Uruguay - Suspiro's Route

Calle de los Suspiros or Suspiro's Route
Previously called Ansina's route, a very narrow stoned paved street. At both sides tipical houses belonging to the first half of 18th century.

Sent by Daniela from Uruguay.

"Probably the most photographed part of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay is the Calle de los Suspiros which can be literally translated as the 'Street of Sighs'.

There are different theories about how it got its name. One is that criminals used to get hung at the end of the street (no records to back this up so it can be dismissed). Another is that prostitutes used to line the street to tempt the sailors (where the sighs come in there are best left to your imagination), and a final one about a lover that was killed on this street and with her last breath (sigh) calling her partner (which I suspect was invented to try and romanticize the street)."(Source)

Uruguay - Punta del Este

PUNTA DEL ESTE - Maldonado.

Sent by Maria from Durazno, Uruguay.

This is from Wikipedia : Punta del Este is an upscale resort town on the southern tip of Uruguay, southeast of Maldonado and about 140 km east of Montevideo. Although the town has a year-round population of about 7,300, the summer tourist boom often boosts the population by an extra 500,000 .

The first Europeans to set foot in what is now Punta del Este were the Spanish at the beginning of the 16th century. However, the colonization of the area actually began around Maldonado at the end of the 18th century due to Portuguese expansionism.[citation needed] Punta del Este and its surroundings (Maldonado and Punta Ballena for example) at the end of the 19th century were kilometers of sand and dunes, but in 1896 Antonio Lussich bought 4,447 acres (1800 hectares) of uninhabited land and there he started a botanic garden and planted trees and plants from all over the world.

Later the trees started to spread on their own, and now the area is full mostly of Pines, Eucalyptus, Acacias and various species of bushes. Punta del Este hosted an American Summit in 1967 attended by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. In September 1986, Punta del Este played host to the start of the Uruguay Round of international trade negotiations. These negotiations ultimately led to the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994.

Germany - Judengasse

Judengasse or Jews Alley in Weinheim, Germany.

Sent by Sabine, a WiP partner from Germany.

European Stonechat

European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola).

Sent by Lamberto, a postcrosser from Italy.

This is from Wikipedia : The European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the Common Stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

It is 11.5–13 cm long and weighs 13–17 g, slightly smaller than the European Robin. Both sexes have distinctively short wings, shorter than those of the more migratory Whinchat and Siberian Stonechat. The summer male has black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast, and a white belly and vent. It also has white half-collar on the sides of its neck, a small white scapular patch on the wings, and a very small white patch on the rump often streaked with black. The female has brown upperparts and head, and no white neck patches, rump or belly, these areas being streaked dark brown on paler brown, the only white being the scapular patch on the wings and even this often being buffy-white.

European Stonechats breed in heathland, coastal dunes and rough grassland with scattered small shrubs and bramble, open gorse, tussocks or heather. They are short-distance migrants or non-migratory, with part of the population (particularly from northeastern parts of the range, where winters are colder) moving south to winter further south in Europe and more widely in north Africa.

The male's song is high and twittering like a Dunnock. Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together.

Antique Map

Antique map.

Sent by Aygen, a postcrosser from Holland.

Canada - Niagara Falls

An aerial view of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and the Rainbow Bridge.

Sent by Carole, a postcrosser from Ontario, Canada.

USA - Utah - Bryce Canyon National Park

BRYCE CANYON, UTAH
In Utah, ice and rain have sculpted eerie rock spires known as hoodos. Bryce Canyon itself has been carved not by flowing water but by the shattering and cracking of limestone when rainfall settles and freezes at night.

Sent by Mickey, a postcrosser from Texas, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon which, despite its name, is not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by wind, water, and ice erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).

The Bryce area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon became a U.S. National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a national park in 1928. The park covers 56 square miles (145 km2) and receives relatively few visitors compared to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, largely due to its remote location. The town of Kanab, Utah, is situated at a central point between these three parks.

Russia - Lake Baikal (3)

Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sent by Annie-Ilyina from Russia.

USA - Pennsylvania - Pocono Mountains

POCONO MOUNTAINS, Pennsylvania.

Sent by Ken, a postcrosser from Honesdale, Pennsylvania, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The Pocono Mountains is a region located in northeastern Pennsylvania, United States. The Poconos, located chiefly in Monroe and Pike counties (and parts of Wayne and Carbon counties), are an upland of the larger Allegheny Plateau. Forming a 2,400 square mile (6,200 km²) escarpment overlooking the Delaware Valley and Delaware Water Gap to the east, the mountains are bordered on the north by Lake Wallenpaupack, on the west by the Wyoming Valley, and to the south by the Lehigh Valley.

The wooded hills and valleys have long been a popular vacation area, many communities having resort hotels with fishing, hunting, skiing, and other sports facilities.

The Pocono Mountains is a popular recreational destination for local and regional visitors. While the area has long been a popular tourist destination, many communities have seen a rise in population, especially in Coolbaugh Township and other communities within Monroe County. The region has a population of about 340,300, which is growing at a rapid pace, largely attributable to vacationers from New York and New Jersey turning vacation homes into permanent residences. The region lacks a major population center, although there are municipalities such as Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Mount Pocono, and the townships around them which are all in Monroe County where the population is 165,058, which is about half of the total population in the Poconos. The Poconos now serves as a commuter community for New York City and Northern New Jersey, even though the commute often takes as much as 2 hours each way due to distance and traffic. Because the region lacks a population center, it has been difficult to establish transit infrastructure to feed (future) commuter rail and bus lines.

Lithuania - A Guest In Juodkrantė

A Guest In Juodkrantė.

Sent by Egle, a postcrosser from Vilnius, Lithuania.

This is from Wikipedia : Juodkrantė (literally: Black Shore, German: Schwarzort [Black Place]) with permanent population of about 720 people is a quiet Lithuanian seaside resort village located on the Curonian Spit. A part of Neringa municipality, Juodkrantė is the second largest settlement on Lithuania's part of the spit. It started as a fishermen village and underwent a tourist boom in the late 19th - early 20th century. For several centuries, until Klaipėda Revolt in 1923, Juodkrantė, then known under its German name Schwarzort, was a part of East Prussia.

Four Swans On The Swan Lake

FINLAND
Four swans on the Swan Lake.

Sent by Nina, a postcrosser from Finland.

China - Longshan Korean Minorities Village

Longshan Korean Minorities Village.

Sent by Vera, a postcrosser from China.

China - Ancient Dwelling Houses of China

Hong Village in Anhui, China.

Sent by Ku, a postcrosser from Taiwan.

Germany - Essen (1)

Images of Essen.

Sent by Michaela, a postcrosser from Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : Essen (German pronunciation: [ˈɛsən]) is a city in the central part of the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Located on the River Ruhr, its population of approximately 579,000 (as of June 30, 2008) makes it the 9th-largest city in Germany. For the year 2010, Essen was the European Capital of Culture on behalf of the whole Ruhr area.

Formerly one of Germany's most important coal and steel centres and historically linked to the centuries-old Krupp family iron works, the city has developed a strong tertiary sector of the economy and (sometimes together with nearby Düsseldorf) claims to be the "desk of the Ruhr area". It is home to 13 of the 100 largest German corporations and seat to several of the region's authorities.

In 1958, the city was chosen to serve as the seat to a Roman Catholic diocese (often referred to as Ruhrbistum or diocese of the Ruhr). In early 2003, the universities of Essen and the nearby city of Duisburg (both established in 1972) were merged into the University of Duisburg-Essen with campuses in both cities and a university hospital in Essen.

Essen is located in the centre of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe (see also: megalopolis), comprising 11 independent cities and 4 districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants. The city limits of Essen itself are 87 km (54 mi) long and border 10 cities, 5 of them independent and 5 kreisangehörig (i.e., belonging to a district), with a total population of approximately 1.4 million.

The city extends over 21 km (13 mi) from north to south and 17 km (11 mi) from west to east, mainly north of the River Ruhr, which forms the Lake Baldeney reservoir in the boroughs of Fischlaken, Kupferdreh, Heisingen and Werden. The lake, a popular recreational area, dates from 1931–1933, when some thousands of unemployed coal miners dredged it with primitive tools . Generally, large areas south of the River Ruhr (including the suburbs of Schuir and Kettwig) are quite green and are often quoted as examples of rural structures in the otherwise relatively densely populated central Ruhr area.

The lowest point can be found in the northern borough of Karnap at 26.5 m (86.9 ft), the highest point in the borough of Heidhausen (202.5 m/664 ft). The average elevation is 116 m (381 ft).

Taiwan - Aboriginal Peoples of Taiwan

Aboriginal Peoples of Taiwan.

Sent by Apple, a postcrosser from Taiwan.

This is from Wikipedia : Taiwanese aborigines (Chinese: 原住民; pinyin: yuánzhùmín; Wade–Giles: yüan2-chu4-min2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gôan-chū-bîn; literally "original inhabitants") is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation stories, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began in the 17th century (Blust 1999). Taiwanese aborigines are Austronesian peoples, with linguistic and genetic ties to other Austronesian ethnic groups, such as peoples of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar and Oceania (Hill et al. 2007; Bird, Hope & Taylor 2004). The issue of an ethnic identity unconnected to the Asian mainland has become one thread in the discourse regarding the political status of Taiwan.

For centuries, Taiwan's aboriginal peoples experienced economic competition and military conflict with a series of colonizing peoples. Centralized government policies designed to foster language shift and cultural assimilation, as well as continued contact with the colonizers through trade, intermarriage and other dispassionate intercultural processes, have resulted in varying degrees of language death and loss of original cultural identity. For example, of the approximately 26 known languages of the Taiwanese aborigines (collectively referred to as the Formosan languages), at least ten are extinct, five are moribund (Zeitoun & Yu 2005:167) and several are to some degree endangered. These languages are of unique historical significance, since most historical linguists consider Taiwan to be the original homeland of the Austronesian language family (Blust 1999).

Taiwan's Austronesian speakers were formerly distributed over much of the island's rugged central mountain range and were concentrated in villages along the alluvial plains. As of 2009, their total population is around 499,500 (approximately 2 percent of Taiwan's population). The bulk of contemporary Taiwanese aborigines live in the mountains and cities.

The indigenous peoples of Taiwan face economic and social barriers, including a high unemployment rate and substandard education. Many aboriginal groups have been actively seeking a higher degree of political self-determination and economic development since the early 1980s (Hsu 1991:95–9). A revival of ethnic pride is expressed in many ways by aborigines, including incorporating elements of their culture into commercially successful pop music. Efforts are underway in indigenous communities to revive traditional cultural practices and preserve their traditional languages. Several aboriginal tribes are becoming extensively involved in the tourism and ecotourism industries to achieve increased economic self-reliance from the state (Anderson 2000:283–90).

Germany - Mapcard

Germany is beautiful.

Sent by Iris, a postcrosser from Germany.

Netherlands - A Girl & Tulips

Sent by Kitty, a postcrosser from Holland.

Tussilago Farfara

Coltsfoot or Tussilago farfara.

Sent by Anne, a postcrosser from Finland.

This is from Wikipedia : Tussilago farfara, commonly known as Coltsfoot, is a plant in the family Asteraceae.

It has been used medicinally as a cough suppressant. The name "tussilago" itself means "cough suppressant." The plant has been used historically to treat lung ailments such as asthma as well as various coughs by way of smoking. Crushed flowers supposedly cured skin conditions, and the plant has been consumed as a food product.

The discovery of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the plant has resulted in liver health concerns.

Coltsfoot is a perennial herbaceous plant that spreads by seeds and rhizomes. Tussilago is often found in colonies of dozens of plants. The flowers, which superficially resemble dandelions, appear in early spring before dandelions appear. The leaves, which resemble a colt's foot in cross section, do not appear usually until after the seeds are set. Thus, the flowers appear on stems with no apparent leaves, and the later appearing leaves then wither and die during the season without seeming to set flowers. The plant is typically between 10 - 30 cm in height.

Coltsfoot is native to several locations in Europe and Asia. It is also a common plant in North America and South America where it has been introduced, most likely by settlers as a medicinal item. The plant is often found in waste and disturbed places and along roadsides and paths. In some areas it is considered an invasive species.

Other common names include Tash Plant, Ass's foot, Bull's foot, Butterbur, Coughwort, Farfara, Foal's foot, Foalswort, Horse Foot and Winter heliotrope. Sometimes it is confused with Petasites frigidus, or Western Coltsfoot.

Coltsfoot is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including The Gothic and Small Angle Shades. The Coltsfoot is also worked by the honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera).

Coltsfoot has also become a popular confectionery product made by using Coltsfoot essence to create a hardened rock that is used to soothe sore throats and chesty coughs; the recipe has been developed exclusively by Stockley's Sweets of Oswaldtwistle, UK and has become a favourite medicinal sweet around the globe known simply as Coltsfoot rock.

Tussilago farfara contains tumorigenic pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Senecionine and senkirkine, present in coltsfoot, have the highest mutagenetic activity of any pyrrolozidine alkaloid, tested using Drosophila melanogaster to produce a comparative genotoxicity test. There are documented cases of coltsfoot tea causing severe liver problems in an infant, and in another case, an infant developed liver disease and died because the mother drank tea containing coltsfoot during her pregnancy. In response the German government banned the sale of coltsfoot. Clonal plants of colstfoot free of pyrrolizidine alkaloids were then developed in Austria and Germany.

Haiti - National Palace

No. 39, National Palace (Palais National), Port-au-Prince, Haiti (before 12th. January 2010).

Sent by Shallale from Haiti.

This is from Wikipedia : The National Palace (Palais National) is located in Port-au-Prince—facing Place L'Ouverture near the Champs de Mars—and is the official residence of the Haitian president. It was almost completely destroyed in the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The building has since been slated for demolition.

A reported total of four residences built for the country's rulers, whether the colonial governor general, emperor, or president, have occupied the site since the mid to late 18th century. At one point in the site's tumultuous history, when the chief of state was without an official home due to damage, a 19th-century French-style villa on Avenue Christophe assumed that role.

The earliest structure was the Government Palace (Palais du Gouvernement), which was constructed in the 18th century as the residence of the French governor general of Saint-Domingue. Its first Haitian inhabitant was the country's first president, the Franco-Haitian mulatto General Alexandre Pétion. The structure was deemed "nothing less than a palace", made of painted wood, with "a handsome flight of steps leading into good reception-rooms". A visitor in 1831 noted the building was "large and convenient, but not handsome. It is of one story, and situated in front of the parade, to the southeast of the town. Its entrance is up a fine flight of steps, leading through a spacious portico into the hall of audience. The floors of all the public rooms are of black and white marble. The furniture is tasteful and elegant, but not costly. This building ... was constructed with more attention to convenience than effect. The apartments are pleasantly cool". In front of the palace stood the marble tomb of President Pétion and one of his daughters.

By 1850 the former governor general's residence had become known as the Imperial Palace, since it was the residence of Emperor Faustin I of Haiti and his wife, Empress Adélina. John Bigelow, an editor at the New York Evening Post, visited the palace in 1850 and described it as "only one story, raised a few feet from the ground, and approached by four or five steps, which extend all around the edifice." He also noted aspects of the interior decoration: "The floor [of one waiting room] is white marble, the furniture in black hair-cloth and straw. On a richly carved table appeared a beautiful bronze clock, representing the arms of Haiti—namely, a palm-tree surrounded with fascines of pikes and surmounted with the Phrygian cap. The walls were decorated with two fine portraits ... One represents the celebrated French conventionist, the Abbé Grégoire, and the other the reigning Emperor of Haiti .... The latter does honor to the talent of a mulatto artist, the Baron Colbert." An adjoining salon, where "grand receptions are given," displayed "portraits of all the great men of Haiti".

The former Imperial Palace was destroyed on 19 December 1869 during a rebel revolt that brought down the government of President Sylvain Salnave. The building was bombarded during the conflict by the man-of-war La Terreur, a government warship that had been captured by the rebel forces. As a contemporary report stated, "It appeared that Salnave had stowed away in vaults at the Palace a large quantity of ammunition. The shells fired from the Terreur, penetrating these vaults, caused several terrific explosions, and the palace was wholly destroyed". Per two such incidents, history, an observer noted, had shown "the President had been unable to trust anyone with the keeping of the national supply of ammunition and was forced to keep it in his own palace, so that in both cases the Presidents were killed by means of their own powder".

The palace's replacement, built in 1881, was seriously damaged on 8 August 1912 by a violent explosion that killed President Cincinnatus Leconte and several hundred of his soldiers almost a year to the day from Leconte's election. The National Geographic Magazine called the palace "a rather ugly structure of glistening gray white, with apparently a good deal of corrugated iron about it," though adding that it "contained, however, some fine lofty rooms". Others called it "a low straggling house" whose rooms were "pretty and decorated à la française".

China - Zhengyangmenwai Street

Zhengyangmenwai Street during the end years of the Qing Dynasty. It was one of the busiest commercial streets in old Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even in today, it still acts as one of the most famous commercial areas in Beijing.

Sent by Jiayi, a postcrosser from China.

Germany - Hamburg (3)

Hamburg - Lights and colors of the night.

Sent by Heike, a postcrosser from Velbert, Germany.

Germany - Arbeitstrachten

Local History Museum of Scheeßel. This card shows traditional working clothes in the countryside of North Germany.

Sent by Piet, a postcrosser from Germany.

United Kingdom - England - Peak District

GREETINGS FROM THE PEAK DISTRICT
Top left : Chatsworth House
Middle left : Dovedale Church
Bottom : Peveril Castle, Youlgreave, Bakewell.

Sent by Louise, a postcrosser from England.

This is from Wikipedia : The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire.

Most of the area falls within the Peak District National Park, whose designation in 1951 made it the first national park in the British Isles. An area of great diversity, it is conventionally split into the northern Dark Peak, where most of the moorland is found and whose geology is gritstone, and the southern White Peak, where most of the population lives and where the geology is mainly limestone-based. Proximity to the major cities of Manchester and Sheffield and the counties of Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Staffordshire and South and West Yorkshire, coupled with easy access by road and rail, have contributed to its popularity. With an estimated 22 million visitors per year, the Peak District is thought to be the second most-visited national park in the world (after the Mount Fuji National Park in Japan), though the Peak District National Park Authority believe these figures are incorrect or unsubstantiated, estimating around 10 million people visit annually.

Knight And Day

Knight and Day.

Sent by Amy, a postcrosser from Taiwan.

This is from Wikipedia : Knight and Day, (formerly titled Wichita and Trouble Man) is a 2010 romantic action comedy film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The film, directed by James Mangold, is Cruise and Diaz's second on-screen collaboration following the 2001 film Vanilla Sky.

The film went through a period of "development hell"; which included a prior film director and multiple writers that worked on the script. Producers for Knight and Day went through multiple other actors for the lead roles before eventually settling on Cruise and Diaz. Will Smith, Chris Tucker, and Gerard Butler were considered by the film's producers for the male lead that later went to Cruise, and Eva Mendes was initially set for the role that Diaz later portrayed in the movie. The film's investors offset funding costs by paying Cruise a lower advance fee and neglecting to provide him with a share of the revenue until the financiers earn back their initial investment in the production. Filming took place in several locations, mainly in several cities located in Massachusetts, while other scenes were filmed in Spain and parts of Austria.

Knight and Day was released in the United States on June 23, 2010. The film received mixed reviews from film critics; it garnered a "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based upon aggregated reviews, and a rating of "mixed or average reviews" at Metacritic. Knight and Day performed poorly at the box office in its debut, proceeded to fall nine percent in ticket sales in its second day after being released, and took third place behind films Toy Story 3 and the comedy Grown Ups in its first Friday after release. At $20.5 million, the total U.S. weekend box office take for Knight and Day was the worst result for an action film starring Tom Cruise in 20 years.

However, the film was still a financial success. With a production budget of $107 million (after tax credits) Knight and Day went on to gross $261,924,837 worldwide. It grossed an estimated $185.5 million internationally, whereas it only grossed $76.4 million in the United States.

France - Palace and Park of Versailles

Palace and Park of Versailles.

Sent by Thaddée, a postcrosser from Paris, France.

The Palace of Versailles was the principal residence of the French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. Embellished by several generations of architects, sculptors, decorators and landscape architects, it provided Europe with a model of the ideal royal residence for over a century. (Source)