0051 NETHERLANDS (Netherlands / Gelderland) - The Nijmegen railway bridge

Much could be said about Nijmegen, city located in the east of the Netherlands, near the German border, on the Waal river (the main distributary branch of river Rhine who connecting the Rotterdam harbor and Germany). In 2000 years of history (celebrated in 2005), Nijmegen was always in the middle of events, but only one of its is now to my attention, namely Operation Market Garden, conducted by Allied armed forces between 17 and 25 September 1944. A lot is known about this operation, at least from the excellent book A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan (1974) and from its screening of 1977, which remains a movie worthy to watch, despite the obsolete vision who exhibit only the heroic side of the war, so it's pointless to go into details.

0050 FINLAND (Uusimaa) - Nicholas's I cathedral and the statue of Alexander II

The third postcard that I received from Finland shows the same building as the second one, namely Helsinki Cathedral, about that I wrote already. The cathedral was captured from the same angle, but this time the photographer was placed in the Senate Square, so can be seen the colonnade and the pediment of the main entrance (actually the building has a Greek-cross plan and is symmetrical in each of the four cardinal directions). I would add that it was designed by German-born architect Carl Ludvig Engel (as Hilkka also says) as part of the XIXth century reconstruction of Helsinki, destroyed by a fire after the Finland's annexation by the Russian Empire.

On the left can see the statue of Tsar Alexander II (also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland), known as Alexander the Liberator for reforms that he adopted in attempt to modernize the feudal Tsarist Empire. The statue was erected în 1894, 13 years after the assassination of Tsar, to commemorate his reforms that increased Finland's autonomy from Russia. The pedestal is surrounded by figures representing the Law (Lex), the Light (Lux), the Work (Labour) and the Peace (Pax). 

The stamp belongs to the Mail Boxes set, issued on January 24, 2011, designed by Päivi Vainionpää and illustrating "5 different kind of mailboxes typical for Finns". The five stamps have the same denomination, 2nd class € - Euro.

Sender: Hilkka Sandberg (postcrossing)

0049 BELGIUM (East Flanders) - Saint Bavo Cathedral - part of The historic medieval core or 'tank' of Ghent, and the two abbeys that are to its origin (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

"Until the 13th century Ghent was the biggest city in Europe after Paris; it was bigger than London, Cologne or Moscow", Wikipedia claims. Very true, but only if we don't consider Moorish Spain and Constantinople as part of Europe. Today, Ghent (Gent in Duch, Gand in French and formely Gaunt in English) has nearly a quarter million of inhabitants (which makes it Belgium's second largest municipality) and is the capital of the East Flanders province.

0867 SINGAPORE (Central Region) - Singapore Flyer

0867 One of the 28 capsules of Singapore Flyer

Singapore Flyer, opened in 2008, was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world (165 m) until 2014. Initially rotating in a counter-clockwise direction, its direction was changed under the advice of Feng shui masters. A complete rotation of the wheel takes approximately 37 minutes, to give customers time to admire the city panorama. In fact The Flyer is an entire complex, with a wide range of shops, restaurants, activities and facilities.

0048 AUSTRALIA (New South Wales) - Disaster Bay and Green Cape Lightstation

"Disaster Bay is in the beautiful Ben Boyd National Park wilderness area of far south coast of New South Wales. The Bay is the site of many shipwrecks and tragedies. Green Cape Lighthouse is a fully operational light station to this days," is written on the postcard received from Sharon. Concise and comprehensive. Besides, can't be added too many other things.

0047 VIETNAM – Fish cages, fish traps, bamboo and Vovinam

 

When I saw for the first time this picture, I didn't realize what is. I saw only a huge and mobile bundle of merchandise, which I suspect that goes to the market. I knew that in Vietnam bike is a very commonly means of locomotion, maybe as much as the boat, so it doesn't surprised me, but the huge volume of don't-know-what who hides almost completely the man it did. When the postcard has reached on my desk (many thanks, Lyra), things have cleared a little: on the back writes "bamboo products" and Lyra specifies "a vendor selling fish cages". Hence what I thought they are some cornets and bags with an undefined goal are actually "bamboo fish cages".

0046 ICELAND - Young and restless islands

If here I shared with you a postcard illustrating a little more quiet area of Iceland, behold now I come with a volcano that erupted in 1973. Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) is an archipelago off the south coast of Iceland, consisting of 15-18 islands and about 30 skerries sandrock pillars, located off the mainland’s south coast. The largest island, Heimaey, has 13.4 km2 and 4,135 inhabitants, living from fishing, hunting and some agriculture. The rest of the islands have steep sea cliffs, and are well vegetated, but are uninhabited.

0045 PAKISTAN (Gilgit-Baltistan) - Central Karakorum National Park (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

0045 Rakaposhi mountain

 Eric Shipton, the distinguished British Himalayan mountaineer (1907-1977), called the Hunza valley "the ultimate manifestation of mountain grandeur". Rakaposhi (7,768m) is valley's most famous peak, not necessarily because is the 27th highest in the world and 12th highest in Pakistan, but for its directly, uninterrupted rise over local terrain (5800m in only an 11.5 km horizontal distance) and also for its unearthly beauty. The peak is located in the Rakaposhi-Haramosh range which forms the south-western corner of the Karakorum and is part of Central Karakorum National Park.  

0044 CANADA (Ontario) - The colors of autumn in High Park in Toronto

"In Canada the autumn is the most beautiful season", sais Pompilian, the friend who sent me this postcard. And it seems that he is right. There's never a grey day when autumn sweeps over Ontario. Between mid-September to mid-October, the landscape becomes a fiery tapestry ablaze with golden hues, crimson reds and fiery oranges. And it seems that he is right, and High Park in Toronto is an example that could not be more appropriate.

0043 UKRAINE (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) - A pleasure tram in the ballistic missile city

For me, as inhabitant of Ploieşti, Dnipropetrovsk has a special significance, because this city of Ukraine, administrative center of the province with the same name, is one of sister cities of Ploieşti, the others being Berat (Albania), Harbin (China), Hînceşti (Moldova), Lefkada (Greece), Maracaibo (Venezuela), Oral (Kazakhstan), Osijek (Croatia) and Radom (Poland). I will try to add to my collection at least one postcard from each of these cities, thing that proves to be more difficult than I thought initially when I had the idea.

0042 UNITED STATES (Oklahoma) - Oklahoma City downtown skyscrapers

Utah, the first state in the USA from which I received a postcard, was the 45th admitted in the Union, and the coincidence makes that the second to be Oklahoma, the 46th entered, with exactly 104 years ago, on November 16, 1907. I honestly swear that I don't chose deliberately this day to share with you this postcard, especially since until the morning I didn't know when has entered Oklahoma in the Union. It's an entirely coincidental. Indeed, from some time the coincidences follow me as a shadow, but about that with another occasion. 

0038 SPAIN (Murcia) - The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary in Murcia

The third postcard received from Spain by me is also from the region of Murcia, but this time from the capital of the region, which bears the same name. The city, located on the Segura River, in the Southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, was founded in AD 825 by Abd ar-Rahman II, the emir of Cordoba, and remained a Moorish city long time after its conquest by the Christians in the 13th century.

0037 NETHERLANDS - A mill in the moonlight

A windmill that has close its sails like a butterfly the wings and went to sleep, guarded by the shiny penny of the full moon and by the poplars sorrowful that the autumn has robbed their leafage. Only the owner is still awake, counting for the third time the earnings of the daytime to the light of the gas lamp, while his wife fell asleep waiting for him and dreams as she lost her slipper to the ball of the royal court. That's shown in the postcard.

0035 BELARUS (Minsk City) - A red church in a country still red

This red church is called quite so, Red Church, and is located in the center of Minsk, capital of Belarus. From the photos I’ve seen, the color of the building contrasts sharply with the gray of the other buildings in Independence Square, a gray that I know very well from Romania, because it’s typical for the buildings erected during the communist era in the Eastern Europe.

0034 ICELAND - A geothermal Hell

Volcanoes, glaciers and geysers, Vikings, Njáls saga, Irish monks, Althing, Björk and Sigur Rós, but also its rapid transformation from a nation of fishermen, the poorest in Europe, to a highly developed country with an enviable productivity, are just as many reasons to appreciate Iceland and its just 318,000 inhabitants. Permanently living between fire and ice, never sure neither of unstable land, nor of capricious sea, Icelanders (those who have survived the epidemics, disasters and hunger and haven't wanted to go to the other horizons) made from the one of the most inhospitable parts of Europe a prosperous country with a living standard above the European average, which places it not only in the top half but even on the first third (17th most developed country in the world).

0033 DENMARK (Hovedstaden) - A street called Strøget

The wet asphalt's gloss, the sunset extinguishing at the end of the street, the bicycles frozen in the middle of a dance, the almost empty street guarded by old buildings, suggesting the Germanic spirit, an unknown place, but a known feeling, all these things made me want to have this postcard. Behold I have it, and the way in which I have received it also delighted me, because, after I asked her, Daria said to me: "I understand what kind of postcards you want from me. I'll send one soon. If you would like to respond and send a postcard to me, I'll be glad to receive it. You can take a look at my profile and wishlist. You'll find my address on the postcard I'm going to send to you." Yes, in such moments, even I, with my misanthropic tendencies, can be convinced that the people are wonderful.

0032 AUSTRALIA (Northern Territory) - Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park (UNESCO WHS)

"The Mala men decorated a ceremonial pole, the Ngaltawata. A group of senior Mala men, then climbed to the top of Uluru and planted the pole at its highest point. You can see the Ngaltawata at the Rock's north-western corner as an almost detached curved pillar of stone. The ceremony had now begun. The women had gathered enough food for everybody. They prepared and stored it in caves at Taputji, a small separate outcrop at Ululru's north-eastern side. The Mala women and the nyuma, seed-cakes, that they made are visible as small stones on top of Taputji.

0031 RUSSIA (Yaroslavl Oblast) - Rostov Kremlin (UNESCO WHS - tentative list)

It’s known, a small country doesn’t have to enjoy by the neighborhood of a great power, and the Romanian Lands had the misfortune to be, for centuries, not near a great power, but between three: the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary (became afterwards the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and the Tsarist Empire. The first two have ceased to exist after WWI, but Tsarist Empire became the Soviet Union and continued a similar foreign policy. After WWII Romanians used to say that when it's raining in Moscow, are opened umbrellas to Bucharest. Very true, unfortunately. Meanwhile things have changed, and Russia is no longer our neighbor, a good news, because just when we haven’t been neighbors we have best understand, namely on the time of Ştefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great), who was married with Evdokia, daughter of Prince of Kiev, and later married his daughter, Elena, with Ivan the Young, son of Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan III.

0030 MACEDONIA (Southeastern) - Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region - Saint Panteleimon Monastery (UNESCO WHS)

Historical and geographical region of Macedonia, is not a secret, includes the Republic of Macedonia and larger or smaller parts of Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia and Kosovo. Macedonia is... Macedonia, a distinct entity and not a province of another country. Even if over time its boundaries have changed considerably, as well as the ethnic composition (in the sixth century Slavs began to settle in the Balkans, and later, under Byzantine rule, but especially under the Ottomans, have occurred many population movements). Even if the current Macedonians have just as much connection with Alexander the Great as the French with Vercingetorix, Romanians with Decebal or Iranians with Xerxes. Its inhabitants self-identification, culturally and regionally, as Macedonians is sufficient. Have anything to do with the postcard all these things? Maybe or maybe not.

0027 SWITZERLAND - Alphorn players

Until recently I was confident that the bucium (also called tulnic in some areas) is an musical instrument used exclusively by Romanians. Behold, isn't it, even if its origins are however in the Carpathian mountains, where it was used by the Dacians more than 2,000 years ago and afterwards by the dwellers of Moldavia and Wallachia principalities as signaling devices in military conflicts, as well as for guiding sheep and dogs in the mountains. The name comes from the Latin bucinum (curved horn) and instrument is in fact a very long tube (a truncated cone, more precisely) made from limetree bark or wood.