Germany - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - Mapcard

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Warm greetings from Mecklenburg-Verpommern.

Sent by Fabrice from Neubrandenburg, Germany.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; German: [ˌmeːklənbʊʁkˈfoːɐ̯pɔmɐn] or [ˌmɛk-]; Low German: Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population; it covers an area of 23,300 km² (9,000 sq mi), making it the sixth largest German state in area; and it is 16th in population density. Schwerin is the state capital and Rostock is the largest city. Other major cities include Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar, and Güstrow. It was named after the two regions of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania (German: Vorpommern).

The state was established in 1945 after World War II through the merger of the historic regions of Mecklenburg and Prussian Western Pomerania by the Soviet military administration in Allied-occupied Germany. It became part of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, but was dissolved in 1952 during administrative reforms and its territory divided into the districts of Rostock, Schwerin, and Neubrandenburg. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was re-established in 1990 following German reunification and became one of the new states of the Federal Republic of Germany (read more).

China - Jiangsu Province - Zhouzhuang Town Exploration Guide

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA - KUNSHAN
ZHOUZHUANG TOWN EXPLORATION GUIDE

Sent by Monna from Kunshan in Jiangsu Province, China.

Zhouzhuang (Chinese: 周庄; pinyin: Zhōuzhuāng; Wu: Tseu-zaon) is a water town known for its canals in Jiangsu province, China. It is located within the administrative area of Kunshan, 30 km southeast of the city centre of Suzhou.

Zhouzhuang is a popular tourist destination, classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration. It is noted for its profound cultural background, well preserved ancient residential houses, and elegant watery views. A 2017 article in the Smithsonian Magazine described Zhouzhuang as "the most famous and most commercialized ancient water town in China," noting that its architecture "dates back more than 900 years, with about 60 original brick archways and 100 original courtyards." It has also been called "Venice of the East".

CNN ranked Zhouzhuang the third most beautiful water town in China in 2017 and included it in its 2019 collection of Asia's 13 most picturesque towns (read more).

Germany - The German Rhine (From Koblenz to Mainz)

Greetings From The Rhine.

Sent by Carola from Künzelsau, Germany.

The Rhine (/raɪn/ RYNE) is one of the major European rivers. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Constance downstream, it forms part of the Swiss-German border. After that the Rhine defines much of the Franco-German border. It then flows in a mostly northerly direction through the German Rhineland. Finally in Germany, the Rhine turns into a predominantly westerly direction and flows into the Netherlands where it eventually empties into the North Sea. It drains an area of 9,973 km².

Its name derives from the Gaulish Rēnos. There are two German states named after the river, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, in addition to several districts (e.g. Rhein-Sieg). The departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin in Alsace (France) are also named after the river. Some adjacent towns are named after it, such as Rheinau, Stein am Rhein, Rheineck, Rheinfelden (Switzerland) and Rheinfelden (Germany) (read further).

Southeast Asia - Mapcard of Upper Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia Map comprising the upper part; Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is quite surprising that Myanmar is not included here. ASEAN's stance towards Myanmar is that the consensus calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all stakeholders, the appointment of a special envoy to support mediation and dialogue, allowing the delivery of humanitarian assistance from ASEAN, as well as allowing an ASEAN special envoy to visit and meet with all stakeholders in Myanmar.

I bought this postcard during my visit to Vientiane, the capital of Laos (12th - 15th January 2025). The stamp was cancelled at the Post Office (HQ) in Vientiane. All the postcards from Laos during this trip (except two Luang Prabang postcards) were brought home myself.

Note : Laos Post Office do not have variety of stamp(s). The cost for international postcard is Kip40,000.00. The Post Office only have Kip2,500.00 which value was upgraded (by red marking the stamp) to Kip40,000.00 on February 2024.

Indochina - Mapcard

I bought this postcard during my trip to Indochina countries (Vietnam and Laos) as well as Thailand on 10th - 18th January 2025 and got the stamps cancelled at the Central Post Office in Hanoi.

Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina or the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It includes the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam as well as Peninsular Malaysia.

The term Indochina (originally Indo-China) was coined in the early nineteenth century, emphasizing the historical cultural influence of Indian and Chinese civilizations on the area. The term was later adopted as the name of the colony of French Indochina (today's Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). Today, the term Mainland Southeast Asia, in contrast to Maritime Southeast Asia, is more commonly referenced (read further).

France - Rhône-Alpes - 01 Ain - Mapcard

Map and views of Ain Department.

Sent by Nadine from Ain, France.

Ain (French pronunciation: ​[ɛ̃]; Arpitan: En) is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation. It has an excellent transport network (TGV, highways) and benefits from the proximity to the international airports of Lyon and Geneva.

Ain is composed of four geographically different areas (Bresse, Dombes, Bugey and Pays de Gex) which – each with its own characteristics – contribute to the diversity and the dynamic economic development of the department. In the Bresse agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk and cheese production as well as poultry farming. In the Dombes, pisciculture assumes greater importance as does wine making in the Bugey. The high diversification of the department's industry is accompanied by a strong presence of the plastics sector in and around Oyonnax (so-called "Plastics Valley"). (read further)

Canada - British Columbia - Mapcard

BEAUTIFUL BRITISH COLUMBIA
Canada
BC, with its varied landscape, is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Mighty rivers and ocean shoreline, fishing lakes, and sandy beacghes, wildflowers and old-growth forests, comprise the 952,263 square kilometres of "Beautiful" British Columbia.

Sent by Tam, a postcrosser from Kitimat,Canada.

Germany - Hamburg/Lower Saxony - Altes Land

Greetings from the Altes Land

Sent by Renee, a postcrosser from Stade, Germany.

Altes Land is an area of reclaimed marshland straddling parts of Lower Saxony and Hamburg. The region is situated downstream from Hamburg on the southwestern riverside of the Elbe around the towns of Stade, Buxtehude, Jork and the Samtgemeinde of Lühe. In Hamburg it includes the quarters of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder.

The region – the biggest contiguous fruit-producing region in Central Europe – extends over 143 km² (55 sq mi). 76.8% of the trees areapples, 12.7% are cherries. The areas closest to the Elbe are those with the highest population. They include the most fertile marshlands; towards the Geest the area connects to fens.

The fertile land led to the development of a culture dominated by farming. The villages are known as Marschhufendörfer, a special kind of village where the farmyards are set along a street with the land directly behind them. A characteristic feature is the richly-decorated half-timbered farmhouses with their elaborate gateways. (read further)

France - Pays-de-la-Loire - 44 Loire-Atlantique - Mapcard

Loire-Atlantique (44)

Sent by Aline, a postcrosser from Châteaubriant, France.

Loire-Atlantique (French pronunciation: ​[lwa.ʁat.lɑ̃.tik]; formerly Loire-Inférieure) is a department on the west coast of Francenamed after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean.

Loire-Atlantique is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Originally, it was named Loire-Inférieure, but its name was changed in 1957 to Loire-Atlantique.

The area is part of the historical Duchy of Brittany, and contains what many people still consider to be Brittany's capital, Nantes. However, when the system of French Regions was created, the department was excluded from the Region of Brittany and included in the newly-created Pays de la Loire Region. There is a campaign to have it reintegrated into Brittany. (read further)

Germany - Map of Heidelberg

A map of Heidelberg.

Sent by Katharina, a postcrosser from Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : Heidelberg is a city in south-west Germany. The fifth-largest city in the State of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg is part of the densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. In 2009, over 145,000 people lived in the city. Heidelberg lies on the River Neckar in a steep valley in the Odenwald.

A former residence of the Electorate of the Palatinate, Heidelberg is the location of the University of Heidelberg, well known far beyond Germany's borders. Heidelberg is a popular tourist destination due to its romantic and picturesque cityscape, including Heidelberg Castle and the baroque style Old Town.

USA - New York - Adirondacks

Adirondacks of New York
Majestic mountains, shimmering blue lakes and spectacular natural wonders offer the vacationist much to see. The Adirondask Park, a mixture of public and private lands of 6 million acres, is the largest in the contiguous 48 states.

Sent by Gillman, a postcrosser from New York, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex,Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties.

The mountains are often included by geographers in the Appalachian Mountains, but they bear a greater geological similarity to theLaurentian Mountains of Canada. They are bordered on the east by Lake Champlain and Lake George, which separate them from the Green Mountains in Vermont. They are bordered to the south by the Mohawk Valley, and to the west by the Tug Hill Plateau, separated by the Black River. This region is south of the Saint Lawrence River.

The Adirondack Mountains are contained within the 6.1 million acres (2.5×10⁶ ha) of the Adirondack Park, which includes a constitutionally protected Forest Preserve of approximately 2,300,000 acres (930,000 ha). About 43% of the land is owned by the state, with 57% private inholdings, heavily regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency. The Adirondack Park contains thousands of streams, brooks and lakes, most famously Lake Placid, adjacent to the village of Lake Placid, two-time site of the Winter Olympic Games, the Saranac Lakes, favored by the sportsmen who made the Adirondacks famous, and Raquette Lake, site of many of the first Great Camps.

Germany - Free State of Saxony

 

A mapcard of The Free State of Saxony.

Sent by Sven, a postcrosser who lives near Zwickau in Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈzaksən]; Upper Sorbian: Swobodny stat Sakska) is a landlockedstate of Germany, bordering Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with (18,413 square kilometres (7,109 sq mi), and the sixth most-populous (4.3 million) of Germany's sixteen states.

Located in the middle of an erstwhile German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, a republic from 1918 to 1952 and then again from 1990.

The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.

 

Germany - Amrum Island

A mapcard of Amrum Island.

Sent by Claus, a postcrosser from Hamburg, Germany.

This is from Wikipedia :  Amrum (Öömrang North Frisian: Oomram) is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German North Sea coast, south of Sylt and west of Föhr. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. With the island being a refuge for many endangered species of plants and animals, its soil being largely unfavourable for agriculture and as a popular seaside resort in general, Amrum's population almost exclusively lives from the tourism industry.

Amrum's area measures 20.46 km², making it the tenth-largest island of Germany. It is one of three isles with a geestland core in Nordfriesland. To the east, it borders to the Wadden Sea mud flats of the North Sea. The east side is also where the island's ancient hamlets are situated: Norddorf, Nebel, Süddorf and Steenodde. On the geestland core one can find extended areas of heath and woodland which form a strip that runs along a north-south line on the axis. West of this woodland strip, the entire island is covered with dunes. The maximal width of this area amounts to more than a kilometre, its length measures about 12 km. Amrum's tallest dune near Norddorf, called a Siatler (the settling dune) reaches 32 m of height. Northward, the dune area extends into a small peninsula called Odde. In the south of Amrum, the newest settlement, Wittdün, is located. West of the dunes, the entire shore of Amrum is made up of the Kniepsand beach; it counts among northern Europe's largest sand beaches. North of Norddorf there is some marshland, another small marsh area can be found between Süddorf and Steenodde. Both of them are protected from the sea by dikes. During low tide it is possible to reach the neighbouring island of Föhr by mudflat hiking.

Amrum's population amounts to about 2,300 and the island is divided into three municipalities: Norddorf, Nebel and Wittdün. They adhere to the Amt Föhr-Amrum.

Netherlands - Texel

A mapcard of Texel Island.

Sent by Anna, a postcrosser from Hoogezand in Netherlands.

This is from Wikipedia : Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark. The next island in the archipelago, to the north of Texel, is Vlieland.
The name Texel is Frisian, but because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds (compare for instance English Fox, Frisian Fokse, German Fuchs with Dutch Vos), the name is typically pronounced Tessel in Dutch.