2810 GERMANY (Bavaria) - Mittagberg

Mittagberg (Midday mountain) is a mountain (1451m) located in the Allgäu Alps in Bavaria, just south of Immenstadt, and is part of the Naturparks Nagelfluhkette. Its vertical separation is at least 31m, with a prominence of 500m when using the Bärenköpfle as reference. When looking at the mountain from Immenstadt, the sun at noon is right on top of the peak, giving it its name "Mittag" based on the German word for noon (mid day). There are multiple hiking trails that lead up to the peak of the mountain.

2809 UNITED STATES (New York) - "Original Lederle Labs" by Albert H. Schroder

 

Albert Henry Schroder (1929-2004) was an American painter known for his paintings that recorded a vanishing America. He felt that it was his calling to record the remembrances of lost hopes and dreams. His realist style of oil painting captured for our children the bygone era of old lighthouses, churches, railroad depots, town halls and beautiful old mansions. It is also the case of this painting, which depicts the original Lederle Labs. The quotes "He who loves an old house, Never loves in vain," is the beginning of the poem House by Isabel Fiske Conant.

2808 FRANCE (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur / Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - The Route Napoléon

The Route Napoléon is the route taken by Napoléon in 1815 on his return from Elba, where he was exiled by the allies of the Sixth Coalition. The route begins at Golfe-Juan, where Napoleon disembarked 1 March 1815, beginning the Hundred Days that ended at Waterloo. The road was inaugurated in 1932 and meanders from the French Riviera north-northwest along the foothills of the Alps. It is marked along the way by statues of the French Imperial Eagle.

2806 THAILAND (Prachuap Khiri Khan) - Hotel Sofitel Central in Hua Hin

Around the turn of the 20th century Prince Chakrabhongse came to Hua Hin on a hunting trip with Russian nobility. He liked the town and returned to build the first Thai beach villa in Hua Hin. King Rama VI then built a summer retreat here and even later King Rama VII built yet another palace, naming it Klai Kang Won - "far from worries". Because of its Royal past and present and it's proximity to the capital, Hua Hin caught on with the elite of Bangkok and the town began to develop.

2805 ROMANIA (Galați) - Galați

Located on the left (west) bank of the Danube river, at the junction of the Siret River and the Prut River, at 80km from the Black Sea, the city of Galaţi was mentioned documentary for the first time in 1445, but it is certainly much older, probably from the second century CE. As a port town on the Danube River, the city was very important for Moldavia, which owned it until the unification with Wallachia and the foundation of United Principalities. Between 1834 and 1882 it was a free port, and in 1856 it became a seat of the  Danube European Commission.

2803, 2804 FRANCE (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - The Church of Saint John the Evangelist in Grenoble

2803 Grenoble - The interior of
the Church of Saint John the Evangelist (1)

Built between 1963 and 1965, the roman catholic Church of Saint John the Evangelist was certified in 2003 a "Heritage of the 20th century". It shows a circular shape of 37m in diameter and is described as the most outstanding new church in Grenoble. In 1979, the hyperbolic self-supporting roof had to be redone, because it had problems with the infiltration of the rain water. The current roof is topped by a lantern with nine windows on which is erected a cross.

2803 Grenoble - The interior of
the Church of Saint John the Evangelist (2)

The nave, in the shape of bowl, elevated at 5m, is supported by 18 pillars of reinforced concrete. The dome covering the altar in the shape of inverted cone marks the presence, on the lower level, of a chapel constructed from raw concrete formwork. The interior houses a beautiful colorful icon of Christ on the cross, a copy of a work of the 13th century, made in 1988 by a parishioner, Alain Plotard. The baptismal font is of carved stone from ancient origin.

2802 UNITED STATES (New York) - Line 7 of New York City Subway

2802 New York City Subway - A train made up of R62As cars in 7
service entering Queensboro Plaza, bound for Flushing-Main Street

New York City -Empire State Building

Within the nomenclature of the subway, the "line" describes the physical railroad track or series of tracks that a train "route" uses on its way from one terminal to another. In the subway system of New York City, "routes" (also called "services") are distinguished by a letter or a number and "lines" have names. In this system, there are 24 train services. Each route has a color and a local or express designation representing the Manhattan trunk line of the particular service.

2801 ABKHAZIA - Gegsky waterfall

Almost the entire territory of Abkhazia hold high mountain ranges. The main ridge of the Greater Caucasus in the north-western border of Abkhazia, at the origins of Auadhare River, rises to a height of 2500m above sea level, on the eastern border of the country is already the height ranges of 3500-4000m. As a result, the ​​perpetual snow area is wide enough. During the summer, it partially melts and fill the numerous rivers with clear water.

2800 FRANCE (New Aquitaine) - At the well sweep

2800 Landes (Gascogne) - At the well sweep

A well sweep is an device used to bring water up from a well. The materials needed to construct it are wooden poles and a heavy weight of stone or clay. A vertical post, with a Y notch at the top, is mounted near the well hole. On the post is placed a horizontal pole, or sweep, which has the weight at one end, and a long, thin pole with an attached bucket at the other. A person would pull the thin pole and bucket down into the well and fill it with water, and the sweep’s weight would then lift the bucket up.

2799 SWEDEN (Stockholm) - Self-portrait by Rembrandt

The famous Dutch painter Rembrandt (1606-1669) created nearly one hundred self-portraits during his lifetime including approximately fifty paintings, thirty-two etchings and seven drawings. The one shown in the postcard is a small oil painting (15 x 12.2 cm), realised in 1630. Characterized by very fine brush strokes, it shows a focused, serious artist, with a slightly quizzical look. There are known only five paintings by Rembrandt, which were applied to copper, three of them with primed gold leaf as this self-portrait.

2780, 2784, 2798 FRANCE (Saint Martin) - Caribbean cuisine

2780 Accras de morue (cod fritters)

Posted on 27.09.2016, 30.09.2016, 04.10.2016
Caribbean cuisine is the simple result, without artifice, of an osmosis of all the peoples who made a stopover in this region, a fusion of African, Amerindian, European, East Indian, Arab and Chinese cuisine, which reflects the way of being and living of a people, but also its history. Accras de morue (cod fritters), also known as marinade of the West Indies, a denomination little used now to avoid confusion with the marinade of French cuisine, are of African origin. In the Ewe language, the word means vegetable fritters. In the form of small donuts, they are usually served as a mise en bouche, as appetizer, or as entrée

2784 Chaudeau

The chaudeau is a kind of eggnog in the Caribbean style, and is a specialty of Guadeloupe. It consist in a mixture of egg, milk, vanilla, lime, nutmeg... It is served at weddings, communions and baptisms. It comes with a cake: sweetbread or Mont Blanc. Traditionally, by belief (some think that it is a sign of misfires), must not, for instance, have other preparations on fire. The woman who prepares it, had not be prepared should not be during menstruation. It is served warm or even hot.

2798 Blanc-manger coco

Blanc-manger coco (literally "white dish”) is one of the lightest, creamiest and most delicious dessert that you will encounter in French Caribbean countries. The main ingredients are regular (dairy) milk as well as coconut milk, sweetened a bit, combined together with gelatine and then refrigerated to obtain a jelly-like cake or elegant individual verrines. No baking required. A light and fresh dessert for the hot summer days.

2797 FRANCE (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) - The Grands Goulets in Vercors Massif

The Vercors Massif is a range consisting of rugged plateaux and mountains straddling the départements of Isère and Drôme in the French Prealps. It lies west of the Dauphiné Alps, from which it is separated by the rivers Drac and Isère. The cliffs at the massif's eastern limit face the city of Grenoble. At the fringes of the massif, the Vercors regional park has four geographical areas. The Royans, the north-west foothills are the location of walnuts growing. Three valleys descend to the edge of the Royans: the Gorges de la Bourne, the cirque of the Combe Laval, and the Échevis valley, including the Petits and the Grands Goulets.

2795 UNITED STATES (Massachusetts) - A little red schoolhouse

This one room school house, located in Pittsfield (the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County), in the middle of an acre wooded lot on a quiet mountain road, is the oldest in New England and was listed as a U.S. National Historic Place. Built in 1825 and rebuilt 1843 after a fire it has been used continually by the community until being converted to a private residence in 1985, being completely renovated in 2010.

2794 HUNGARY - Vineyards

The Romans brought vines to Pannonia, and by the 5th century AD, there are records of extensive vineyards in what is now Hungary. Following the Magyar invasion of 896, Árpád rewarded his followers with vineyards in Tokaj. Over the following centuries, new grape varieties were brought in from Italy and France. Most of the production was of white wine. During the Ottoman invasion in the early 16th century, displaced Serbs brought the red Kadarka grape to Eger.

2792 FRANCE (New Aquitaine) - Sequences of traditional life in La Marche

La Marche is a French historical and cultural region, corresponding to a former province whose capital was Gueret (approximately the modern département of Creuse). The name of Marche means an intermediate zone between two territories, in this case the English Aquitaine under the Plantagenets and the French Berry, but also between Limousin and Auvergne. It first appeared as a separate fief about the middle of the 10th century, when William III, Duke of Aquitaine, gave it to one of his vassals, who took the title of count. In 1527 it became part of the domains of the French crown.

2791 POLAND (Kujawy-Pomerania) - Medieval Town of Toruń (UNESCO WHS)

The Medieval Town of Toruń was established on the site of a former Slavic trading town that had existed for around 500 years and dates to the 13th century, when the city of Toruń (Thorn) was granted a town charter by the Teutonic Knights Hermann von Salza and Hermann Balk in 1233. The town, initially composed primarily of the district now known as the Toruń Old Town and the Toruń Castle, developed as a major commercial center, and was one of the key members of the Hanseatic League. As the town quickly grew, the Toruń New Town developed from 1264 east of the Old Town and north of the castle.

2790 FRANCE (New Aquitaine) - Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle

Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle is a village in the traditional Basque province of Labourd, now a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. The village is scattered in several neighbourhoods, with a main nucleus located at a crossroads. As its name in French conveys, the village is located on the river Nivelle. The village is renowned for the "Herri Urrats" festival in support of the Basque-language schools (ikastolak) held in May on a yearly basis at the Lake of Senpere since the early 1980s.

2687, 2722, 2789 FRANCE (Saint Barthélemy) - Gustavia

2687  Saint Barthélemy - Gustavia (1)

Posted on 16.08.2016, 30.08.2016, 01.10.2016
Shaped like a horseshoe around a small, sheltered harbor, and named after King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustavia is the main town and capital of the island of Saint Barthélemy. The eventual site of Gustavia was first called Le Carénage after the shelter it provided to damaged ships. According to the archives the name Gustavia appeared between December 28, 1786 and February 9, 1787. Gustavia remains as a reflection of the Swedish period (1784-1878).

2722  Saint Barthélemy - Gustavia (2)

Three forts built in the mid- to late 17th century protected the harbour: Oscar (formerly Gustav Adolf), Karl and Gustav. The sites of Fort Karl, overlooking Shell Beach south of town, and Fort Gustav (built in 1787), at the base of the lighthouse to the north, are popular with hikers. Fort Oscar, at the tip of Gustavia Peninsula, houses the Gendarmerie. There is a museum at the end of Victor Schoelcher Road on the peninsula.

2789  Saint Barthélemy - View of Gustavia, and Gustavia lighthouse

Gustavia has many high-end boutiques that are an essential source of revenue for the island, and one of the most high class luxury hotels on the island. Built in 1961, atop a hill at the site of historic Fort Gustave overlooking Gustavia harbor, Gustavia lighthouse is a 9m round conical tower painted white with a single red band at the top. The lantern has been removed and is on display at the Musée Municipal de St.-Barthélemy in Gustavia.

0368, 2788 FRANCE (Île-de-France) - Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile in Paris

0368 Paris - Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (1)

Posted on 24.10.2012, 01.10.2016
Located in Paris, in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle (originally named Place de l'Étoile - designed by Marquis de Marigny at the intersection of twelve avenues), at the western end of the Champs-Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe (Triumphal Arch) is the linchpin of the Axe historique (Historic Axis), a sequence of monuments on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, to the Grande Arche de la Défense. It was the largest triumphal arch in existence until the construction of the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, in 1982, having 50m in height, 45m wide and 22m deep.

2788 Paris - Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (2)

It was commissioned in 1806 (after the victory at Austerlitz) by Emperor Napoleon, but it was completed only during the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1836. The first architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811, and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot, then by Héricart de Thury. It became the rallying point of French troops parading after successful military campaigns and for the annual Bastille Day Military Parade. Famous victory marches around or under the Arc have included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1919, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WW.