Season's Greetings

A very pretty card from my friend Ada in Warsaw. Thank you Dear. Wish you all the best in the New Year too.

Hirvensalo, Finland

Hirvensalo is an island in the Archipelago Sea, belonging to the city of Turku, Finland. It is divided into 14 districts, the largest ones being Moikoinen, Kukola and Haarla. Most of the island's economic activity is concentrated on the suburb of Moikoinen, which has a school, shops, a Lutheran church, and a post office. The island's total population is 6,547 (as of 2004).

Hirvensalo was formerly part of the municipality of Maaria, until it was annexed to the city of Turku in 1944.

This pretty card sent to me by Pia shows a few sights of Hirvensalo. Lets start with the top, which shows a view towards the Aristo Sea. The ships you see are of the Silja and Viking lines going from Turku to Stockholm. The next is the popular Skiing Centre on Hirvensalo. The two lower pictures are of the local church there and the other is where the artist Aaltonen the Finnish artist and sculptor lived.

Khanty-Mansiysk Concert-Theatre Centre "Yugra Classic"

The originality of Yugra is that the authorities here, headed by the governor Alexander Philipenko, is taking a good care about the level of citizens’ living, about their upbringing and cultural education. For the last 14 years Khanty-Mansiysk turned from barrack village into a modern city with red-brick houses, restored churches, good roads, trade centers, well-equipped museums and first class hotels one of which was occupied by Helikon artists.

Undoubtedly, one of the brightest achievements of city’s development and building is the concert-theatrical centre Yugra-Classic. The walls of its lounge are decorated with Venetian plaster and authentic onyx; it consists of three perfect concert halls, one of which contains a unique organ, specially manufactured for Yugra in Germany (its keys are finished with natural mammoth’s bone) and one of the three Fazioli pianos which Russia has. There is also a transformer hall for drama performances. The third is the Big hall for 1000 seats, the stage of which is equipped with modern machinery and there are special acoustic seats in the hall. Yugra-Classic is built as the big Tour house, where for the last three years only super stars have been performing. Among them are Valery Gergiev with Mariinsky theatre, Gidon Kremer with “Kremerata Baltica”, Yuri Temirkanov with Academic symphonic orchestra of St.-Petersburg Philharmonic, Peter Fomenko’s Theatre, Moscow Artistic Academic Theatre named after A. Chekhov, Lev Dodin with Academic Small drama Theatre – Theatre of Europe and Boris Eifmann’s St.-Petersburg’s State Academic theatre of ballet.

Thank you Galina for this nice card.

Animals celebrating Christmas

My friend Ella sent me these cards issued by Åland post. These 2012 postal stationery cards appeared in time for Christmas. They were designed by artist Alexander Lindén. The funny and different motifs of the cards are well suited for both Christmas cards and winter greetings. The cards depict :-

ROE IN A KNITTED SWEATER. Alexander has designed four animals celebrating Christmas in various ways. The first card shows a roe in a knitted sweater, sitting in a chair reading while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate or, perhaps, mulled wine. A small fox relaxes by the chair, and the scenery is highlighted by the shining moon.
PIKE DRESSED IN CARDIGAN. The motif of another card takes us below the ice where we find a merry pike, dressed in a warm, green cardigan. Further down swims a chubbier type of fish, also dressed in a warm sweater. Someone also let down a Christmas star on a fishing line through a jig hole in the ice.
THREE SQUIRRELS DANCING IN A RING.  The third card shows us three merry squirrels dancing in a ring around a tree decorated with Christmas baubles, tinsel and a star at the top. Dressed in warming cardigans, the squirrels all seem to be happy and enjoying themselves.HARE IN A HOT TUB. Leaving its tracks in the snow, a hare has jumped into the hot tub shown on the fourth and last card. With a box of carrots within reach, it is very content to relax in the hot water. The sea, the archipelago and a Christmas tree on a rock sets the background.
ALL ANIMALS ARE HAPPY. The common feature of the four card designs is that the animals all seem to be merry and enjoying themselves. The cards are therefore perfect to send as a
greeting to your friends and acquaintances regardless of season!  

The Grand Canyon from Below - Running the Colorado River

Mile 52. This view looks downstream from the granaries at Nankoweap Creak. The granaries were seed corn storage structures built under an overhang by the ancestral Puebloan people, aboriginal inhabitants of the Grand Canyon.
Thank you Hemant for this nice card.

Merry Christmas

Thank you Trudy from Canada for this lovely card. Merry Christmas to you too.

Kazan Taynitskaya tower overlooking the Kazanka

The Kazan Kremlin is a unique historial and cultural monument, which preserved elements of 3 epochs: tatar, russian and european. Architectural traditions of Bulgar, Golden Horde, Medieval Kazan-Tatar, Italian and Russian culture are interlaced here. Kremlin hill is a cradle of Kazan. Kazan began its development from that very place. Khan’s palace, 5 stone mosques and burial vaults were situated inside the Kremlin . 

The main Kul-Sharif mosque was decorated with 8 high many-tier minarets. Wooden houses of the Tatar nobility and guard premises were also situated here.

Quadrangular mosques with cupolas, minarets with patterns were the decoration of the Kazan Kremlin. Most part of wooden walls and towers of the Kazan Kremlin were destroyed during the capture of the city in 1552. Ivan the Terrible, having understood the expedience of Kazan location and its importance for the security of the eastern borders of Russia, decided to reconstruct the Kazan Kremlin and to make an unassailable fortress.

Walls and towers of the Kazan Kremlin were built in 1556-1562 according to the decree of Ivan the Terrible by Pskov masters Ivan Shiryay and Postnik Yakovlev. Whole brick and stone Kremlin was constructed at the end of XVIII century. The towers played the great role in defence of the Kremlin. There 13 of them in XVII century. Only 8 of towers remained till today, 5 of them had the gates to the Kremlin. There are only 2 tower gates functioning for today – Spasskaya and Tainitskaya towers. 

During a siege of Kazan the Taynitskaya tower was blown up. 3. The entry to the Kremlin from the Kazanka side is through the Tainitskaya Tower. The siege of Kazan in 1552 was the final battle of Russo-Kazan Wars. It led to the fall of Kazan Khanate. However, it was not the last battle on the khanate's territory. After the fall of Kazan, rebel governments formed in Çalım and Mişätamaq, and a new khan was invited from the Nogais. This continuation guerilla war was ended only in 1556. Thank you Galina for this nice card.

The Titanic

A nice painting of the RMS Titanic. Card sent to me by my dear friend Pia.

Happy New Year

Thank you Galina for this pretty card. Wish you a Very Happy New Year too.

Merry Christmas

Thank you Merja. This is indeed a lovely card - Santa at Work and Play - Yes, Merry Christmas to all of you.

Merry Christmas

Thank you Ella for this lovely card. And yes, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too.

Boqueria market in Barcelona

The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, often simply referred to as La Boqueria, is a large public market in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks, with an entrance from La Rambla, not far from the Liceu, Barcelona's opera house. The market has a very diverse selection of goods. This lovely card was sent to me by Anna from Barcelona.

The first mention of the Boqueria market in Barcelona dates from 1217, when tables were installed near the old city gate to sell meat. From December 1470 onwards, a pig market was held at this site; at this time it was known as Mercat Bornet. Later, until 1794, it was known simply as Mercat de la Palla, or straw market. In the beginning, the market was not enclosed and had no official status, being regarded simply as an extension of the Plaça Nova market, which extended to the Plaça del Pi.

Later, the authorities decided to construct a separate market on La Rambla, housing mainly fishmongers and butchers. It was not until 1826 that the market was legally recognized, and a convention held in 1835 decided to build an official structure. Construction began on March 19, 1840 under the direction of the architect Mas Vilà. The market officially opened in the same year, but the plans for the building were modified many times. The inauguration of the structure finally took place in 1853. A new fish market opened in 1911, and the metal roof that still exists today was constructed in 1914.

Old Believers’ manuscript “ The roll from the White Sea Coast region (late18th – early 19th Century)

The roll or scroll shown on on the card is one of many in the National Library of Belarus. This roll is from the collection of Old Believers’ manuscript “ The roll from the White Sea Coast region (late18th – early 19^th Century). This card was sent to me by Alexander from Minsk.

The National Library of Belarus is the main information and cultural centre of the country. Its depository collections include 8 million items of various media. In 1993 the National Library of Belarus started to create its own electronic information resources. It has generated a collection of bibliographic, factual graphic, full-text, graphic, sound and language databases that comprise more than 2 million records. The scope of databases is quite wide: humanities, social sciences, history, art and culture of Belarus. Library users also have access to databases of other libraries and academic institutions, including foreign ones.

Painting by Inge Löök

A lovely painting by Inge Löök (real name Ingeborg Lievonen) gives a real Christmasy feeling to this card. Thank you Pia for this pretty card. 

Zaan Streek Museum at Zaandam

This lovely painting of a tall ship reproduced on this card is at the Zaan Streek Museum  at Zaandam. The card was sent to me by Marijie from Holland.

Zaandam is a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the Zaan, close to the North Sea Canal, and is close to Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaandam, which covers the city and the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 72.597. Zaandam was a separate municipality until 1974, when it became a part of the new municipality of Zaanstad.

Minsk Railway Station Square

Viktor from Minsk sent me this pretty card. The square was formed in the period 1947-1956, before the beginning of the 60s near the square stood a water tower. In the late 20th century, construction of a new railway station began at the square. And in the early 21st century the square had acquired a modern look.

Minsk Passazhirsky  is the main passenger rail terminal in Belarus. It is located in the centre of Minsk. It is sometimes called Minsk Ploshchad Lenina due to the metro station serving the terminal, or simply Minsk.

The station was built in 1873 as Vilenski vakzal, Vilnius station. The initial wooden building was demolished in 1890 and rebuilt in stone. During World War II Minsk railway station was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1945-1946 and served until 1991. The new building of Minsk-Passazhyrski railway station was built in 1991-2002. Its construction was delayed due to financial difficulties. However now Minsk boasts one of the most modern and up-to-date railway stations in the CIS. There are plans to move all suburban rail traffic from Minsk-Passazhyrski to smaller stations Minsk-Uskhodni (East), Minsk-Paudnyovy (South) and Minsk-Paunochny (North) by 2020.

The two large buildings at the Station Square are centrally located and are characterised by the obvious Stalinist architecture .

Finnish Christmas Maxicards Spread the Holiday Spirit in new ways

On Monday, November 5, Posti issued Christmas stamps with two seasonal themes: Christmas tree and stable lantern. The maxicards shown have these two stamps.

The Christmas Tree stamp comes in a triangular sheet that doubles as an impressive Christmas decoration. Thanks to its special fold, the 20-stamp sheet stands upright like a miniature Christmas tree. Use it to get your desk in the holiday spirit – and to remind you to send your holiday greetings!  

The Stable Lantern stamp creates the peaceful mood of expectation that is the heart of the Christmas season. 

Nina Rintala designed the 2012 Christmas stamp. Nina is a graphic artist from Turku who has previously designed stamps for Itella, including the Church Sleigh Christmas stamp, which was recognized as the most beautiful stamp of 2002. In 2008, Rintala designed the world’s first transparent stamp, Frosty Night, for Itella.

Thank you Ella for these lovely cards.

Merry Christmas

This is the Season for Greetings and Good wishes. Thank you Ella for this pretty card with Museum street, the children near a Christmas tree and The Helsinki Cathedral in the background.

Helsinki Trams

The Helsinki tram network forms part of the Helsinki public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Helsinki City Transport in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city centre. 54.9 million trips were made in 2009. The Helsinki system is one of the oldest electrified tram networks in the world.

Since 1999, new low-floor trams have been gradually brought into operation, but technical difficulties have slowed this progress. In 2004, Helsinki City Transport bought old eight-axle trams from Germany for relief during this transitional phase.

Thank you very much Ella for this attractive maxicard issued on 26.9.2012. The stamp is the personalized stamp of Helsinki Post Office.

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings to all, especially to teddy bear lovers.

Camouflaged Volkswagen Beetle

This Grass covered Camouflage Volkswagen Beetle gives a whole new meaning to the term driving green. With VW enthusiasts all around the world, Volkswagens have always been a popular car to modify. This Beetle hasn’t been modified in the normal way it has been turned into a green car. The Beetle has been covered completely in grass and tropical plants. This would be the best camouflage you could get for driving in the forest!

This nice card was sent to me by Jeannette from Holland.

Winter Wonderland

A typical peaceful winter's scene from Santa Claus Land.

Lotus in the Primorye

Thank you Sveta for this pretty card.

Pecan Pie

Elizabeth sent me this nice and tasty recipe on this card. While the card gives you the ingredients, I have the secret of how to go about making this mouth watering dish ;-)) Those who want to know, please contact me by my e-mail.

Incidentaly, Pecan Pie Day is observed in North America on 12^th July.

Now, what is a pecan? The pecan nut is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana to Virginia, southwestern Ohio, south through Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Florida, and west into New Mexico.

"Pecan" is from an Algonquian word, meaning a nut requiring a stone to crack.

Titanic

Thank you Nora for this nice card.

Reineke island

Small Reineke island is located in south-west of the Sea of Okhotsk between Shantarsky island and the Sakhalin Island, 5 km to the north of the continent. Administratively it is part of the Nikolaev District of Khabarovsk Territory.

The namesake bay currently covered with ice is located several kilometers to the south of the Reineke island. Both the island and the bay are named after the famous Russian hydrographer, Vice-Admiral Michail Reineke, Director of the Hydrographic Department.

Once more Sveta has sent a pretty picture card portraying the Russian Far-East Maritime Zone or Primorsky Krai. 

Ooops!

Ooops! Did that little fellow really do that!

Museum Ship Pommern

The Pommern, formerly the Mneme (1903–1908), is a windjammer. She is a four-masted barque that was built in 1903 in Glasgow at the J. Reid & Co shipyard.

The Pommern (German for Pomerania) is one of the Flying P-Liners, the famous sailing ships of the German shipping company F. Laeisz. Later she was acquired by Gustaf Erikson of Marriehamn in the Finnish Åland archipelago, and used her to carry grain from the Spencer Gulf area in Australia to harbours in England or Ireland until the start of World War II. After World War Two, she was donated to the town of Mariehamn as a museum ship.

She is now a museum ship belonging to the Åland Maritime Museum and is anchored in western Mariehamn, Åland. A magnificent collection of photographs taken by Ordinary Seaman Peter Karney in 1933 showing dramatic pictures of life on a sailing ship rounding Cape Horn can be found in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

The Pommern has a reputation of being a "lucky ship". She survived both world wars unscathed, has lost only four crew members at sea on her journeys and she has won the Great Grain Races twice, 1930 and 1937. She is one of the most popular landmarks ofÅland and annually visited by thousands of visitors.

Four other Clyde-built tall ships are still afloat. Thank you Kirsimarja for this nice card.

Ukraine - Zaporizhian Sich

Zaporizhian Sich was a historical territory that existed between the 16th and 18th centuries. The center of which was located in the region around today's Kakhovka Reservoir. The region stretches across the lower Dnieper river. At one point the area was a condominium of both the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. Soon after the colonization of Sich by the Russian Empire with South Slavs and Moldavians, the Sich was liquidated. With the liquidation the area became part of the Novorossia.

The Zaporizhian Sich was a socio-political, grassroots organization of Ukrainian Cossacks placed beyond the Dnieper rapid. It is considered that they started from a fortress built on the Khortytsia island in the middle of the Dnieper River in what is now the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine. The term has also been metonymically used as an informal reference to the whole military-administrative organisation of the Zaporizhian Cossack Host.

Thank you Barsal for this pretty card with an important piece of Ukranian history attached to it.

Inge Löök - Grannies Having Fun Bobsleding

Inge Löök (real name Ingeborg Lievonen) is a Finnish artist born in Helsinki in 1951. She was once a professional gardener, but today she is most famous for her Granny postcards which so many postcrossers love and collect. I do too.

When she was a child, Inge lived with her family in a 7-storey building in Helsinki. In the same building lived two older women, Alli and Fifi, who later became the inspiration for the characters in her postcards. She says the women look nearly the same as their real-life models... but they have a lot more fun! Inge's look on life is one of optimism and happiness, and it shows on the pictures she draws. The grannies are always happy and having fun, and their motto is "Time is not money and spending it isn’t a sin". She has drawn over 300 postcards on different topics, and has also illustrated several stamps and children's books. Today she lives in Pernå, a village east of Helsinki.

Thank you Pia for this lovely card. The Grannies could easily bring a smile on the faces of the ‘grumpiest in the world’ - any time! They have on mine ;-))

Vantaa

Minna sent me this interesting card showing, firstly, the Helsinki Airport or Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, and secondly The Finnish Science Centre. These two sites have been pictured inside a fish, the tail of which is pictured on the City's Coat of Arms. Below are a few more details about these two important tourist destinations.

Helsinki Airport or Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is the main international airport of the Helsinki metropolitan region and the whole of Finland. It is located in Vantaa, Finland, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) west of Tikkurila, the centre of Vantaa, and 9.2 NM (17.0 km; 10.6 mi) north of Helsinki city centre. Originally built for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the airport served 14,865,871 passengers in 2011 and it is the fourth largest airport in the Nordic countries. It provides jobs for 20,000 people and there are 1,500 companies who operate from this airport.

The airport is operated by Finavia, the state-owned enterprise that operates Finland's airports. Helsinki Airport was chosen as the best airport in the world in the IATA 1999 survey on the topic. In 2006 the global airport customer satisfaction survey AETRA ranked Helsinki Airport one of the best airports worldwide and according to Association of European Airlines 2005 delay rates, Helsinki Airport was the most punctual airport in Europe.

The Finnish Science Centre. Heureka is a unique high-level cultural and educational institution that is among Finland’s most popular leisure time destinations. Its mission is twofold: on the one hand the Science Centre operates in the leisure time market, and on the other hand it performs important educational and public service tasks.

Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre opened to the public on April 28, 1989. Heureka attracts on the average 280 000 visitors a year. Apart from the main exhibition Heureka usually displays two temporary exhibitions. Total exhibition space indoors amounts to 3500 m2. During summer season an outdoor exhibition area, Science Park Galilei, is available. Heureka features also a modern digital planetarium. Heureka is open around the year and it operates fully in three languages: Finnish, Swedish and English. Located in the City of Vantaa next to Tikkurila train station and near the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

Lion Cape

Another view of the coastal maritime zone in Far Eastern Russia - The Primorski Krai. This cape is called the Lion Cape. A pretty scene indeed. Thank you Sveta.

South Harbour, Helsinki

Thank you Leena for this pretty card. What a nice picture the aerial view of South harbour makes. Amongst the many buildings in the background is the imposing Cathedral easily identifiable by its blue dome in the centre of the picture.

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 cruises. In summer, there is a lot of small ship traffic.

White-tailed Eagle

Thank you Merja for this lovely maxicard of The White-tailed Eagle issued by Lithuania on 8.10.2011. Please note the lovely postmark also showing this big bird. This Eagle, also called the Sea Eagle,  Erne (sometimes Ern). The White-tailed Sea-eagle is a large bird of prey in the family which includes other raptors such as hawks, kites, and harriers. It is considered a close cousin of the Bald Eagle and occupies the same ecological niche, but in Eurasia.

The Barn Swallow

This lovely maxicard from Estonia was given to me by Merja. This stamp and the card was issued to celebrate the fact that the swallow was declared the The Bird of the Year in Estonia. 

The Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In Anglophone Europe it is just called the Swallow; in Northern Europe it is the only common species called a "swallow" rather than a "martin".

There are six subspecies of Barn Swallow, which breed across the Northern Hemisphere. Four are strongly migratory, and their wintering grounds cover much of the Southern Hemisphere as far south as central Argentina, the Cape Province of South Africa, and northern Australia. Its huge range means that the Barn Swallow is not endangered, although there may be local population declines due to specific threats, such as the construction of an international airport near Durban.

The Barn Swallow is a bird of open country which normally uses man-made structures to breed and consequently has spread with human expansion. It builds a cup nest from mud pellets in barns or similar structures and feeds on insects caught in flight. This species lives in close association with humans, and its insect-eating habits mean that it is tolerated by man; this acceptance was reinforced in the past by superstitions regarding the bird and its nest. There are frequent cultural references to the Barn Swallow in literary and religious works due to both its living in close proximity to humans and its annual migration. The Barn Swallow is the national bird of Austria and Estonia.

Maritime Romance

Thank you Sveta for this lovely card from the Primorski Krai (Russian Far Eastern Maritime Zone). Yes, it does portray a sense of Maritime Romance.

MV Kronprins Carl Gustaf (1966-1975)

Kronprins Carl Gustaf was built in 1966 by Werft Nobiskrug, Rendsburg for Lion Ferry Ab of Halmstad. Her sisterships were Prins Bertl andGustav Vasa, and B&I Line ferries Munster, Leinster and Innisfallen were developments of the design. Kronprins Carl Gustaf entered service for Lion Ferry between Halmstad-Copenhagen-Travemünde. In 1967 she was transferred to the Trave Line service Helsingborg-Copenhagen-Travemünde. Kronprins Carl Gustaf was chartered to SJ (Statens Järnvägar - Swedish State Railways) in 1969 for their Malmö-Travemünde route. From 1972 this service was run by Rederi Ab Öresund. In 1975, Kronprins Carl Gustaf was sold to Polskie Linijskie Oceanica and renamed Wilanow, for service between Ystad-Swinoujscie. Ownership of Wilanow was transferred to Polska Zeluga Baltycka in 1977 for Swinoujscie-Rønne/ Ystad/ Copenhagen service, marketed as Polferries. In 1991 Wilanow was rebuilt in Gdansk with more berths. She was sold in 1997 to SEM Maritime, and renamed Split 1700 for eastern Mediterranean service. Thank you Merja fgor this nice card.

Shenzhen OCT East – It’s Theme Parks, Resorts, Villages and more

Once again China leaves everyone in awe of the scale of some of  it’s undertakings, people here think big, but I guess they have to! The Shenzen OCT East is a combination of two large theme parks, resort hotels, three small scenic towns, golf courses and more covering an area of 9 square kilometers. It is huge. I guess you could call it destination tourism, a man made one stop holiday utopia.

Their intention is clear, they’ve built a one stop destination for a surreal holiday experience. Packed into one big location is the adventure, excitement, wonder, thrills and eye-opening sights matched together with comfort and relaxation. OCT East is located a little out of the way, about 40 minutes or so from central Shenzhen by bus or taxi. It’s another tourist attraction where its best to arrive early and beat the long entry lines due to volumes of tour buses.

The picture on the card Kathylee sent me is of Huaxing Mahayana Hotel of Shenzhen OCT East, sanctuary of Zen. The Mahayana OCT Boutique Hotel Shenzhen. Located in the breathtaking Wind Valley of OCT East, The Mahayana OCT Boutique Hotel, sanctuary of Zen, within Hua Xing Temple, offers a brand new level of tranquility, elegance, peace and nature for the soul searching being.

A brief about the Hua Xing Temple here won’t be out of place. It is located in the breathtaking Wind Valley of OCT East, and offers the perfect bolthole from the hustle and bustle of city life. It covers 12000㎡and contains Guanyin Statues, Hua Xing Temple, The Mahayana OCT Boutique Hotel, Buddhist Holy Place, Buddhist Music Performance, Grand Hall, Market, vegetarian restaurant, and the Guiyi Pavilion.

Liechtenstein National Day

This item is a Maxicard issued by Liechtenstein on 9^th May 1981.  A lovely 80 Rappen Europa CEPT stamp is affixed to the card.  The beautiful Flower Pageant was par of the National Day procession at the Vaduz Castle. This lovely card was given to me by my friend Merja.