critics often harped on his palette, but his lack of confidence drove him to experiment and produce a great variety of effects, some very true to nature and some imagined.

In 1888, he achieved the public honor of having two paintings used for reproduction on U. S. Postal stamps. Remington Himself was honored in the, Famous Americans Series postal Issues of 1940.

Thank you Dear Jenny for this card with the lovely painting by Fredrick Remmington. As a little boy I admired cowboys. I still like Western movies.

Vologda

Vologda is a city and the administrative, cultural, and scientific center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Vologda River. Population: 301,755 (2010 Census), 293,046 (2002 Census), 282,802 (1989 Census). This is a city with many important events in its history. Ivan the Terrible had made it his alternate capital too for a few years. I earnestly recommend that those interested in Russian history search the internet for more info on Vologda.

The city serves as a major transport hub of the Northwest of Russia. Vologda has been classified by the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation as a historical city, one of the forty-one in Russia and one of only three in Vologda Oblast. 224 buildings in Vologda have been officially recognized as cultural heritage monuments.

During the Russian Civil War, Vologda was the location of the headquarters of the 6th Red Army. The card sent to me by Lenashows the View of the 6^th Army Embankment and the Church of St Dmitry Prilutsky (1710-1711). The army opposed the White Army under command of Evgeny Miller and the military forces of Entente in northern Russia.

Tsar Nicholas II and Admiral Arsenjev aboard the Imperial Yacht Standart

Viktoria of SwedenThis historical card sent to me by my friend Merja shows, Tsar Nicholas II and Admiral Arsenjev aboard the Imperial Yacht Standart waiting for King Gustav V and Queen Viktoria of Sweden.

As I had mentioned in my post dated 14^th July 2013, The Russian Imperial Yacht Standart, which served Emperor Nicholas II and his family, was in her time (late 19th/early 20th century) the largest Imperial Yacht afloat.

Icons of Christchurch

This pretty card of one of New Zealand’s most beautiful cities was sent to me by Michelle. It shows as the card says the icons of Chritchurch by night. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's third-most populous urban area. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch. The usual Māori name for Christchurch is Ōtautahi ("the place of Tautahi").   

The three pictures on the card are those of icons of Christchurch by night. They are:

The Christchurch Art Gallery, with the formal name of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is funded by Christchurch City Council. It has its own substantial art collection and presents a programme of New Zealand and international exhibitions. The gallery opened on 10 May 2003, replacing the city's former public art gallery, the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, which opened on 16 June 1932 and closed on 16 June 2002.

ChristChurch Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The cathedral was built in the second half of the 19th century, and is located in the centre of the city, surrounded by Cathedral Square. It is the cathedral seat of the Bishop of Christchurch in the New Zealand tikanga of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

The February 2011 Christchurch earthquake destroyed the spire and part of the tower – and severely damaged the structure of the remaining building. The cathedral had been damaged previously by earthquakes in 1881, 1888, 1901, 1922 and 2010. In late March 2012 work began demolishing the building.  A temporary replacement cathedral is being built. On 15 December 2012 demolition was halted on the cathedral, following the issuing of a judgment by the High Court of New Zealand, which granted an application for judicial review of the decision to demolish made by the church.

The Millenium Chalice. Celebrating the new millennium, Chalice is a permanent sculpture located in Christchurch's Cathedral Square. Chalice celebrates the new millennium and the 150th Anniversary of the founding of Christchurch and Canterbury by the Canterbury Association. The official lighting ceremony was held 10 September 2001 and Chalice will be lit at night with one floodlight situated inside the base of the cone and one spotlight aimed at the exterior of the structure from the pavement. Sculptor Neil Dawson was commissioned to produce a major contemporary, public artwork for Christchurch by The Turning Point 2000 Trust.

Kiel Week

My friend Christina sent me this card from Kiel in Germany. It depicts the Windjammer parade during the Kiel Week. Kiel Week is an annual sailing event in Kiel, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in the world, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany.

Kiel Week is held annually in the last complete week in June, and opens officially on the preceding Saturday with the official Glasen, followed by the Holstenbummel. The "Soundcheck" is on the Friday before the official opening; it is a music festival across all the stages within the city. Kiel Week ends with a large fireworks display at 11 p.m. on Sunday, fired from pontoons or the quays at the Howaldtswerke, visible all across the Bay of Kiel.

Most ship races begin at the Olympic harbour of Schilksee, also the centre of most sporting activities during Kiel Week. As Schilksee is located outside of the inner city and most sailing competitions take place yet further out, only some races - mainly of smaller boat types - can be viewed from shore, namely from along the Kiellinie at the west coast of the Bay of Kiel.

Kiel Week usually gathers around 5,000 sailors, 2,000 ships, and about three million visitors each year. The event is organized in joint effort by the Yacht Club of Kiel, the Norddeutscher Regattaverein, the Hamburger Sailing Club, and the Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee.

Kiel Week is also one of the largest tall ship conventions in Germany, attracting many German and international traditional ships, mainly sailing ships. Many of them spend the week doing day tours out of Kiel, thus berthing much more in view of the festival visitors than the racing boats at Kiel-Schilksee. More than 100 traditional ships and hundreds of yachts usually participate in the Tall Ships Parade (Windjammer parade) on the day before the closing day of the Kiel Week, i.e. usually on the second Saturday of Kiel Week. The Parade was first held in 1972, under the name of Operation Sail, and was organized in celebration of the Olympic Summer Games in Germany that year, whose sailing competitions took place in Kiel. It was the first large gathering of tall ships since the time of the windjammers, and its success led to the annual Parade and to the foundation of the first sail training organization in Germany (Clipper DJS). Today, the Parade is often headed by the Gorch Fock, a sister ship to the German-built USCGC Eagle (WIX-327).

First World Master Rowing

The first World Master Rowing competition for Sulkava long boats was held in Finland in July 2010. The World Master Rowing competition consists of two starts: a short race of 2,000 metres and a 60 kilometre race around Partala Island, the largest island in Lake Saimaa.

Open to national and club teams from all over the world and using the distinctive Finnish “churchboats,” the competition was be held on Lake Saimaa, the largest of Finland’s 200,000 lakes and the fourth largest lake in Europe. The competition featured two events: a short race of 2,000 meters in front of the Sulkava Rowing Stadium and a long race of 60 kilometers around Partala Island, the largest island in Lake Saimaa. The competition was held jointly with Finland´s largest rowing event, the Sulkava Rowing Race, which has 8,000 participants annually.The World Masters Rowing Competition was run with traditional Finnish 12-meter wooden churchboats which have sliding benches and 14 oars. “Churchboats” are long rowing boats, sometimes called Sulkava boats or Viking boats, which the Finnish people once used to travel to holy mass on Sundays and were based on models from Viking days.

The Masters in Rowing is open to national and club teams from all around the world. Each crew consists of 14 rowers and a coxswain, with single-sex or mixed-sex crews. The first three crews are awarded medals, diplomas, and cash prizes. The church has maintained the boats since the Reformation in the seventh century.

Thank you Sisko for this nice card. The event must have been great fun.