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.