The Moomin's

Thank you Dear Ella for this lovely card with the famous Moomin family by Tove Jansson. A lot has been mentioned already about the Moomin's on this blog.

Praha or Prague

Mirek sent me this pretty card of Praha or Prague which is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million. The city has a temperate oceanic climate with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural and economic centre of Europe and particularly central Europe during its 1,100 year existence. For centuries, during the Gothic and Renaissance eras, Prague was the permanent seat of two Holy Roman Emperors and thus was also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Later it was an important city in the Habsburg Monarchy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after World War I became the capital of Czechoslovakia. The city played major roles in the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, and in 20th-century history, during both World Wars and the post-war Communist era. Prague is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of twentieth century Europe. 

Main attractions include the following: Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, the Lennon Wall, and Petřín hill. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Prague boasts more than ten major museums, along with countless theatres, galleries, cinemas, and other historical exhibits. Also, Prague is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including the famous Charles University. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city receives more than 4.1 million international visitors annually, as of 2009. Prague is classified as a global city. 

A modern public transportation system connects the city. Prague is also accessible by road, train, and air. The card shows two very famous views of this great City. The historic centre of Prague (Hradčany with Prague Castle, the Lesser Quarter, Old Town including the Charles Bridge and Josefov, New Town and Vyšehrad) occupies an area of 866 ha and has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1992. 

Shown on the card are a few famous sites in Prague, of which one is The famous Charles Bridge across the Vltava River in Prague. This 'solid-land' connection made Prague important as a trade route between east and west Europe. The bridge was originally called theStone Bridge or the Prague Bridge but has been the "Charles Bridge" since 1870. King Charles IV's favourite architect and builder Peter Parler, originally built the present-day bridge. The initial idea was to build a functional construction for jousting tournaments, and for many years the only decoration on the bridge was a simple crucifix, but later the desire of the Catholics for ornamentation resulted in 30 statues being built (1600 to 1800 AD).

Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska Uprising

The Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918–1919 or Posnanian War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region (also called by the Germans the Grand Duchy of Poznań or Provinz Posen region) against Germany. The uprising had a significant effect on the Treaty of Versailles, which granted a reconstituted Poland the area won by the Polish insurgents plus some additional territory, at the cost of German territory, all of which had previously been Polish territory, before the three Partitions of Poland carried out (between 1787 and 1795) by the three powerful, neighbouring Empires of Austria, Prussia and Russia.

The card depicts the Meeting convened by the Council Zobnierzy and Robotnikorz at the city council hall in Poznan on Monday 11 November1918, in which the then Mayor Ernst Wilmsa gave the call for the uprising.

Thank you Weronika.

Datteln

Datteln is a town in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on a crossroads of four canals (Datteln-Hamm Canal, Wesel-Datteln Canal, Dortmund-Ems Canal and Rhein-Herne Canal), which makes it the biggest canal junction in the World, approx. 10 km north-east of Recklinghausen and 20 km north-west of Dortmund.

Katja Seizinger, former alpine skier and triple Olympic gold medallist, was born in Datteln.

These two cards were sent to me by Frank and Uwe respectively.

Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of comic albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (1907–1983), who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, and it remains popular today. By the time of the centenary of Hergé's birth in 2007, Tintin had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies.

The series first appeared in French on 10 January 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième, a youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle. The success of the series saw the serialised strips published in Belgium's leading newspaper Le Soir and spun into a successfulTintin magazine. In 1950, Hergé created Studios Hergé, which produced the canonical series of twenty-four Tintin albums. The Adventures of Tintin have been adapted for radio, television, theatre, and film.

The series is set during a largely realistic 20th century. Its hero is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy (Milou in the original French edition). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash and cynical Captain Haddock, the highly intelligent but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus, and other supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (French: Dupont et Dupond) and the opera diva Bianca Castafiore.

The series has been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire ("clear line") style. Its well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories feature slapstick humour, offset by dashes of sophisticated satire and political or cultural commentary.

Felix sent me this nice card from Germany.

Polar Bears

Oleg sent me this lovely card. Bliss personified! - A Polar Bear mother and her cub sleeping on ice. 

Fehmarn – Germany's sunshine isle.

Silvia sent me this card featuring  Fehmarn – Germany's sunshine isle in the Baltic Sea.

With 2,200 hours of sun every year, endless stretches of natural beaches along 78 kilometres of coastline, picturesque freshwater lakes and rugged cliffs, Fehmarn is an idyllic holiday destination. Fehmarn might have been created especially for holidaymakers in search of a relaxing, healthy break. The Baltic Sea island, covering some 185 square kilometres, has a mild yet bracing climate and is one of the sunniest places in Germany. The FehMare pool complex, located on the island's south beach promenade, is a popular attraction with a large range of wellness and recreation facilities including seawater pools, relaxation pools and a variety of saunas.

Grimstad

Inger sent me this lovely card of Grimstad, a town and municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Grimstad. Other notable places in Grimstad include Eide, Fevik, Fjære, Landvik, Prestegårdskogen, Reddal, and Roresanden.

It is a little maritime town set among many small islands (Skjærgård). There is a harbour, a long pedestrian shopping street, a small market square, a church, and a museum dedicated to the early life of Henrik Ibsen, who served as an apprentice to Grimstad’s local pharmacist Reimann, from 1844 to 1847, before leaving Grimstad in 1850. Ibsen's intimate knowledge of the local people and surroundings can be seen in his poem Terje Vigen.

Jena

Jena was founded quite late, compared to its near neighbour villages, in the early 2nd millennium. Part of the State of Thuringia from its foundation in 1920 on, it was incorporated into the German Democratic Republic in 1949 and its district of Gera in 1952. Since 1990, the city of Jena has been a part of the Free State of Thuringia which is itself part of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Jena has one of the biggest universities in Germany and its ratio of students to the total of inhabitants may belong to the greatest in Germany, as there are 20,000 students at the university which was founded in 1558 and named after Friedrich Schiller in 1934. Additionally, there are some 4,500 students at the university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule), making one out of four citizens of Jena a student.

Goethe and Schiller, probably the two greatest German writers, lived in Jena as well as for example the biologist Ernst Haeckel, the physicists Ernst Abbe and Erwin Schrödinger and the philosopher Karl Marx.

During most of the 20th century, Jena has been a world centre of optical industry around companies like CarlZeiss, Schott and Jenoptik (since 1990). As one of only few medium cities in Germany, it has some high-rise buildings in city centre, like Jen Tower. Those have their origin also in the former Carl Zeiss factory. Between 1790 and 1850, Jena was a focal point of German Vormärz as well as of studental liberal and unification movement and German Romanticism. Notable persons of this period in Jena are Friedrich Schiller, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Novalis and August Wilhelm Schlegel.

Jena lies in a hilly landscape in the east of Thuringia, within the wide valley of the Saale river.

The towers of Forstturm, Bismarcturm and Fuchsturm are shown on this card sent to me by Insa.

Alavus, a city of Finland

Sanna sent me this card with pictures of important sites in the village of Tuuri. This is a village in Alavus, a city of Finland.

Tuuri is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Etelä-Pohjanmaa region. The village has a population of 500. The name"Tuuri" originates in the old Finnish god of luck, harvest and success, Tuuri; he was the equivalent of Norse Thor and Estonian Taara.  

In Modern Finnish the appellative tuuri means luck.

The village is known for the second biggest department store in Finland, Veljekset Keskinen. The massive golden horseshoe erected over the shopping mall stands at number three in Reuters' list of world's ugliest buildings and monuments.

Schafberg in Austria

Anna sent me this lovely card showing Schafberg, a mountain in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Its height is 1783 metres. Situated within the Salzkammergut mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, the Schafberg rises at the shore of a lake called Wolfgangsee. During the summer, the Schafbergbahn, a rack railway opened in 1893, runs from the small town of St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut on the shores of the Wolfgangsee to the summit. The peak offers a panoramic view of the Salzkammergut mountains and lakes and is also the site of a hotel (Schafbergspitze), established in 1862.

Speicherstadt in Hamburg

This nice card sent to me by Eike shows The Speicherstadt (city of warehouses, meaning warehouse district) in Hamburg, Germany which is the largest timber-pile founded warehouse district in the world. It is located in the port of Hamburg—within the Hafen City quarter—and was built from 1883 to 1927.

The district was built as a free zone to transfer goods without paying customs. As of 2009 the district and the surrounding area is under redevelopment. The Speicherstadt is located in the port of Hamburg and 1.5 km (0.93 mi) long and pervaded by loading canals. TheSpeicherstadt is a tourist attraction in Hamburg. There are several museums like the Deutsches Zollmuseum (German Customs Museum),Miniatur Wunderland (a model railway), the Hamburg Dungeon, and the Afghan Museum.

The buildings are also used as warehouses. As of 2005, the companies in the Speicherstadt handled one-third of the world's carpet production, and other goods as cocoa, coffee, tea, spices, maritime equipment, and electronic goods.

Ulm on the River Danube

Tanja sent me this card of Ulm which is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 (2006), forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850 (first written mention in 22 July 854), is rich in history and traditions as a former Free Imperial City (German: freie Reichsstadt). Today, it is an economic centre due to its varied industries, and it is the seat of a university (University of Ulm, founded in 1967). Internationally, Ulm is primarily known for having the church with the tallest steeple in the world (161.53 m or 529.95 feet), the Gothic minster and as the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

Ulm has Ulm Minster a Lutheran church and former Roman Catholic church located in Ulm, Germany. Although sometimes referred to as Ulm Cathedral because of its great size, the church is not a cathedral as it has never been the seat of a bishop.

Ulm Minster, like Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), was begun in the Gothic era and not completed until the late 19th century. It is the tallest church in the world, and the 4th tallest structure built before the 20th century, with a steeple measuring 161.5 metres (530 ft) and containing 768 steps. From the top level at 143 m (469 ft) there is a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria and, in clear weather, a vista of the Alps from Säntis to the Zugspitze. The final stairwell to the top (known as the third Gallery) is a tall, spiraling staircase that has barely enough room for one person.

Montpellier

Montpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as well as the Hérault department. Montpellier is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. Located on the south coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, it is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is one of the few large cities in France without any (Gallo-)Roman heritage and also one of the few cities in southern France without a Greek foundation.

Jerome sent me this card from Montpellier which shows a beautiful picture of The Place de la Comédie which is the main focal point of the city of Montpellier, in the Hérault département in southern France. The square is first mentioned in 1755 and is named after the theatre located there, which burned down in 1785 and 1855.

The Place became the main focal point of the city when, in the mid-19th century the main railway station (Gare de Montpellier Saint-Roch) was built some 200 metres south of it. At that time, a smaller train going to the nearby beach at Palavas-les-Flots also had its provenance on the Place.

At the centre of the square is a fountain called the Three Graces, built by sculptor Étienne d'Antoine in 1790. The original piece was placed in the Musée Fabre in 1989, but moved again during the refurbishment of the museum to the Opéra Comédie, which is located at the square.

At its north-eastern corner the square continues into the Esplanade de Charles de Gaulle, a small park connecting the Place to the Corum, a large concrete and granite complex built by Claude Vasconi. At its south-eastern corner it is linked to the Lycée Joffre, formerly theCitadel of Montpellier.

Thank you Jerome for this lovely card.

Egrang

These two children in Indonesia are playing the game of Egrang.

Egrang is one of the traditional games in Indonesia. It is a game played on Stilts. In Indonesia it is usually played or competed during the commemoration of the independence day proclamation of Indonesia, August 17.

Thank you Ika Maria for this pretty card.

The International Building Exhibition Berlin

The International Building Exhibition Berlin (IBA Berlin) was an urban renewal project in Berlin, Germany. Initiated in 1979, it was completed in 1987, matching the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin. The IBA followed two distinct strategies: "careful urban renewal" and "critical reconstruction."

In 1979 Josef Paul Kleihues was appointed director of the IBA. He organised the exhibition along two distinct themes:IBA Alt aimed to explore methods of "careful urban renewal" and IBA Neu for experimenting "critical reconstruction." He invited many international architects including Peter Eisenman, Vittorio Gregotti, Herman Hertzberger, Hans Hollein, Arata Isozaki, Rob Krier, Aldo Rossi and James Stirling. Consequently the IBA was called by Time magazine "the most ambitious showcase of world architecture in this generation".

Thank you Merja for this interesting maxicard issued in Berlin in 1987.         

M/aux Astrid

"ASTRID" is a traditional English
sailing vessel, crewed by experienced sailors well 
acquainted with the Finnish archipelago. 

The ship is fitted discreetly with all conveniences needed for Both work and leisure. ASTRID's  galley too is equipped to satisfy the demands of all.

Thank you Merja for this pretty card.