Wulingyuan Scenery, China

Sent by Peter Shaw from China.  He writes, "The Wulingyuan Scenery was included in the World Heritage list by UNESCO in 1992."  The card was dated September 11, 2011.

No. 1 Bridge under Heaven

 It came with these stamps:

"Modern yellow-green" and a pre-printed stamp of the postcard, cute!

Taal Volcano, Tagaytay

Here's a local postcard my calculating business friend, Jescia, sent me while I was in Japan last May.

The Taal Volcano, with a 406-meter-high crater, is the world's smallest volcano located in Tagaytay City.

Located about 50 km south of the capital, Manila, Tagaytay is a popular weekend hangout and vacation destination for many who want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city life.  I've been to Tagaytay many times to chill out with friends, ride horses, have lunch overlooking the Taal Lake, but I've never been inside the crater.  I know that there are tours that take you boating in the lake and hiking near the crater since Taal is a volcano island.  Definitely going inside the crater before I die.

A great-tasting freshwater fish, Sardinella tawilis, can be found exclusively in Taal Lake

Jescia was kind enough to pay 2.5x the price of a normal postcard for an express delivery.  Here are the stamps she used:

3 Manta Ray stamps and a Chambered Nautilus

Algarve, Portugal

This card was from Laura of the Netherlands.  In her Murder Mystery RR Group 11 card, she told me that she got this postcard during a vacation trip to Portugal this summer.

Many Europeans flock to Portugal's premiere holiday destination, The Algarve, in the summer for the wide, golden sands and the breath-taking cliff-islands that surround the coastline.  The Algarve is the perfect destination for families, couples, backpackers, photography enthusiasts, outdoor trekkers, and anyone who would like to admire the beauty that Portugal has to offer together with several thousand other tourists.

Ponta da Piedade, Lagos, Algarve

Coming, after all, from the Netherlands, the card came with this stamp: 

Created in 2008, Grenzeloos Nederland (Boundless Netherlands) features the relations between the Netherlands and Suriname

Insel Rügen

I received this winter view postcard from Nordbaer, one of the more active members in the Postcrossing Forum.  Got this through the Water RR Group 195.

Insel Rügen (Rügen Island) is Germany's biggest and most beautiful island located in the Baltic Sea.  The island offers something to tickle every fancy.  It doesn't matter if you're looking for a classic beach vacation or a more flexible getaway, Rügen has something for you!

60 km of sandy beach, white shorelines, sophisticated sea bathers, old fishing villages, romantic manors or phantasmagoric countrysides--Rügen Island offers a once-in-a-lifetime variety of attractions.

Yet another try at translation.  This description sounds better in German, I swear.  Haha.  It just seemed a like a good idea to translate a German description into English since I'm no good at ripping off English descriptions anyway. 

Yet another beautiful card intentionally ruined by the Philippine post office

Read more about Rügen here:
http://www.ruegeninsel.de (German)
http://www.ruegen-mv.de/ruegen_erleben/the_island_ruegen (English)

A Swan From Finland

This picture of a swan sent to me by Sointu was my first postcard from Finland.  

Photo by Frans Lemmens

It came with this stamp:

A stamp of the Torronsuo National Park issued in 2010

A Pause in Work by Lewis Hine

Dovilė from Lithuania sent me this postcard.

Lewis Hine (1874-1940) was an American photographer who used his camera as both a research tool and an instrument of social reform.  He traveled extensively to photograph child labor practices.

A Pause in Work is part of his 1930 work, The Empire State Building Photographs.

Taken in America, printed in Korea, sent from Lithuania

The postcard came with this stamp:

Lithuania issued this (and another) stamp for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Read more about Hine:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/picturing_the_century/portfolios/port_hine.html

http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/lewishine/lewishine.shtml

A Bridge in Beijing

The text on the postcard reads: 

In 1978, the first overpass of Beijing, Fuxingmen Bridge, was established.  Till now, there are more than 100 overpasses in Beijing, one [of] the cities owning most overpasses.  The hanging bridges, in different styles and types, are playing a significant role in the 3-D transportation network of Beijing, opening out the mien of a cosmopolitan.

Right.  So Jery sent me this postcard through the NDC RR - Group 120.  Interestingly, Jery and his partner, Julia are planning to open up a cafe and they want to post their received postcards on the wall of their soon-to-be eatery.

Chinese highway at nighttime

Fuxingmen sounds funny.  Fuxingmen Bridge.

The Ancient House in Ipswich, UK

David from Felixstowe writes, "I live near . . .  Ipswich.  This is the largest town in the area with a population of 130,000.  The Ancient House was built in 1578 for a rich merchant.  It used to be my favorite bookshop, but now it sells kitchen goods."

Also known as the Sparrowes House 

The card came with this stamp:

Peony by Kate Faulkner, 1877

Saint-Victor-sur-Loire

I received my first postcard from France from Méline in May.  She writes, "Greetings from France, where spring looks like summer!"  She had just harvested her first strawberries the afternoon that she wrote me this postcard (May 5, 2011).

This postcard shows an eleventh-century church in Saint-Victor-sur-Loire, which is geographically separate from, yet is considered to be a neighborhood in the city of Saint-Étienne.  The medieval village is home to about 850 inhabitants so not much about it has been written in English.

This unnamed church has Romanesque-styled columns dating back to 1070.  Inside this ancient chapel are the statues of St. Victor, St. Antony, St. Roch, St. Eustachius, the Virgin in bronzed wood, as well as an altar of Louis XIII.

Saint-Victor-sur-Loire, la place de l'église

It came with this stamp:

In 2010, France issued a this stamp in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the independence of  Latin America and the Caribbean

Read more about Saint-Victor-sur-Loire in French here:
http://tresordesregions.mgm.fr/Mdir.php?p=cant.php&cl=SaintEtienne&region=82
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Victor-sur-Loire

Avocado-Birnen-Carpaccio

My first recipe card was from Michael from Germany.

Here's the recipe to make avocado-peach carpaccio.  Too lazy to translate to English.  No one cares anyway.  Haha.

Scanner got fuzzy again

The card came with these stamps:

Crocus, Sweet William, and the lighthouse in Warnemünde

Opus the Penguin

Haven't updated this blog and sent postcards in a while.  I think I just hit rock bottom, but the good news is that there's nowhere to go but up.  So I'm sending my first batch of November postcards tomorrow.   

I received this card from Kelsey, a college graduate from Nevada through the Mystery RR Group 11.

Haven't heard of Opus the Penguin before this postcard, but apparently, he was a very popular comic strip character in the 80s.  And he's from the Falkland Islands.  Awesome.

Opus T. Penguin

And my favorite parts of this postcard were the adorable Disney stamps that Kelsey used:

Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars and Dug and Carl Fredricksen from Up

Wuppertal, Germany

I received this postcard from Susanne.  In Wuppertal, where she is from, there is a special mode of transportation called the Schwebebahn (or floating train in English) as seen below.

Built in 1901 and having its first recorded fatal accident only in 1999, the Schwebebahn is the oldest and safest monorail system in the world.  It has survived both World Wars, various accidents, and turbulent events.

Looks extreme, but not as extreme as the German Autobahns with no blanket speed limit

The card came with this stamp:

St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006