Moomin's

As promissed by me here are the last three Moomin cards released on 6.5.2013 and given to me by my Dear friend Ella.

Moomin's

Finnish post issued a stampsheet commemorating the favorite Moomins, central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson. They are a family of fairy tale characters, who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have had many adventures along with their various friends.

The Moomins are ever-popular favorites on Finnish stamps. This time Itella Posti Oy released a booklet of six stamps, called Moomin Favorites on 6.5.2013. 

Satu Lusa wants to portray the vitality of Tove Jansson's drawings and the Moomin characters' zest for life. All the drawings in the booklet come from Tove Jansson's comic strips published in The Evening News in the 1950s. The shape of the stamps follows that of the Moomin characters.

Thank you Dear Ella for these lovely maxi cards. The rest of the cards will be posted tomorrow.

 

Viersen Sculpture Collection

This nice card was sent to me by Esther. It is one of sculptures in Viersen in Germany. The Viersen Sculpture Collection belongs to the major sculpture parks in Germany and is located in the centre of Viersen (North Rhine-Westphalia).

The Viersen Sculpture Collection was built up during the last 25 years by the donation of the American businessman and former Viersen citizen William Pohl as well as by other donations and funds from the “Stiftung Kunst und Kultur” of North Rhine-Westfalia. So the park surrounding the City Art Gallery “Galerie im Park” developed into a fine sculpture collection contributed by well renowned artists.

When in 1992 the 12 meters high steel sculpture New Star consisting of five parts, which was already created in 1986/87 by the US-Artist Mark di Suvero, was first erected on loan on the Diergardt-Place, a storm of protest against it arose via letters to the editor of the local paper by Viersen citizens. This example of modern art was too alien to many of them. Meanwhile repeated information over the artists and their works, the international acceptance of the exhibition shown by numerous visitors from all over Germany, as well as other countries and extensive media coverage have led to a change of heart among the citizenry.

The sculpture shown on the card was the creation of Günter Haese, and very aptly named Optimus II. The sculpture is made of Brass and stainless steel and is Approx. 7 x 5 x 1.50 m. It was created in 2006-2007. And is located in the park next to the Städtische Galerie.

The town of Viersen is on the left Lower Rhine in the west of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is a large district town of Viersen in the administrative district of Dusseldorf . The city is seat of the district Viersen. Contrary to popular belief, the town name derives not from "Four Lakes", but on the old name "Viers" today the so-called "Bach's villages" near the "Emperor mill".

Chinese Water Regions

Jevey from China sent me this card, which shows some boys having fun in the village river.

Sean Connery as James Bond 007, in From Russia With Love

This card portrays a photograph of Sean Connery in the Role of James Bond 007 in the popular ‘60s film “From Russia with Love”.  I saw this picture in Bombay (as it was called then) in 1962.

James Bond willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE.

James Bond 007 is on the search for a Russian decoding machine, known as Lektor. Bond needs to find this machine, before the evil SPECTRE organization discovers it first. Whilst being romantically linked with Russian girl, Tatiana Romanova, Bond sneaks his way around Istanbul, whilst each SPECTRE agent tries to pick him off, including the over powering Donald 'Red' Grant and ex-KGB agent Rosa Klebb who knows all the tricks in the books and even possesses an incredible poison tipped shoe!

Leisa from Texas send me this nice card.

Moscow Water Transport

Inland water transport is one of the oldest types of transport serving Moscow citizens. The united city water transport system includes waterways, ports, shipping companies, as well as ship-repair and ship-building enterprises responsible for passenger transportation, navigation safety, and waterways operation. Waterways of the Moscow water area extend from Moscow along the Channel named after Moscow and the Volga river to Rybinsk, as well as from Moscow along the Moscow River and the Oka to Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga.

Apart from cruising river buses that make tourist and entertaining trips along the Moscow River within the city there are cruising ships that depart from the Northern and Southern river stations and take their passengers along Russian rivers via many old Russian cities.

Main river navigation starts from the Northern river station situated at the bank of the Khimki Reservoir. It was built in 1937. The river station is an architecture memorial and one of the symbols of Moscow. From this station cruising ships depart that take their passengers on short weekend trips and on long trips to Saint Petersburg, the Solovetsky Islands, Perm, Ufa, Astrakhan, and Rostov-on-Don that take from two weeks up to a month.  

The building of the Northern river station is built in the form of a huge ship with a high spire and a broad central staircase. At the end of the spire there is the star that in 1935—1937 was at the Spasskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin. The sickle and hammer are encrusted with semiprecious stone from the Urals. The verandas of the station are decorated by the fountains South and North that symbolize the connection between the southern and northern waterways of Moscow. A park is adjoining the station building. In the station there is a restaurant. The total length of the quays is 1.5 km.

This pretty card was sent to me by Zhenya.

Castle of Stolzenfels on the Rhine

Stefan sent me this card showing this imposing castle on the Rhine. Finished in 1259, Stolzenfels was used to protect the toll station at the Rhine, where the ships, back then were the main transport for goods, had to stop and pay toll. Over the years it was extended several times, occupied by French and Swedish troops in the Thirty Years' War and finally, in 1689, destroyed by the French during the Nine Years' War. For 150 years the ruins decayed, until in 1815 they were given as a present to Frederick William IV of Prussia by the city of Koblenz. Following the romantic traditions, the prince started to completely rebuild the castle after 1826 as a summer residence. Supported by famous neoclassic architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the castle was completely remodeled in the then fashionable neo-Gothic style, aiming to create a romantic place representing the idea of medieval knighthood - the architects even created a tournament site.