Manly, Sydney

Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 17 kilometres (11 mi) north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.

Manly is most notable for its beaches which are popular tourist destinations. Manly features a long stretch of sand on the ocean side, that runs from Queenscliff Beach to North Steyne Beach and Manly Beach. This is followed by rock pools and sandy beaches called Fairy Bower and Shelly Beach. There are also a number of beaches on the harbour side of the peninsula. Norfolk Island pine trees are also symbolic of Manly and are a prominent feature of both the ocean and harbour beaches. On 10 March 2012, the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) stretch between Freshwater Beach and Shelly Beach was declared the "Manly -Freshwater World Surfing Reserve". The Reserve was dedicated in a ceremony in Manly Beach by world surfing champion Kelly Slater accompanied by the Governor of New South Wales, Australia, Professor Marie Bashir.

Manly has Sydney Harbour on its western side with calm water, ferry wharf, a swimming area, the Oceanworld Manly aquarium, and sailing and yacht clubs. About 300 metres (980 ft) to the east is the Pacific Ocean and Manly Beach. There are more than 20 kilometres (12 mi) of cycle tracks that can be used to explore the area. The Manly International Jazz Festival is Australia's largest community-based jazz festival. It is held during the October long weekend public holiday, with various stages hosting continuous free public performances from midday until early evening. The BBC soap opera Out of the Blue was set in Manly.

This lovely card sent to me by Karen shows, an aerial view featuring Manly wharf in the foreground and the magnificent surfing beach in the background. I am not very sure, because, I haven't been there, but, is that the famous SCG seen towards the left of the picture?

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius  is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about 70 km to the north-east from Moscow by the road leading to Yaroslavl, and currently is home to over 300 monks.

The monastery was founded in 1345 by one of the most venerated Russian saints, Sergius of Radonezh, who built a wooden church in honour of the Holy Trinity on Makovets Hill. Early development of the monastic community is well documented in contemporary lives of Sergius and his disciples. St. Sergius was declared patron saint of the Russian state in 1422. The same year the first stone cathedral was built by a team of Serbian monks who had found refuge in the monastery after the Battle of Kosovo.

It took 26 years to construct the six-pillared Assumption Cathedral, which was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in 1559. The cathedral is much larger than its model and namesake in the Moscow Kremlin. The magnificent iconostasis of the 16th–18th centuries features Simon Ushakov's masterpiece, the icon of Last Supper. Interior walls were painted with violet and blue frescoes by a team of Yaroslavl masters in 1684. The vault contains burials of Boris Godunov, his family and several 20th-century patriarchs.

As the monastery grew into one of the wealthiest landowners in Russia, the woods where it had stood were cut over and a village (or posad) sprang up near the monastery walls. It gradually developed into the modern town of Sergiyev Posad. The cloister itself was a notable centre of chronicle-writing and icon painting. Just opposite the monastery walls St. Paraskeva's Convent was established, among whose buildings St. Paraskeva's Church (1547), Introduction Church (1547), and a 17th-century chapel over St. Paraskeva's well are still visible.

The Lavra has a number of representative churches in its vicinity and throughout Russia. The Lavra's hieromonks have manned a number of sketes at remote locations (such as the Anzer Island in the Solovki Archipelago in the White Sea), as well as the Trinity Church on the King George Island in the Antarctic.

Thank you Marina for this nice Black and White historical card.

Chapel tomb of Paskevichs family in Gomel

The Rumyantsev-Paskevich Residence is the main place of historical importance in the city of Gomel, Belarus. The grounds of the residence stretch for 800 meters along the steep right bank of the Sozh River. An image of the residence is featured on the Belarusian 20,000-ruble bill. Other buildings on the grounds are the Russian Revival chapel with the tombs of Ivan Paskevich and his family, a winter garden (which originated as Prince Paskevich's sugar-mill), several subsidiary outbuildings, and a set of cannons captured by Paskevich's soldiers in the course of the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829). By far the most conspicuous landmark in the park is the Neoclassical church of Sts. Peter and Paul. It was commissioned by Count Nikolay Rumyantsev from architect John Clark in 1809 but was not consecrated until 1824. The church is the seat of the local Orthodox bishopric.

Thank you Kate for this pretty card.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park is a national park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado. It features majestic mountain views, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails and campsites. The park is located northwest of Boulder, Colorado, in the Rockies, and includes the Continental Divide and the headwaters of the Colorado River.

This nice card was sent to me by Dede.

Texel in Holland

Texel  is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark. The next island in the archipelago, to the north of Texel, is Vlieland.

The name Texel is Frisian, but because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds (compare for instance English Fox, Frisian Fokse, German Fuchs with Dutch Vos), the name is typically pronounced Tesselin Dutch.

 The municipality also includes the uninhabited sand bar of Noorderhaaks. The island of Texel, which received city rights in 1415, originally was made up of two islands, Texel proper to the south and Eierland to the northwest, which were connected by shoals. In the seventeenth century, the islands were poldered together. Today, Texel forms the largest natural barrier between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea.

The dune landscape on Texel is a unique habitat for wildlife. Texel is known for its wildlife, particularly in winter, when birds of prey and geese take up residence. About one third of Texel is a protected nature reserve. Popular with tourist. The island is wonderful for walking, swimming and horse riding. Thank you Ivon for this nice card.

The Wiesensee

The Wiesensee is an artificial lake, dammed up in 1971, in the Westerwald low mountain range. The lake covers about 80 hectares and lies in the area of Stahlhofen am Wiesensee's various centres on the lake's west shore, and Pottum on the north shore in the Westerwaldkreis. The community of Winnen borders on the lake to the southeast. The lake is a nature conservation area, and only parts of the water surface are open for recreational use.

It is a holiday and tourist destination. Several hotels, a luxury hotel and golf course lie near the shore. Many leisure facilities in the winter and summer make the Wiesensee attractive for athletes, young families and youth. Around the lake runs a roughly 6.5-km-long hiking path loop.

Once every year, usually in the third week of October, the lake is fished clean, and completely drained. On this occasion the fishing festival is traditionally held.

Every three years, the Vereinsring Pottum ("club ring") stages a Sommernachtfest ("Summer Night Festival") at the lake.

Thank you Benny for this card.

XIth German Gymnastic Festival in Frankfurt in July 1908

This is a reproduction of a historic postcard. Thank you Andre for this wonderful card.

When Kaiser Wilhelm II made it known in summer 1905 that he would be willing to have the traditional singing contest transferred permanently to Frankfurt as well as having the 11th German Gymnastics Festival held there three years later, the municipal authorities lost no time in taking action. At a meeting of town councillors, funds were allocated for a general architectural competition. The invitation to tender was issued in April 1906 and was won just one year later by Friedrich von Thiersch, who designed a 6,000 m², daylight-flooded hall, suitable for playing host to all manner of exhibitions, musical performances and other events.   

Construction work began on 11 June 1907 and was supervised directly by Frankfurt City Council. Responsibility for marketing and operating the hall was given to ‘Ausstellungs- und Festhallen-Gesellschaft’ – known today as Messe Frankfurt. Exactly 13 months later in July 1908, the still-unplastered Festhalle hosted the opening ceremony for the 11th International German Gymnastics Festival. When the gymnasts had returned home, the construction was completed and officially opened on schedule.