Germany - North Rhine-Westphalia - Müngsten Bridge

Müngsten Bridge.

Sent by Ralf from Remscheid, Germany.

The Müngsten Bridge is the highest railway bridge in Germany. The bridge is 107 metres (351 ft) high and spans the valley of the river Wupper, carrying the Wuppertal-Oberbarmen–Solingen railway between the cities of Remscheid and Solingen. It is used by line S7 of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and the RE47 Regional-Express service, although the RE47 service is being operated by a replacement bus service until 2026.

Originally the bridge was named the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke (Emperor Wilhelm Bridge) to honour Emperor Wilhelm I. After the end of the monarchy the bridge was renamed after the nearby settlement of Müngsten, which is close to the city limits of Solingen, Remscheid and Wuppertal. Today, the settlement no longer exists, so Müngsten is simply a landmark (read more).

Australia - Mapcard

Australia Blue Map.

Sent by Ros from Tasmania, Australia.

Germany - Oktoberfest München 1981

Official Oktoberfest posters started being produced each year beginning in 1952. This poster was created by German artist Ernst Strom, who also created Oktoberfest posters for 1957, 1958, and 1967.

Sent by Anastasiia from Chemnitz in Saxony, Germany.

USA - North Carolina - Mapcard (4)

Mapcard of North Carolina.

Sent by Sandra from Asheville in North Carolina, USA.

My other three mapcards of North Carolina are here, here, and here.

India - Kaavadi Bearer

During Thaipusam, not everyone pierces their bodies or bears painful Kaavadi (burden), but the ones who do create quite a spectacle.

Sent by Kishore from Tamilpādi in the State of Tamil Nādu, India.

The Kavadi Attam is the sacrificial offering performed by devotees to Lord Murugan during the auspicious festival day of Thaipusam. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore offering prayers for fulfiled or some future requirements from Lord Muruga
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Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer & fasting for 48 days before Thaipusam. Kavadi-bearers have to perform ceremonies at the time of assuming the kavadi & at the time of offering it to Murugan. The kavadi-bearer observes celibacy, consumes only vegan food & are on a continuous thinking of God. On the day of the festival, devotees shave their heads & undertake a pilgrimage along a set route, while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadis (read more).

Canada - Indians Of The Southwest

COLORFUL INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST.

Sent by Lynda from Stouffville in Ontario, Canada.

The "Indians of the Southwest Canada" refers to Indigenous peoples who lived in the southwestern regions of Canada, specifically within the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. These groups include First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, each with their own distinct cultures, languages, and histories. 

France - Provence

Images of Provence.

Sent by Françoise from Piégon, France.

Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It largely corresponds with the modern administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and includes the departments of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, as well as parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse. The largest city of the region and its modern-day capital is Marseille.

The Romans made the region the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana, which evolved into the present name. Until 1481 it was ruled by the counts of Provence from their capital in Aquae Sextiae (today Aix-en-Provence), then became a province of the kings of France. It also hosted the Avignon papacy in the middle ages, when the Pope and his Curia fled Rome. While the region has been part of France for more than 500 years, it still retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, particularly in the interior of the region (read more).

Switzerland - St. Gallen

St. Gallen 670 meter above sea level

Serial view of the monastery district and old town.

Sent by Wanda from Aarau, Switzerland.

St. Gallen is a Swiss city and the capital of the canton of St. Gallen. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration (with around 167,000 inhabitants in 2019) and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. Its economy consists mainly of the service sector. The city is home to the University of St. Gallen, one of the best business schools in Europe.

The main tourist attraction is the Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Abbey's renowned library contains books from the 9th century. The official language of St. Gallen is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of Alemannic Swiss German. The city has good transport links to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany and Austria. It also functions as the gate to the Appenzellerland (read more).

Japan - Minakami Momoyamanagare

Hot Spring Inn Momoyama Style in Minakami, Gunma, Japan.
Sent by Franco from Minakami, Gunma, Japan.

It was approved and built as a hot spring inn in 1951. Closed in 2004. After about 20 years, the hotel has been renovated by Seagull Resort Innovation, the developer of the Gensen Yuno Yado Matsunoi, while preserving as much of the old-fashioned interior and exterior as possible (read more).

Mali

Mapcard of Mali.

Sent by my friend Jean-Joseph Diarra from Bamako, Mali.

Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over 1,240,192 square kilometres (478,841 sq mi). The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east by Niger, to the northwest by Mauritania, to the south by Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, and to the west by Guinea and Senegal. The population of Mali is about 23.29 million, 47.19% of which are estimated to be under the age of 15 in 2024. Its capital and largest city is Bamako. The country has 13 official languages, of which Bambara is the most commonly spoken (read more).

Bonaire - The Salt Pyramids of Bonaire

The Salt Pyramids of Bonaire

Sent by my friend Strasy from Kralendijk in Bonaire.

One of the most notable features that greet arriving visitors, both by sea and by air, are a distinctive line of white salt pyramids at the southeastern end of the island. Each pyramid, roughly 50-feet high, contains approximately 10,000 metric tons of 99.6% pure salt. Depending on the time of the year, there can be upwards of 200,000 metric tons of salt neatly stacked in long rows awaiting shipment.

The solar salt facility, one of the largest in the Caribbean, is today owned by Cargill, the Minneapolis, Minnesota based private company. The facility covers approximately 13 percent of the island, about 16 square miles of land, on the flat, southeast corner. The entire location is only a few feet above sea level.

The operation utilizes a series of 250-acre condenser ponds. Saltwater drawn directly from the Caribbean, at around 3.5 percent salinity, or from the adjoining brine lake, the Pekelmeer (Dutch for brine lake), at five percent salinity, moves through a succession of condenser ponds where the salinity of the brine is successively increased as the unrelenting sun and wind steadily evaporate the water (read more).

uncancelled stamp.

Sri Lanka - Stream Train / Viceroy Special

SRI LANKA (CEYLON)
Steam Train / Upcountry

Sent by my friend Ravindra from Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka.

The Viceroy Special is a special passenger train service operated by Lakindu & Thathsara (Ceylon) Ltd.^[ Powered by the sole steam locomotive kept in operation in Sri Lanka, it is operated as a private train on all railway lines in the island. The 75-year-old luxury train has two air-conditioned observation saloons and a restaurant car (read more).

Germany - North Rhine-Westphalia - Wuppertal

Greetings from Wuppertal.

Sent by Lily from Wuppertal, Germany.

Wuppertal (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊpɐtaːl] ; lit. 'Wupper Dale') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and 17th-largest in Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of Elberfeld, Barmen, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg and Vohwinkel, and was initially called "Barmen-Elberfeld" before adopting its present name in 1930. It is the capital and largest city of the Bergisches Land (read more).

Thanks for the stamp of Freddie Mercury

Canada - Quebec - Château Frontenac

The Chateau Fontenac as seen from the St. Lawrence River.

Sent by Anne from Ontario, Canada.

The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, commonly referred to as the Château Frontenac (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto fʁɔ̃tnak]), is a historic hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The hotel is situated in Old Quebec, within the historic district's Upper Town, on the southern side of Place d'Armes. The Château Frontenac was designed by Bruce Price, and was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Opened in 1893, the Châteauesque-styled building has 18 floors; its 79.9-metre (262-foot) height is augmented by its 54-metre (177-foot) ground elevation. It is one of the first completed grand railway hotels, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. The hotel was expanded on three occasions, with the last major expansion taking place in 1993 (read more).

Bicycle (48)

Sent by Siegie from Leverkusen, Germany.

Bicycle (47)

Sent by Edda and Jojo from Merlau, Germany.

United Kingdom - England - Yorkshire

YORKSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE

Ribblehead

Roseberry Topping

Cow and Calf Rock, Ilkley Moor

West Yorkshire Countryside

Sent by from Julia from Leed, England

Yorkshire (/ˈjɔːrkʃər, -ʃɪər/ YORK-shər, -⁠sheer) is an area of Northern England which was historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the city of York.

The south-west of Yorkshire is densely populated, and includes the cities of Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Doncaster and Wakefield. The north and east of the county are more sparsely populated, however the north-east includes the southern part of the Teesside conurbation, and the port city of Kingston upon Hull is located in the south-east. York is located near the centre of the county. Yorkshire has a coastline to the North Sea to the east. The North York Moors occupy the north-east of the county, and the centre contains the Vale of Mowbray in the north and the Vale of York in the south. The west contains part of the Pennines, which form the Yorkshire Dales in the north-west (read more).

Spain - Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí

ROMANESQUE OF THE VALLEY DE BOI

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Sent by Montse from Lleida, Spain.

The narrow Vall de Boí is situated in the high Pyrénées, in the Alta Ribagorça region and is surrounded by steep mountains. Each village in the valley contains a Romanesque church, and is surrounded by a pattern of enclosed fields. There are extensive seasonally-used grazing lands on the higher slopes (read more).

Finland - Southwest Finland - Turku (1)

TURKU

FINLAND

Sent by Tuija from Turku, Finland.

Turku (/ˈtʊərkuː/ TOOR-koo; Finnish: [ˈturku] ; Swedish: Åbo, Finland Swedish: [ˈoːbu] ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately 206,000, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 316,000. It is the 6th most populous municipality in Finland, and the third most populous urban area in the country after Helsinki and Tampere (read more).

Belgium - Brussels - La Grand-Place

BRUSSELS : Grand-Place - Listed by UNESCO world patrimony.

Sent by Cristy from Brussels, Belgium 

My other two of the same subject-matter are here and here.

La Grand-Place in Brussels is a remarkably homogeneous body of public and private buildings, dating mainly from the late 17th century. The architecture provides a vivid illustration of the level of social and cultural life of the period in this important political and commercial centre (read more).