Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Cimburk Castle - Czech Republic

This great card was a surprise from Evelina, to whom i've sent an official some time ago. This is the 2nd card she sent me and both are great. Thanks a lot Evelina :P

This is a lovely castle but unfortunately the castle doesn't look like this nowadays. The cards shows how the castle must have been like in 1650. Preserved today are remnants of the peripheral walls of the castle itself, the fortification walls, tower, and the fore-castle gates.
The castle was built in the 13th century as the residence of the Lords of Cimburk. Over the centuries the castle changed owners numerous times. In 1645 the Swedes conquered Moravia and following their departure the castle began to fall into disrepair. By 1776 the castle was already entirely abandoned; ten years later the castle burned after being hit by lightening. - in: http://www.east-bohemia.info/mestecko-trnavka/13_5464_cimburk-castle-ruins/

BY-370641 & BY-390716

Two officials from Belarus.

BY-370641, sent by Kate.
Forests, green fields and lakes, a typical landscape in Vitebsk Region, in nothern Belarus.


BY-390716, sent by Liza. This is the south-western tower of the Mir Castle. On the very top of the loop-hole there are machines for throwing stones and pouring boiling water. The tower looks pretty much like in the 16th century, when the castle was built.

My polish cards

2 weeks ago i was about to arrive in Lisbon, to take a plane a few hours after to Poland. This was an amazing trip. I've visited some beautiful and amazing places and i'm sure i'll visit the country again.

© Copyright projektu graficznego Wydawnictwo Parma Press

I travelled with some portuguese postcrossers and we've been to Warsaw, Krakow, 2 castles - Pieskowa Skala and Ojcow Castle - in the Ojcow National Park, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, Auschwitz - Birkenau, Czestochowa and Olsztyn Castle.

Copyright by Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau
The visit Auschwitz was the main reason for this trip. We really wanted to go there and this was something we'll never forget. There are no word to express what we saw and specially, no words to express how we felt....
I've sent to myself, from Auschwitz, this card with the entrance gate in Birkenau, that prisoners called the "Gate of Death". Trains carrying deportees entered here on the railroad spur that extended into the camp.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camps. Located in occupied by Germany southern Poland, it took its name from the nearby town of Oświęcim (Auschwitz in German), situated about 50 kilometers west of Kraków. The complex consisted of three main camps: Auschwitz I, the administrative center; Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp, and Auschwitz III (Monowitz), a work camp. The first two of them have been on the World Heritage List since 1979.
Immediately after disembarking from the train, the Jews had to form two columns: women and children in one, and men in the other. SS physicians and male nurses then conducted a selection on the ramp. They divided the strong and healthy from the elderly, the ill, pregnant women, and children. Those classified as fit for work were placed in the camp. The others, usually 70-75% of the transport, were sent to their death in the gas chambers. - in: http://www.tunliweb.no/SM/alb_auschwitz.htm

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

PL-382471

I've received this card a few days before my trip to Poland. By coincidence, the sender even said "if you're around, come and visit the city". Obsiously he didn't know i was about to travel to Poland.

PL-382471, sent by Kamil.

Łańcut is a town in south-eastern Poland.
One of the city's main sights is the castle, sometimes called the Potocki Palace. It was built in 1628–1641 by Stanisław Lubomirski, rebuilt in 1894–1903 in the style of French Neo-baroque. In the castle grounds there is a park with the little romantic castle, a coachhouse with a collection of carriages and a guest-house in the English style. - in: wikipedia

DE-1280014

Today i've received 9 great cards and this really brightened my day :) This and a new trip. Today i've booked an hotel in Barcelos, a city in nothern Portugal. I'll travel alone and i'll visit the city alone but the next day i'll meet a friend in another city. This is the 1st time i'll visit a place that i don't know all by myself. The city isn't that big and believe i won't have any problems. We'll see what happens.

Photo by Pierre Adenis / G. A. F. F.

DE-1280014, sent by Bianca.

This is a card from the Scheunenviertel, a neighborhood of Mitte in the centre of Berlin. It is situated to the north of the medieval Altberlin area, east of the Rosenthaler Straße and Hackescher Markt.

Until the Second World War it was regarded as a slum district and had a substantial Jewish population with a high proportion of migrants from Eastern Europe.
Prior to World War I the Berlin City Council (Magistrat) redeveloped parts of the area. Following German reunification the Scheunenviertel, together with the neighbouring Spandauer Vorstadt, has become a fashionable district popular with younger people. - in:
wikipedia

Sunday, March 25, 2012

NL-1081180 & NL-1086632

These are more 2 ducth official but none of the cards is from the Netherlands. The 1st is from Germany and the 2nd from Scotland.

NL-1081180, sent by Marlies.

A lighthouse somewhere in Germany.


NL-1086632, sent by Miranda.


The picture on the card was taken by Miranda in Scotland. I asked her exactly where but she forgot the name of the village.

NL-1103573 & NL-1105713

I've been getting a few dutch officials cards. 4 of the last 8 were from the Netherlands.


Art Unlimited © Erik Kuiper 1990

NL-1103573, sent by Yvonne.

Monnickendam is a city in the Dutch province of North Holland.
Although it is a small fishing village today, it was an important port in earlier centuries. It possesses a seventeenth century weigh house, once used by merchants and port officials, and a bell tower that dates from 1591. The fourteenth century church of St. Nicholas, renovated in 1602, is particularly notable. The synagogue was built in 1894. Jewish families named Monnikendam trace their roots to this town. - in:
wikipedia

NL-1105713, sent by Jetty.

This one of the stained-glass windows in Delft's Oude Kerk (Old Church). Delft is a city in the province of South Holland.
The Oude Kerk was founded as St. Bartholomew's Church in the year 1246. The current stained-glass windows were crafted by the master glazier Joep Nicolas in the mid-20th century.
Approximately 400 people are entombed in the Oude Kerk, including the painter Johannes Vermeer. - in:
wikipedia

Saturday, March 24, 2012

February Alternative RR (IV)

And that's it, all the 20 February Alternative RR cards are here. These last 5 are from Ukraine, Australia, France, Liechtenstein and Belarus.

Olga "olenenka" from Ukraine sent me this card showing the Demirji Yayla, which is a plateau of the Crimean Mountains.
The Crimean Mountains is a range of mountains running parallel to the south-east coast of Crimea, Ukraine, between about five and eight miles (13 km) from the sea. Toward the west, the mountains drop steeply to the Black Sea, and to the east, they change slowly into a steppe landscape. - in: wikipedia



Photo © Neil J. Leed 1998
Another australian lighthouse, the Split Lighthouse, located in Aireys Inlet, a small town on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia.
Nicknamed "The White Lady" Split point Lighthouse was built in 1891 on what was originally called Eagles Nest Point. The rock of the coastline which can be viewed from this point is still called Eagle Rock. It opens up for viewing inside only 1 day of the year and is said to be haunted by those who operated its light to the sea which was converted to 4 automatic flashes every 20 seconds in 1919. - in: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Australia_and_Oceania/Australia/State_of_Victoria/Aireys_Inlet-1880466/Things_To_Do-Aireys_Inlet-TG-C-1.html


Edition Mage
Another lighthouse, this one from France. The Cap Gris Nez Lighthouse is located in Cap Gris Nez, a cape on the Côte d'Opale in the Pas-de-Calais département in northern France.

It was built in 1837 and destroyed during the Second World War in 1944. The lighthouse as we see it today, was rebuilt in 1958.

Globetrotter GmbH
Grace "azzurri" from Switzerland sent me the Vaduz Castle in Liechtenstein, the residence of the ruling Price.

And this is the last card of this RR. I also had this one and the 1st card isn't unwritten!! Anyway, getting double cards is not something that happens that often.

The Mir Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus located in the town of Mir. The card was sent by Lena "skliu".

February Alternative RR (III)

3rd post dedicated to the February Alternative RR. Only 1 to go. This time the cards are from Australia, Italy, Russia, Netherlands and USA.

© Tim Sylvester

Andy "duplevista" is from UK and he sent me an australian card with the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse.
Cape du Couedic is the south-western point of Kangaroo Island, off the coast of South Australia.

The Cape du Couedic Lighthouse is a prominent landmark. Constructed between 1906–1909, it consists of a tower built from 2,000 pieces of local stone, together with three four-roomed cottages to house the head keeper and two assistants with their families. Today the lighthouse is automated and visitors to the area can stay in the old keepers' cottages. - in: wikipedia

Another card not sent from it's origin country. Helena "helenafl" is from the Netherlands and she sent a card from Naples, Italy. I've been to Naples in 2010. Nice city.

Naples is the capital of Campania and the third largest city in Italy, after Rome and Milan.
Naples' historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres),[8] and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. - in:
wikipedia

This card suffered a nasty accident yesterday but, fortunately, it doesn't show major damages.
This is a card from Maria's "crex crex" hometown, Kaluga, a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River 150 kilometers (93 mi) southwest of Moscow.

Photo by Zefa Beneluxpress

Lovely snowy view with dutch mills sent by Rietha "poekje". She used a postcrossing stamp :D


Photo by Rick Schafer


I already had this card but the other one was unwritten, so i'll keep this one sent by Cynthia "flaggazer" and use the other one in a future trade.

A grand panorama of mountain peaks is unfurled to view from the popular ski slopes of Mt. Bachelor in the Central Cascade Range of Oregon. The Three Sisters and Broken Top mountains dominate this panoramic view.

February Alternative RR (II)

More cards from the February Alternative RR. These are from the USA, Finland, Belarus, Russia and Canada.

© 1996 Fred Hirschmann


Icebergs from the Columbia Glacier. The Columbia Glacier is a glacier in Prince William Sound on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world, and has been retreating since the early 1980s. - in: wikipedia
The card was sent by Naomi "nhigh".

© Kuvapörssi Oy


A beautiful snowy sunset sent by Johanna "marnie".
Sergey "augoor" sent me this card with the Adam Mickiewicz in Minsk.
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 1798 – 26 November 1855) was a Polish poet, publicist and political writer. A prime representative of the Polish Romantic period, he is one of that country's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all Polish literature. He is also considered one of the greatest Slavic and European poets. He has been described as a "Slavic bard". He was a leading Romantic dramatist and has been compared in Poland and in western Europe to Byron and Goethe. - in: wikipedia




Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral (sobor) in the city. It is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great, who had been born on the feast day of that saint. The cathedral took 40 years to construct, from 1818 to 1858. - in: wikipedia

The card was sent by Sveta "nedzumi_hime".

The Postcard Factory


To finish this post, a card showing Manitoba's Legislative Building in Winnipeg, sent by Rose "phuleshouse".

The Manitoba Legislative Building is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, in central Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The neoclassical building was completed in 1920 and stands seventy-seven meters tall (253 ft). - in: wikipedia