Taiwan - Sun Moon Lake

A trip to the shining Sun Moon Lake.

Sent by Lin, a postcrosser from Taiwan.

This is from Wikipedia : Sun Moon Lake (Chinese: 日月潭; pinyin: Rìyuètán; Wade–Giles: Jih⁴-yüeh⁴-t'an²; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ji̍t-goa̍t-thâm; Zintun in the Thao language, also Lake Candidus) is the largest body of water in Taiwan as well as a tourist attraction. Situated in Yuchi, Nantou, the area around the Sun Moon Lake is home to the Thao tribe, one of aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. Sun Moon Lake surrounds a tiny island called Lalu. The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name.

Sun Moon Lake is located 748 m (2,454 ft) above sea level. It is 27 m (89 ft) deep and has a surface area of approximately 7.93 km²(3.06 sq mi). The area surrounding the lake has many trails for hiking.

While swimming in Sun Moon Lake is usually not permitted, there is an annual 3-km race called the Swimming Carnival of Sun Moon Lake held around the Mid-Autumn Festival each year. In recent years the participants have numbered in the tens of thousands. Other festivities held at the same time include fireworks, laser shows, and concerts.

The lake and its surrounding countryside have been designated one of thirteen National scenic areas in Taiwan. Wen Wu Temple (文武廟) was built after rising water levels from building a dam forced several smaller temples to be removed. Ci En Pagoda (慈恩塔) was built by late President Chiang Kai-shek in 1971 in memory of his mother. Other temples of note include Jianjing Temple, Syuentzang Temple, and Syuanguang Temple.

In older English literature it was commonly referred to as Lake Candidius, after the 17th century Dutch missionary Georgius Candidius. In the middle of the lake is the Lalu Island, which is the holy ground for the Thao tribe. In legend, Thao hunters discovered Sun Moon Lake while chasing a white deer through the surrounding mountains. The deer eventually led them to the lake, which they found to be not only beautiful, but abundant with fish. Today, the white deer of legends is immortalized as a marble statue on Lalu Island.

Under the Japanese colonial era of Taiwan, the Japanese named it the "Jade Island". After Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government moved to Taiwan, the island was renamed Kuang Hua ("Glorious China") and in 1978 the local government built a pavilion where annual weddings took place. The 921 Earthquake destroyed the pavilion and sunk most of the island. In recent years, due to increasing social and political awareness, more deference and recognition are being given to Taiwanese aborigines. As a result, after 921 earthquake, the island was renamed in the Thao language as "Lalu".

Several hydroelectric power plants have been built in the Sun Moon Lake since 1919, including Mingtan. When the first hydroelectric plant was finished in 1934, it was considered to be one of the most important infrastructure constructions of the time. The Jiji Line railroad was built to facilitate the construction.

Russia - Karelia Republic - Church of Transfiguration

Church of Transfiguration. 1714.

Sent by Yelizaveta, a postcrosser from Russia.

This is from UNESCO : Kizhi Pogost is an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble typical of medieval and post-medieval orthodox settlements in sparsely populated regions where evangelists had to cope with far-flung Christian communities and a harsh climate. The pogost (enclosure) and the buildings grouped together to form the site museum on the southern part of Kizhi are exceptional examples of the traditional wooden architecture of Karelia and more generally of that of northern Russia and the Finnish-Scandinavian region.

Kizhi is located in the heart of an unreal landscape where the sky, reflected in the limpid waters of Lake Onega, seems to hold suspended in the pristine air hundreds of small islands. In summer they seem to sparkle in the sun. Long used as a landmark by sailors navigating through the White Sea, it appears to visitors arriving nowadays via hydrofoil from Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Karelian Republic 68 km to the south, as a glistening three-faceted jewel.

The pogost is on a narrow strip of land on the southern tip of the large island of Kizhi. It includes two 18th-century wooden churches and an octagonal bell tower, also of wood, which was built in 1862. These amazing structures, in which the science of carpentry created a bold visionary architecture, perpetuate a very ancient model of parish space that developed when the Orthodox Church began to spread to the northernmost reaches of the Russian world where small villages were widely scattered over an immense area. It was therefore necessary that the church, the graveyard and the buildings needed for the far-flung communities' religious life be grouped together in one place. The Kizhi pogost dates from the Middle Ages. Chronicles from the 16th century are the first to explicitly mention the existence of two wooden churches there. Destroyed by lightning in 1693, they were rebuilt on the same site.

Within the wooden polygonal enclosure, standing on either side of the rudimentary bell tower built by the carpenter Sysoj Osipov, are the two churches, the larger of the two, the summer church, on the north and the winter church on the south. The Church of the Transfiguration was used during the summer, when the faithful journeyed from the outermost regions of the parish to attend services. A dendrochronogical study of the materials sets its construction date after 1713-14. The octagon which defines the composition of the cruciform church is extended by oblong bays facing the four cardinal points. The nave, flanked with side aisles, is preceded on the west by a projecting narthex reached via two staircases. The height of the Church of the Transfiguration, whose central cupola culminates at 37 m, is a masterpiece of a multi-storey, multi-cupola, single-block structure, such as had already appeared in the high Middle Ages at Saint Sophia of Novgorod. Here, over a central volume covered with three octagonal frames, the architect placed bochkas (roofs whose peak is shaped like a horizontal cylinder with the upper surface extended into a pointed ridge) topped with 22 bulbous cupolas. Inside, under the so-called 'heaven' - a superb vault shaped like a truncated pyramid - there is a gilded wood iconostasis holding 102 icons from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Church of the Intercession (Winter Church), is a simpler structure. Built in 1764, it is of the 'octagonal prism on a cube' type. The crown of eight cupolas encircling the 27 m high central onion dome, and which covers the central parallelepiped space, gives it a more static appearance. To the east a five-sided small apse contains the altar. To the west is a long nave accessible by a single stairway.

Ireland - Irish Writers

Ireland's Literary Heritage
Ireland is synonymous with such literary greats as Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, one of the most influential and innovative writers in the English language. Four Nobel Prizes for literature have been awarded to writers associated with Dublin - playwright George Bernard Shaw, poet W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, and the multi-faceted Samuel Beckett. Dublin is a UNESCO City of Literature, one of only four in the world.


Sent by Nora, a postcrosser from Ireland.


"While Dublin tourist guides attempt to coach visitors in the pronunciation of the Dublin greeting, ‘howaya?’ the equally common accompaniment to this – the enquiry, ‘what’s the story?’ reveals the remnants of an oral tradition which is alive and well, while also demonstrating Dubliners’ appetite for the world of books.
Ever eager for stories of themselves and others, Dubliners’ sensitivity to literary matters is acute, reinforced by an awareness of the works of the past as much as it is attuned to contemporary offerings – news of which is spread through the media, and through frequent readings, discussions and debates hosted by publishers, universities, libraries, literary organisations, book shops, pubs and cafes. The appreciation of writing and the richness of all its forms and genres is something that Dubliners display as a matter of course. Literary awareness is a form of currency in the capital, a bonding agent where pride is evident. Scepticism too fosters the famous ‘license with the Queen’s English’, for which the Irish are noted.

Writers in Dublin are not remote figures, out of step with the thrust of 21st century life but are part of the everyday landscape, much valued by Dubliners. The city has officially recognised writers by such diverse means as the conferring of the Freedom of the City, (George Bernard Shaw, Douglas Hyde and most recently, Thomas Kinsella) and through the Lord Mayor’s Awards, which in 2009 honoured the writer, Sebastian Barry. Further underlining the city’s literary credentials, the Man Booker International Prize was presented in Dublin for the first time in June 2009. (read more)

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.

Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra)

Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra)

Sent by Madlen, a postcrosser from Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : The fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) is probably the best-known salamander species in Europe. It is black with yellow spots or stripes to a varying degree; some specimens can be nearly completely black while on others the yellow is dominant. Shades of red and orange may sometimes appear, either replacing or mixing with the yellow according to subspecies. Fire salamanders can have a very long lifespan. A salamander lived for more than 50 years in Museum Koenig, a German natural history museum.


Fire salamanders live in central European forests and are more common in hilly areas. They prefer deciduous forests, since they like to hide in fallen leaves and around mossy tree trunks. They need small brooks or ponds with clean water in their habitat for the development of the larvae. Whether on land or in water, fire salamanders are inconspicuous. They spend much of their time hidden beneath stones, wood or other objects. They are active in the evening and the night, but on rainy days they are active in daytime as well.

The diet of the fire salamander consists of various insects, spiders, earthworms and slugs, but they also occasionally eat newts and young frogs. Small prey will be caught within the range of the vomerine teeth or by the posterior half of the tongue, to which the prey adheres. The fire salamander can grow to be 15–25 cm long.

USA - Ohio - Ohio Wildflowers

Ohio Wildflowers
Black-eyed susan, Common cat-tail, Spotted knapweed, Common milkweed, Canada goldenrod. Wild carrot, Evening primrose, Bouncing bet.

Sent by Carol, a postcrosser from Ohio, USA.

Map of Europe

Map of Europe.

Sent by Marleen, a postcrosser from Netherlands.

Italy - Monte San Giorgio

 

Monte San Giorgio.

Sent by Matia, a postcrosser from Italy.

This is from UNESCO : Monte San Giorgio is a pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain, which lies south of Lake Lugano in Ticino Canton. The site contains internationally important fossil remains from the Middle Triassic period. San Giorgio lies within an area identified as a Landscape Protection Zone under Swiss law.

The Mid Triassic rock succession rests on older, Permian volcanic rocks exposed on the north face of Monte San Giorgio. The Mid Triassic sequence consists of approximately 1,000 m of reef limestones, dolomites and bituminous shales which formed in marine conditions on the margins of the Triassic 'Tethys' Ocean. The exceptional fossil interest within the sequence arises because of the presence of five distinct, fossiliferous formations, the 'Grenzbitumenzone', the Cava Inferiore, Cava Superiore, Cassina Beds and the 'Kalkschieferzone'. The sequence records life in a tropical lagoon environment, sheltered and partially separated from the open sea by an offshore reef. A diversity of marine life flourished within this lagoon, including reptiles, fish, bivalves, ammonites, echinoderms and crustaceans. A stagnant and undisturbed seabed provided ideal conditions for the preservation of these animals, when they died and fell to the sea floor. Today, fossils are abundant and exceptionally detailed. Because the lagoon was near to land, the fossil remains also include some land-based fossils including reptiles, insects and plants. The fossiliferous rock succession is exposed in Switzerland on Monte San Giorgio as well as in the immediately adjacent area of Italy, in the area around Besano. Fossils from the mountain have been known to science for over 150 years. The vertebrate material includes particularly spectacular specimens, including large, articulated skeletons up to 6 m in length. Complete skeletons include ichthyosaurs, nothosaurs, placodonts, and the remarkable 'giraffe-necked' saurian, Tanystropheus. The land-based fauna is more restricted, but includes a significant and unique complete skeleton of the archosaur, Ticinosuchus, the first complete skeleton from this group to be discovered in the northern hemisphere.

Although it is primarily of geological significance, Monte San Giorgio also displays other natural values, as well as cultural links between the geology and the life of the local community. Noteworthy features include dry meadows on limestone subsoils that are home to plant populations not found elsewhere in Switzerland or in the entire southern Alpine zone of Italy. The site is rich in fungi and has 37 of the modern vertebrate species on the national Red List, 21 of which are protected under the Berne Convention.

Monte San Giorgio is unique in the world as the best single fossil record of Triassic marine life. The strict, systematic and continuous scientific research that has been carried out for over 75 years in Switzerland and Italy, almost exclusively by the universities of Zurich and Milan, have resulted in a remarkably complete and coordinated record of the site.

The site is in the ownership of three different local communes. Around 10% is cultivated, privately owned land, mostly near Meride and Riva San Vitale. The presence of five distinct fossiliferous levels provides the opportunity for comparative and evolutionary studies through time.

Other significant Triassic fossil sites of equivalent international importance provide evidence of terrestrial, rather than marine life.

The quantity and quality of fossil biota enables interpretation of species evolution, palaeo-environments and land-forming processes that existed 200 million years ago. The site provides a record of marine life during a critical period in vertebrate evolution on Earth, and has an importance that extends beyond representation of life in the Triassic 'Tethys' Ocean, to provide a global reference point for comparative studies of evolution.

 

Japan - Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (7) - Nijō Castle

 

INNER MOAT AND GATE TO THE HOMMARU PALACE (Viewed from Seiryu-en Garden)/NIJO CASTLE, KYOTO

Sent by Yuki, a postcrosser from Tokyo, Japan.

 

Czech Republic - Ostrava (2)

 

Ostrava
Masarykovo náměstí
Katedrála Božského Spasitele 
Nová radnice
Divadlo Antonína Dvořáka
Sykoruv most, knihovna, divadlo Aréna
Slezskoostravský hrad

Sent by Míša, a postcrosser from Ostrava in Czech Republic.

USA - California - Highway 49 - The Golden Chain Highway

 

HIGHWAY 49 - THE GOLDEN CHAIN HIGHWAY
CALIFORNIA'S HISTORIC GOLD COUNTRY 
In 1848 only a few hundred settlers lived on the foothills of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Then gold was discovered and within a year 90,000 '49ers had appeared. Highway 49, the Golden Chain Highway, takes you through California's Historic Gold Country as it follows the 300 mile-long area enriched by a giant vein of gold called the Mother Lode.

Sent by Marlene, a postcrosser from California, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : State Route 49 (SR 49) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush. Highway 49 is numbered after the "49ers", the waves of immigrants who swept into the area looking for gold, and a portion of it is known as the Gold Country Highway. This roadway begins atOakhurst, Madera County, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where it diverges from State Route 41. It continues in a generally northwest direction, weaving through the communities of Goldside and Ahwahnee, before crossing into Mariposa County. State Route 49 then continues northward through the counties of Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada,Yuba, Sierra, and Plumas, where it reaches its northern terminus at State Route 70, in Vinton.

 

Romania - Bucharest - Village Museum

 

Bucureşti - Muzeul Satului.


Sent by Carla from Bucharest, Romania.

This is from Wikipedia : The Village Museum (Muzeul Satului in Romanian) is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the Herăstrău Park (Bucharest,Romania), showcasing traditional Romanian village life. The museum extends to over 100,000 m², and contains 272 authentic peasant farms and houses from all over Romania.

It was created in 1936 by Dimitrie Gusti, Victor Ion Popa, and Henri H. Stahl.

There are other "village museums" throughout Romania, including ASTRA National Museum Complex in Sibiu, and those of Cluj-Napoca, Râmnicu-Vâlcea, Timişoara, a.s.o.

 

USA - Wyoming - Rock of Vedauwoo

 

ROCKS OF VEDAUWOO
MEDICINE BOW NATIONAL FOREST, WYOMING
The mystical rock formations of Vedauwoo create endless opportunities for the adventurous. The Medicine Bow is home to a great variety of wildlife including deer, elk, antelope and an impressive variety of smaller mammals and birds.

Sent by Susan, a WiP partner from USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Vedauwoo (pronounced: vi də vu:) is an area of rocky outcrops (Sherman Granite) located in south-eastern Wyoming,United States, north of Interstate 80, between Laramie and Cheyenne. Its name (according to climbing guidebook authors Skip Harper and Rob Kelman) is an anglicized version of the Arapaho word "bito'o'wu" meaning "earth-born". The area is within Medicine Bow - Routt National Forest and includes a day-use picnic area and an overnight campground. Vedauwoo is a popular climbing area. Mountain bikers, anglers, hikers, cross-country skiers, snowshoers, and rock climbers come from all parts of the world to sample the area's natural beauty. Climbers find some of the best wide crack climbs (called "offwidths") known. There are over 900 routes currently on record. Due to its elevation and distance from nearby cities, making it a dark site, it is a favorite of star party enthusiasts. Interstate 80 passes just south of the main rock outcroppings and well-marked highway signs indicate the exit to use in order to reach Vedauwoo. An alternative is to drive in from the Happy Jack road that runs between Laramie and Cheyenne. 

 

Poland - Smardzewice

 

Multiviews of Smardzewice.

Sent by Jaśmina, a postcrosser from Smardzewice, Poland.


This is from Wikipedia : Smardzewice [smard​͡zɛˈvit​͡sɛ] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Tomaszów Mazowiecki, within Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) south of Tomaszów Mazowieckiand 52 km (32 mi) south-east of the regional capital Łódź. The village has a population of 1,700.

 

Antigua and Barbuda - Island of Antigua

 

Antigua, West Indies.

The larger island of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, Antigua boasts 365 beautiful beaches, one for each day of the year. It lies roughly 17 degrees north of the equator in the middle of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean. It is about 14 miles long and 11 miles wide (108 sq. miles). The capital is St. John's.

Sent by Jay from Antigua.

This is from Wikipedia : Antigua, also known as Wadadli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la Antigua — St. Mary of the Old Cathedral. The name Wadadli, comes from the original Amerindian inhabitants, and means approximately "our own". The island's circumference is roughly 87 km (54 mi) and its area 281 km² (108 sq mi). Its population was 80,161 (at the 2011 Census). The economy is mainly reliant on tourism, with the agricultural sector serving the domestic market.

Over 31,000 people live in the capital city, St. John's, at 17°6′N 61°45′W. The capital is situated in the north-west and has a deep harbour which is able to accommodate large cruise ships. Other leading population settlements are All Saints (3,412) and Liberta(2,239), according to the 2001 census.

English Harbour on the south-eastern coast is famed for its protected shelter during violent storms. It is the site of a restored British colonial naval station called "Nelson's Dockyard" after Captain Horatio Nelson. Today English Harbour and the neighbouring village of Falmouth are internationally famous as a yachting and sailing destination and provisioning centre. During Antigua Sailing Week, at the end of April and beginning of May, the annual world-class regatta brings many sailing vessels and sailors to the island to play sports.

 

China - Temple of Heaven : an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing

 

Temple of Heaven (which lists into WCI in 1998).
Locates at Chongwen District, Beijing, the place for Ming and Qing emperor to offer a sacrifice to heaven and pray for harvest.

Sent by Zhang, a postcrosser from Nanjing, China.

This is from UNESCO : The Temple of Heaven is a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world's great civilizations. Its symbolic layout and design had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries. Furthermore, the legitimacy of the feudal dynasties that for more than 2,000 years ruled over China is symbolized by the design and layout of the Temple of Heaven.

The Altar of Heaven and Earth, together with the wall surrounding the garden, was completed in 1420, the 18th year of the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle. The central building was a large rectangular sacrificial hall, where sacrifices were offered to heaven and earth, with the Fasting Palace to the south-west. Pines were planted in the precinct of the Temple to emphasize the relationship between humankind and nature. In the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1530) the decision was taken to offer separate sacrifices to heaven and to earth, and so the Circular Mound Altar was built to the south of the main hall, for sacrifices to heaven. The Altar of Heaven and Earth was renamed the Temple of Heaven.

In 1749, the fourteenth year of the reign of the Qing Emperor Qianlong, the Circular Mound was enlarged, the original blue-glazed tiles being replaced with white marble. Two years later renovation work took place at the Hall of Daxiang, and it was given the new name of the Hall of Prayers for Abundant Harvests. This was the heyday of the Temple of Heaven, when it covered 273ha. Ceremonial sacrifices to heaven were banned by the government of the Republic of China in 1911. By that date, 490 years after its foundation, the Temple of Heaven had witnessed 654 acts of worship to heaven by 22 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was opened as a public park in 1918 and has been so ever since.

The Temple of Heaven was built on a site 3.5 km south-east of the Zhengyang Gate of Beijing. The area that it occupies is almost square, the two southern corners being right-angled and those on the north rounded. This symbolizes the ancient Chinese belief that Heaven is round and the Earth square. It is a spatial representation of Chinese cosmogony on which the political power and legitimacy of the imperial dynasties was based for more than two millennia.

The three principal cult structures are disposed in a line on the central north-south axis. The sacrificial buildings are mainly in the Inner Altar, which is subdivided into two by a wall running east-west, the southern sector, known as the Circular Mound Altar, and the northern, the Altar of the God of Grain. The two altars are connected by an elevated brick path 360 m long, known as the Red Stairway Bridge. The main Temple of Heaven, the Circular Mound, repeats the symbolism of the walls, as the central round feature (Heaven) is inside a square enclosure (Earth). It consists of three circular platforms of white marble, decreasing in diameter, surrounded by balustrades in the same material. Entry to the enclosure is effected by means of a series of monumental gates. There are 360 pillars in the balustrades, representing the 360 days of the ancient Chinese lunar year. The imperial throne would have been set up in the centre of the uppermost platform, symbolizing the role of the Emperor as the Son of Heaven and hence the link between Heaven and Earth. To the north of the Circular Mound is the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It was here that the emperor made offerings before retiring to the Fasting Palace (Palace of Abstinence).

In the north enclosure, the Altar of the God of Grain, the main feature is the Hall of Prayers for Abundant Harvests, which is linked with the Temple of Heaven by the Long Corridor, 440 m long and 25 m wide. In form and materials, the hall repeats the three-tiered circular structure in white marble of the Temple of Heaven. It is surmounted by the hall itself, once again circular in plan, and with three superimposed roofs in blue glazed tiles, from which the emperor offered up prayers for good harvests. It is supported on a massive wooden framework and its interior is richly decorated.