Portugal – Murtosa

The picture is that of a traditional boat from Murtosa. The fisherman in this boat is obviously an admirer of Uncle Sam as he is flying the US flag on top of his sail. Murtosa is a town (vila) and one of four parishes (freguesias) of the Murtosa Municipality in Aveiro District in Portugal. My friend Jose sent this card

Finland - Edvard Isto

Edvard Isto's painting Attack symbolizes Finnish resistance to the perceived Russification.
In the famous painting Hyökkäys by Edvard "Eetu" Isto, the Finnish Maiden is being attacked by the Russian double-headed eagle, which is tearing away the law book. The Maiden of Finland "Suomi-neito" is the national personification of Finland. The Maiden of Finland can also refer to the shape of Finland on the map. With a little imagination it looks like a female form which has one hand raised (and another before the Moscow Armistice of 1944), a head, and a skirt. The metaphor is so commonly used that the northwestern area around Enontekiö is known as the Arm (Käsivarsi) even in official contexts. Russification of Finland. The policy of Russification of Finland (1899–1905 and 1908–1917, called sortokaudet/sortovuodet (times/years of oppression) in Finnish) was a governmental policy of the Russian Empire aimed at limiting the special status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and possibly the termination of its political autonomy and cultural uniqueness. It was a part of a larger policy of Russification pursued by late 19th–early 20th century Russian governments which tried to abolish cultural and administrative autonomy of non-Russian minorities within the empire. The policy included the following measures:

· The February Manifesto of 1899 was a decree by Emperor Nicholas II which asserted the imperial government's right to rule Finland without the consent of local legislative bodies.

· The Language Manifesto of 1900 was a decree by Emperor Nicholas II which made Russian the language of administration of Finland.

· The conscription law was signed by Emperor Nicholas II in July 1901 and incorporated the Finnish army into the imperial army.

Thank you Pia for this lovely card.

USA - Marine Corps War Memorial

Rising from hallowed ground, the Marine Corps War Memorial overlooks the Potomac River at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. It is the largest bronze monument in the world. Arguably, it is also the most famous monument in the world. And for all who have earned the title, a pilgrimage to the monument is required. First, a brief historical review: In the closing years of World War II, U.S. Marines fought and bled their way across the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. The Japanese knew their tiny volcanic island, Iwo Jima, would be attacked. Its crucial airfields lay only 650 miles from Tokyo, just over two hours flying time. So, under the command of LtGen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Japan's best and brightest mining engineers turned remote Iwo Jima into a seemingly impregnable fortress. In the volcanic rock, laborers blasted out 16 miles of tunnels, connecting 1500 rooms. The engineers built underground hospitals and supply rooms under hundreds of feet of solid impenetrable rock. These were linked to over a thousand fortified artillery and antiaircraft batteries, and machinegun and mortar bunkers. Impregnable, they believed.

Preliminary bombardment by the 16-inch guns of U.S. Navy battleships had a negligible effect on the volcanic island fortress. Nonetheless, on 19 February 1945 the Marines stormed the beach. Many never even made it to the shore. From hundreds of fortifications, many atop 550-foot high Mount Suribachi, the Japanese rained a hail of rockets, artillery, mortar, and automatic weapons fire down upon the attacking force. For both the Japanese and the Marines, the island became a charnel house. Yet, by the fourth day the Marines of 3rd Platoon, Echo Company, had clawed their way to the summit of Mount Suribachi. Here they raised a small American flag. Soon a larger flag was obtained. Five Marines and a Navy corpsman mounted the new flag on a piece of pipe. Together they raised this flag atop the former Japanese bastion. The six flag-raisers represented a cross-section of America: PFC Ira Hayes, a full-blooded Pima Indian from Arizona, Sgt. Michael Strank, a Pennsylvania coal mine worker, Cpl. Harlon Block, a draftee from the Texas oil fields, PFC Franklin Sousley, a 19 year old Kentucky farm boy, PFC Rene Gagnon, a New Englander rejected by the Navy, and PM2 (corpsman) John Bradley, a funeral director's apprentice.

Joe Rosenthal, of the Associated Press, photographed the men as they raised the flag. That picture, stopping time for 1/400th of a second, would become the most famous photograph of all time.

After 36 terrible days, Iwo Jima finally fell to the Marines. Of the forty men in 3rd Platoon who stormed the beach, only four escaped being killed or seriously wounded on Iwo Jima. Of the six men who raised the flag, Cpl. Block, Sgt. Strank, and PFC Sousley were all killed-in-action within days. They are among the 6,821 Americans who never left Iwo Jima alive. Further, an additional 19,217 Americans were maimed or grievously wounded. In July 1947 the U.S. Congress authorized a Marine Corps War Memorial, based on the timeless photograph by Joe Rosenthal. The new memorial was sculpted by Felix de Weldon. In 108 separate pieces, it was cast in a New York foundry and then trucked to Washington. Ground-breaking and assembly began on 19 February 1954, the ninth anniversary of the Iwo Jima landing. The final cost of $850,000 was borne entirely by donations, 96 percent of them from U.S. Marines. Burnished into the base of polished black Swedish granite, in gold letters, is the inscription, "Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue." On the opposite side, flanked by Marine Corps emblems, is the additional inscription: In Honor And Memory Of The Men Of The United States Marine Corps Who Have Given Their Lives To Their Country Since 10 November 1775. Inscribed in gold are the names of the campaigns in which Marines have fought since 1775. Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President, delivered the dedication address on 10 November 1954, the 179th birthday of the Corps. The five Marines and their corpsman are forever immortalized in bronze, raising the American flag on Iwo Jima for their Corps and Country. They represent the supreme sacrifice of all Marines who went before them, and all who follow. They live eternally. They live on hallowed ground. Never to be forgetten by fellow Americans.

Finland - Inge Look

The Grannies are at it again! This time on ice. Well Done the very popular Inge Look!

Italy – Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto, with a population of the whole Comune of about 270,660 (census estimate 30 April 2009). Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE) (population 1,600,000). The name is derived from the ancient people of Veneti that inhabited the region as of 10th century B.C. The city historically was the capital of the Venetian Republic. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; and 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon.
The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period. Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. Maria sent me this card.

Cyprus - Mosaics of Paphos

My Dear Friend Merja sent me these two cards from the site of Cyprus Mosaics, or more commonly referred name of ‘Paphos Mosaics’, are a series of mosaic floors in villas of ancient Roman noblemen. The site where the villas are still being excavated can be found about 300 metres from the Paphos harbour. The mosaics feature mythological characters and scenes, and were constructed from small cubes of marble and stone, called tesserae, with glass paste added to widen the range of colour. The cult of Aphrodite was officially established on Cyprus in 1500 BC, with the building of a hilltop temple on this site. However, idols of a fertility goddess dating from as early as 3800 BC have been found at Palea Paphos. The cult may owe its origins to Achaean colonists, who adopted the worship of a native fertility goddess named Astort (the Canaanite form of Ishtar), who they Hellenized as Aphrodite. Although the worship of Aphrodite seems to have come from the east, it was soon identified with Cyprus. Homer referred to the goddess as the "Cyprian" as early as the 8th century BC, and she was called the "Paphian" in the 6th century BC. Inscriptions at Palea Paphos call her simply Wanassa, "the lady." The Temple of Aphrodite stood on a knoll about 2km inland, overlooking the sea. The town of Palea Paphos soon sprang up around the temple.
Leda and the Swan is a motif from Greek mythology in which Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. In the W.B. Yeats version, it is subtly suggested that Clytemnestra, although being the daughter of Tyndareus, has somehow been traumatised by what the swan has done to her mother. As the story goes, Zeus took the form of a swan and raped or seduced Leda on the same night she slept with her husband King Tyndareus. In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched. In other versions, Helen is a daughter of Nemesis, the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris. Tile mosaic depicting Leada and the Swan (the card on the right) from the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, Palea Paphos; is now exhibited in the Cyprus Museum, Nicosia

USA - Harley-Davidson motorcycle

The history of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle began in Milwaukee in 1903. In Milwaukee, Bill Harley and Arthur Walter Davidson developed a one-cylinder motorcycle. Around the turn of the century the gasoline engine was developed and the one-cylinder motor was introduced. In 1901 the Indians were the first motorcycles and in 1903 Mitschell, Merkel and Yale. This motorcycle was initially built for racing and was powered by a one-cylinder gasoline combustion engine. In 1903 in Milwaukee, Bill Harley and Arthur Walter Davidson developed a one-cylinder motorcycle. It was a reliable and even a beautiful cycle. And ... someone bought it!! In 1905 they had made 11 motorcycles, in 1908 it were 154 and ... they had a company, in a little wooden barn, that was build by Davidson's father. The small company extended quickly and another member of the Davidson family, William, joined them. In no time they hired about 20 employees in an especially build stone-factory.

In 1909 Bill Harley made a project of the first 1000 CC V-Twin. It produced a modest seven horsepower. The 45-degree V-twin would become one of the more recognizable images of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. This V-Twin stayed with HD for a long, long time. Maybe it's hard to believe, but Harley-Davidson didn't invent the V-twin!! When Bill Harley developed one, he just followed the tendency of the time. 1910 brought the legendary "Bar and Shield" logo that was placed on their motorcycle. This would become the defining symbol of Harley-Davidson to this day. Numerous first place winnings in races, endurance contests and hill climbs give Harley-Davidson more recognition.
The "F-head" engine is introduced in 1911. It will be the power workhorse until 1929, when the "Flathead" engine is introduced.  The year 1912 saw further growth of the Harley-Davidson Company. Construction began on a new 6-story factory. Harley-Davidson also became an exporter this year and their first overseas sale was made in Japan. In the states there were now over 200 dealerships. 1914 saw the addition on the sidecar to the Harley-Davidson. The Company also formally put their hand in the ring of motorcycle racing this year and would soon dominate the sport and become known as the "Wrecking Crew". Thank you J Tills for this nice card.