A Small Castle from Germany

This postcard arrived today, just a few hours ago.  This is a very small castle. I think it is absolutely lovely. I would like to see the rest of it.  Unfortunately, there is no other information on the card about this particular 'little' castle.  

These are cute stamps!

Greensburg, PA

This card depicts a mural painted by a local artist in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

From the back of the card:  "Originally a railroad stop on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Greensburg quickly became the center of the coal mining industry in the region by the late 1800's when large areas of soft coal were discovered nearby."   

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensburg,_Pennsylvania

Belarus

My first postcard from Belarus arrived on July 23.

left:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brest_Fortress

top center: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisent (European Bison or Wisent)

bottom center: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Białowieża_Forest

right:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Kamyanyets

A Favorite Card from Finland

This card was sent to me because I had chosen it on Postcrossing as a favorite.  If users upload cards sent or received on postcrossing.com, then others can choose different cards as favorites, even if they were not sent to them personally. As I looked at exchanged cards awhile ago, this particular one caught my eye.  I was delighted when a copy of the card arrived in my mailbox on July 21!  

Oświęcim, Poland

This is St. Mary's Church of Salesiane Priests.

Virginia Wildlife

I got this card on July 19.  The sender saw that I like animals, so he sent me a card with wildlife found in Virginia ~

We have all of these animals in Colorado, and I've seen all of them in the wild.   It is always nice to get some in the mail, though!  

Here's an historical American farm in action:

This is the Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota.  It is a living history museum operated by the Minnesota National Historical Society.  It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.  The sender of this card works with kids at a high school, and she said she had taken they had taken a recent field trip to this farm.  She told me they baked crackers, harvested turnips, and saw sheep in labor.  That sounds like very fun field trip to me!  

mnhs.org/places/sites/ohkf/aboutkelley.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_H._Kelley_Homestead

This card arrived on July 16.

A Bit of Architectural Detail

This lovely postcard arrived from Arkansas on July 12 as well.  The sender took the photograph herself.  She enjoys photographing architectural details, and this is beautiful.   

Smile!

"Smile, that's what more people should do".

Wouldn't the world be a better place if more people followed this advice?  The sender wrote this card the day the Netherlands advanced to the final game of the World Cup.  I received it on July 12, the day after they lost to Spain.  Those poor guys weren't smiling much on that day.  

My First Card from Lithuania

This is the first postcard I have received from Lithuania (I have also sent one to that country), and it came in the  mail on July 10.  

This is an outline of the country. My sender tells me that this cards is inviting all Lithuanians abroad to come back to Lithuania.  She tells me she loves her country, and that they have many lakes and forests.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania

Amberg, Germany

Another favorite, again from Bavaria!  This card arrived on July 9 along with the card from Ohio (yesterday's featured card).  What a wonderful card with so many places to explore...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amberg

Wood County, Ohio

This card from Ohio came on July 9 from a small town near Toledo.    

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_County,_Ohio

Jinguashi Shinto Shrine, Taiwan

wikitravel.org/en/Jinguashi (the description of the shrine is about halfway down the page on this site).  This card arrived on July 7. 

left-hand stamp: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delonix_regia
right-hand stamps: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliandra

Space Views from the Hubble Telescope

This card ~ 'Atmospheric Changes on Neptune' ~ arrived on July 7.

This is the caption on the back:

"This view of Neptune shows the planet's rapidly changing weather conditions.  Neptune's remarkably dynamic atmosphere, composed of hydrogen, helium, methane, and hydrocarbons such as ethane and acetylene, changes over just a few days, possibly as a result of the temperature difference between the planet's hot core and its frigid (-260 degrees F) cloud tops."

hubble.nasa.gov/

hubblesite.org/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune

Burghotel Lauenstein, Germany

"Hello, one castle for Janella" is the greeting on this postcard.  People are so nice to send me castles!  It is one of the few things I have requested, and they are just pouring in.  I love it!  This one is in black and white because that is the only one the sender had, but I am okay with that.    

Have you ever wanted to stay in a castle?  Here's your chance, because this castle is now a hotel.  Pretty cool, huh?     

- online-reservations.de/bls/

- tinyurl.com/28dn653

- tinyurl.com/2datzd7

Foxiangge of the Summer Palace, Beijing

"The Foxiangge [Tower of Buddhist Incense] is the largest structure in the Summer Palace and one of the masterpieces of architecture.  The eight-facade tower is 41 meters high [approx.. 135 ft] with three stories and four tiers of eaves.  It is the very center of the whole garden."

This card arrived from China on June 30.  The sender says she has visited the Summer Palace three times and has enjoyed learning about how the Chinese emperors lived.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace

travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/summer/buddhist.htm

kinabaloo.com/sp5.html

Castles from the "Green Heart" of Germany

Another favorite, arriving on June 26.  I am so happy to receive all these castles!   The sender says he is from "a small village in the middle (the green heart) of Germany." That sounds beautiful!  He says "you can see very old castles around my village."  I think that would be amazing to be able to see very old castles where I lived, but I'm sure I only think that because I can't see any castles where I live.  

The problem for me is the German descriptions on the back of the card!  Not speaking German makes it very difficult to find information on the castles themselves. Most do not have any website in English at all (#3 has one on Wikipedia), and the others had to translated, but I've done my best. 

1 - Burg Greifenstein bei Bad Blankenburg - tinyurl.com/23lv9su

2 - Heidecksburg bei Rudolstadt - tinyurl.com/2b9qh4n

3 - Wartburg bei Eisenbach - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg

4 - Friedensburg bei Leutenberg - ?

5 - Wachsenburg bei Holzhausen - ? komm-nach-thueringen.de/de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=84&idart=263

The stamp on the left shows Maiglockchen (Lily-of-the-valley) one of my very favorite flowers. They have such a heavenly scent, and are so pretty and delicate looking! It looks like I've learned a little German after all.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_of_the_Valley

Towers of Riga, Latvia

I wish I could have an individual postcard for each of these buildings!  Partly because I love old buildings, partly because I would know exactly what each building is. These are all different "towers" of Riga, Latvia ~ both old and new.

- "Saules akmens" ("The Sun Stone") and the Vansu Bridge across the River Daugava - is this meant to be one or two descriptions?

- The President Palace

- Freedom Monument 

- John's Yard

- Three Brothers

- A View from  the Dome Square

- The Latvian Academy of Art

- Skarnu Street

- Hotel "Riga" {left bottom corner?}

- Riga City Council

- The National Opera {bottom center?}

These descriptions are listed on the back of the card, but it is not clear which one belongs to which photo on the front. The trouble is that there are eleven (or is it twelve?) descriptions and fourteen photos! I've counted them numerous times just to make sure. I don't think any of the photos are repeated, either. It is a little confusing! If it were to make any sense, then the descriptions start with the top left corner with the modern building and work to the right, then back to the left center, over to the right, etc.).  However, there are those two photos that are in the middle of the card and the large photo on the right that really confuse that left to right order!  If anyone comes along and reads this post, and just happens to know the buildings of Riga, please set me straight!  

I love this card with it's wonderful photos, however confusing it is!  It arrived on June 21. 

These are such pretty, cheerful stamps.  There are four of them, and they have mushrooms and leaves on them!

:)

The Outer Banks ~ North Carolina

This card arrived in my mailbox on June 18.  I love the lighthouses - they are fantastic with their black and white stripes!  The lighthouse at the left is Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and the one on the right is Bodie Lighthouse.  Links to National Park Service websites for both are below ~

~  nps.gov/caha/index.htm

~  nps.gov/caha/bodie-island-light-station.htm

The bust is of Orville Wright.  Orville and his brother Wilbur are famous for the first successful airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903.  Learn more about the Wright Brothers here ~ 

~  nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm

The photo on the far right is Elizabethan Gardens.  This looks like a wonderful place to visit. You can stroll through the gardens and enjoy the flowers, or you can have a wedding, party or any other kind of celebration here.  Take a look for yourself at their website ~ 

~ elizabethangardens.org/

"Auch Wolken Mussen Manchmal Pipi!"

This cute card arrived on June 17.  The sender sent "sunny greetings from Germany" and talked a lot about how everyone was getting excited about the World Championship in South Africa (the  World Cup).  Then she said she hoped I like this card, and that I can "figure out what those German words stand for" and drew a smiley face.  :D

Now, even though I am of German ancestry, I do not speak German.  I did manage to figure out what this says with the help of the translator on Dictionary.com ~ "sometimes clouds also have to pee".  So I posted that to the comments box for the postcard on Postcrossing, and my sender told me "Yeah! -  Herzlichen Gluckwunsch! I'm proud of your translation skills, because it was a tricky sentence (that's kind of kid's language)."  I enjoyed this postcard, it makes me smile whenever I  look at it  :D

...and it has a very pretty stamp, which I've received on at least one other postcard.  The flower known as the bleeding heart.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprocapnos_spectabilis

A Butterfly from Greece via Finland!

This pretty butterfly arrived on June 17 from Finland.  The photo was taken by the sender in Greece last year, and made into this postcard.  I did a search, and found that the butterfly is a Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius):

She says it took a while to get a good photo of the butterfly, but she likes this one.  I do, too.  It is called a Scare Swallowtail.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarce_Swallowtail

This little bird looks very happy.  Is it some sort of Finnish swallow I wonder?  

Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

This pretty photo card arrived on June 3. At 6,288 feet of elevation, Mt. Washington looks very pretty with it's nice blanket of snow, but to someone from Colorado, this doesn't seems like a 'real' mountain (we have 53 peaks over 14.000 ft in elevation, and over 700 13,000 ft. peaks).  Mt. Washington may not be a '14er', but it is definitely a real mountain -- it is well-known for it's very unpredictable and dangerous weather, and it has held the world record for wind speed (231 mph) since 1934.  It may only 1,008 feet higher than Denver, but you have to respect a mountain like that!

mountwashington.com ~ (down for maintenance as of 6/3/10, but there is a paragraph with a few facts posted on the page).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_(New_Hampshire)

Loggerhead Turtle from Florida

This card arrived on June 16 from Florida.  This is a Loggerhead Turtle.  The back of the card says that the east coast of Florida is the second largest nesting site of Loggerheads in the world.  Nesting season is April through September.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loggerhead_sea_turtle.

The Novodevichy Convent, Moscow

Arriving on May 28 is possibly my favorite postcard so far.  I love the colors of the postcard, and the building itself is gorgeous.  

The location itself has quite an interesting history.  The Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524, and originally built as a fortress. In the years following, it has served as a fortress, a convent and monastery, a shelter for royal Russian ladies (those that had to "take the veil"), a military hospital, orphanage, museum and apartments. There is also a cemetery on the grounds.  In 1812, Napoleon's army tried to  destroy it, and Tolstoy used it as a setting for scenes in both 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina'.  

  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novodevichy_Convent

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Guangzhou, China

Another postcard from China!  This one came on May 25.  My Postcrossing profile says I will enjoy getting any postcard, but if you can send one of a castle, then I will be particularly happy.  The sender of this postcard says "Hello ~ you said you love castles very much and I'm very sorry that I don't have such postcard :(  Anyway, I hope you'll like this one :)".  I do like this one - I love the colors of this building!  This is the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou, China.  

I have to reluctantly admit that my knowledge of Chinese history is fairly rusty, and I had to look up Dr. Sun Yat Sen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen. This memorial hall is in Guangzhou, China.  There is also a National  Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial hall in Taipei City ~ yatsen.gov.tw/english/. The National memorial hall is what I first found when I searched for the hall, and it didn't look anything like my postcard's photo and I was confused until I found the one in Guangzhou.  

Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin

The postcard with Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, Germany arrived in my mailbox on May 24, 2010.  It is also one of my favorite cards which I have received.  Isn't it beautiful?

I just love the grounds!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlottenburg_Palace

The flowers in these stamps are asters.  Simple flowers are just very pretty.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aster_(genus)

Oostpoort, Delft

This is the "Eastern Gate" in Delft, Netherlands.  It was built around 1400, and is the only city gate remaining in Delft (I cannot seem to find how many gates there were originally).  This card arrived on May 15, 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Gate_(Delft)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delft

Delft is a city in the province of South Holland.  Well-known persons from Delft include Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (the father of microbiology and developer of the microscope ~ which I think is very cool), and Johannes Vermeer (painter, well known for works such as 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and 'The Milkmaid').  I am learning so much about the Netherlands. I am told that I am of Dutch descent. In my reading, I had seen that the people in the Netherlands call themselves "Nederlanders", and that only in English are they known as "Dutch".

Here's a link to a postcard I received from the Netherlands where I learned about the different provinces.  North Holland and South Holland are two of twelve provinces:   acollectionofpostcards.blogspot.com/2010/06/groeten-uit-noord-holland.html

Here is the stamp from this postcard:

Bremerhaven ~ "Gate to the World"

Arriving on May 3, 2010 was this postcard from Bremerhaven, Germany.

The main view in this card is the Columbus Cruise Center.  These days tourists take cruise ships all over the world from here, but in the 19th and 20th centuries over 7 million people emigrated to America from here.  Bremerhaven was the largest German emigration port. The top left photo shows the German Emigration Center. Here, my sender tells me, the process of their emigration is told, as well as the life histories of some of the emigrants.

Here is the German Emigration Center's website:

http://www.dah-bremerhaven.de/english/english.html  (English version)

I have German ancestors (two of my great-grandmother's were from Germany) and my husband is of German ancestry as well.  This would be a very interesting place for us to visit!

This flower is known as a bleeding heart:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprocapnos_spectabilis