Slovenia - Kamnik

 

SLOVENIA 

Kamnik 

Sent by Karmen from Kamnik, Slovenia.

Kamnik is the town in northern Slovenia. It is the central settlement of theMunicipality of Kamnik. It encompasses a large part of the Kamnik Alps and the surrounding area. The town of Kamnik has ruins of two castles as well as many examples of historical architecture.

The name Kamnik was first mentioned in the 11th century. The first time it was mentioned as a town was in 1229, when it was an important trading post on the road between Ljubljana and Celje. This makes the town one of the oldest in Slovenia. In the Middle Ages, Kamnik had its own mint and some aristocratic families among its residents. The town was among the most influential centers of power for the Bavarian counts of Andechs in the region of Carniola at the time. The only remnant of the Bavarian nobility are the two ruined castles which are both strategically built on high ground near the town center. The Franciscan monastery built in the town itself is a testament to its importance. The building is well preserved and has undergone extensive renovation in recent years.

Most of the old town center is built in an Austro-Hungarian style. Most of the facades have been renovated in recent years but the process is still ongoing.

USA - Maryland - Flag & State Flower

MARYLAND 

The Black-Eyed Susans are the State Flower, and the Maryland flag has been recognized as the most beautiful flag of all 50 United States. 

Sent by Arnold from Texas, USA.

 

Bicycle (29)

 

 Sent by Eero, a postcrosser from Finland.

Bicycle (28)

 

 Sent by Sharina, a postcrosser from the Netherlands.

Cuba - Havana - El Capitolio

CUBA

Vista desde El Capitolio

Sent by Jos from Cuba.

This is from Wikipedia : El Capitolio, or National Capitol Building in Havana, Cuba, was the seat of government in Cuba until after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and is now home to the Cuban Academy of Sciences. Its design and name recall the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., but it is only superficially similar. Completed in 1929, it was the tallest building in Havana until the 1950s and houses the world's third largest indoor statue.

The project began on April 1926, during the Gerardo Machado administration. Construction was overseen by the U.S. firm of Purdy and Henderson.te were based in the building. When the Communist Regime abolished and disbanded the Congress in 1959, the building lost its purpose as the House of the People. Later it ended up as the headquarters of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. The main floor (which is on the first storey) is open to visitors and many of the rooms are used to host conferences and meetings.

The neoclassical building has some resemblance to the U.S. Capitol, although according to Raynieri the inspiration for the cupolacame from the Panthéon in Paris.

The cupola, which is stone clad around a steel frame which was constructed in the United States and imported to Cuba, is set forward on the building to allow for some large rooms at the rear, including what is now the National Library of Science and Technology. In the original design the dome was to be decorated with stylised palm leaves but this addition was never executed. At almost 92 m (300 ft) high, the dome was the highest point in the city of Havana until the 1950s (this honour now belongs to the José Martí Memorial). It was the third highest cupola in the world at the time of its construction.

Around the building are gardens laid out by French landscape architect and designer Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier at the time of the original construction. Based on the designs of some of the beautiful simple European gardens they consist of areas of lawn bordered by paths and highlighted by palms. Four groups of Royal Palms accent the design.

Chad

REPUBLIQUE DU TCHAD

Manifestation devant le Palais de Mani, 2012.

Sent by Hamid from N'Djamena, Chad.

The Gambia

THE GAMBIA

Sent by حامدMaπias, a postcrosser from Gambia.

Saudi Arabia - The Door Of The Holy Kaaba

MAKKAH

The Holy Mosque - The Door Of The Holy Kaaba

Sent by Salah from UAE.

Venezuela - Caracas - The Avila

CARACAS
Partial view of the Avila.

 Sent by Luis Moret from Caracas, Venezuela.

 
The Ávila National Park, officially known as Waraira Repano National Park for its indigenous Cariban name, protects part of the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range, in the coastal region of central-northern Venezuela. The area's highest elevation is Pico Naiguatá, at 2,765 meters (9,072 ft) above sea level (read further).

USA - Idaho - A Nez Perce' Child

IDAHO
This adorable child, dressed in ceremonial finery for a Pow Wow, is a member of Nez Perce' tribe that has populated the valleys of the Snake and Clearwater rivers for centuries. This famous tribe is known for its friendship and generosity to early explorers such as Lewis and Clark, and for the breeding and development of the Appaloosa horse, a symbol of the state of Idaho.

Sent by Sandra, a postcrosser from Idaho, USA.

This is from Wikipedia : The Nez Perce are Native American people who live in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. An anthropological theory says they descended from the Old Cordilleran Culture, which moved south from the Rocky Mountains and west in Nez Perce lands. The Nez Perce nation currently governs and inhabits a reservation in Idaho. The Nez Perce's name for themselves is Nimíipuu (pronounced [nimiːpuː]), meaning, "The People."

They speak the Nez Perce language or Niimiipuutímt, a Sahaptian language related to the several dialects of Sahaptin. The Sahaptian sub-family is one of the branches of the Plateau Penutian family (which in turn may be related to a larger Penutiangrouping).

Nez Percé is an exonym given by French Canadian fur traders who visited the area regularly in the late 18th century, meaning literally 'pierced nose'. The most common self-designation used today by the Nez Perce is Niimíipu. "Nez Perce" is also used by the tribe itself, the United States Government, and contemporary historians. Older historical ethnological works use the French spelling "Nez Percé," with thediacritic. The original French pronunciation is [ne pɛʁse], with three syllables.

In the journals of William Clark, the people are referred to as Chopunnish (/ˈtʃoʊpənɪʃ/). This term is an adaptation of the term cú·pʼnitpeľu (the Nez Perce people) which is formed from cú·pʼnit (piercing with a pointed object) and peľu (people). When analyzed through the Nez Perce Language Dictionary, the term cúpnitpelu contains no reference to "Piercing with a pointed object" as described by D.E. Walker. The prefix cú- means "in single file." This prefix, combined with the verb -piní, "to come out (e.g. of forest, bushes, ice)". Finally, with the suffix of -pelú, meaning "people or inhabitants of". Put all three parts of the Nez Perce word together now to get cú- + -piní + pelú = cúpnitpelu, or the People Walking Single File Out of the Forest. Nez Perce oral tradition indicates the name "Cuupn'itpel'uu" meant "we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to the time before the Nez Perce had horses. Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the time they first encountered the Nez Perce in 1805. It is from the French, "pierced nose." This is an inaccurate description of the tribe. They did not practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The actual "pierced nose" tribe lived on and around the lower Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest and are commonly called the Chinook tribe by historians and anthropologists. The Chinook relied heavily upon salmon as did the Nez Perce and shared fishing and trading sites but were much more hierarchical in their social arrangements.

USA - Oregon - Crater Lake National Park (2)

CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK
Whitebark Pines, distorted by severe environmental conditions live on Mount Scott and along the rim of Crater Lake.

Sent by Lori, a postcrosser from USA.

This is from Wikipedia : Crater Lake National Park is a United States National Park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake National Park is the fifth oldest national park in the United States and the only one in the state of Oregon. The park encompasses the caldera of Crater Lake, a remnant of a destroyed volcano, Mount Mazama, and the surrounding hills and forests.

The lake is 1,943 feet (592 m) deep at its deepest point, which makes it the deepest lake in the United States, the second deepest in North America and the ninth deepest in the world. Crater Lake is often referred to as the seventh deepest lake in the world, but this former listing excludes the approximately 3,000-foot (910 m) depth of subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica, which resides under nearly 13,000 feet (4,000 m) of ice, and the recent report of a 2,740-foot (840 m) maximum depth for Lake O'Higgins/San Martin, located on the border of Chile and Argentina. However, when comparing its average depth of 1,148 feet (350 m) to the average depth of other deep lakes, Crater Lake becomes the deepest in the Western Hemisphere and the third deepest in the world. The impressive average depth of this volcanic lake is due to the nearly symmetrical 4,000-foot (1,200 m) deep caldera formed 7,700 years ago during the violent climactic eruptions and subsequent collapse of Mount Mazama and the relatively moist climate that is typical of the crest of the Cascade Range.

The caldera rim ranges in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet (2,100 to 2,400 m). The United States Geological Surveybenchmarked elevation of the lake surface itself is 6,178 feet (1,883 m). This National Park encompasses 183,225 acres (286.29 sq mi; 741.49 km²). Crater Lake has no streams flowing into or out of it. All water that enters the lake is eventually lost from evaporation or subsurface seepage. The lake's water commonly has a striking blue hue, and the lake is re-filled entirely from direct precipitation in the form of snow and rain.

Russia - Dymkovo Toys

Dymkovo Toys.

Sent by Natalia, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : Dymkovo toys, also known as the Vyatka toys or Kirov toys (Дымковская игрушка, вятская игрушка, кировская игрушка in Russian) are moulded painted clay figures of people and animals (sometimes in the form of a pennywhistle). It is one of the old Russian folk arthandicrafts, which still exists in a village of Dymkovo near Kirov (former Vyatka). Traditionally, the Dymkovo toys are made by women.

The tradition of making pennywhistles in the form of a horse, a horserider, and a bird goes back to the ancient magic ritual images and has to do with the agricultural calendar holidays. Later on, little figures lost their magic meaning and turned into toys for children, the making of which would become an artistic handicraft. Up until the 20th century, this toy production had been timed to the spring fair called свистунья, or whistler. The first recorded mentioning of this event took place in 1811, however it is believed to have existed for some 400 years, thus dating the history of Dymkovo toy at least from the 17th century.

In the late 19th century the handicraft fell into decline because the Dymkovo toys had been forced out of the market by the factory-made moulded plaster statuettes, which imitated porcelain articles. During the Soviet times, however, the Dymkovo handicraft was revived. In 1933, they organized an artel called Вятская игрушка (The Vyatka Toy), which would turn into a workshop of the Artistic Fund of the RSFSR (Russian: Художественный фонд РСФСР). These days, the Dymkovo toys are known as a popular Russian souvenir.

The Dymkovo toys are moulded from a mixture of local potter's clay and river sand. The parts of a toy are then fastened together with watery clay. After the toys are dried andtempered in a furnace, they are whitewashed with chalk diluted in milk, then painted with tempera (before 1953, the artists used aniline paints ground with eggs) in 4 to 10 (or more) colors, and decorated with gold leafs.

Modern Dymkovo toys include ancient motifs, as well as those of the second half of the 19th century, such as барыни(barynyas, or landladies), няньки (nyanki, or nannies), водоноски (vodonoski, or female watercarriers) and others. In the 1930s, the Dymkovo toys began to depict fairy tales and contemporary lifestyle. There were also multi-character compositions on stands, figures of people taller than 30 cm and others.

Massive, abstract, and somewhat grotesque forms of the Dymkovo toys are emphasized by ruffles, puffed collars, and other features. Improvised bright painting of the toys represents a geometric ornament of circles, checks, and dots of different colors and sizes.

Cayman Islands - Yellow Sponge and Diver

At depth of 10 to 100 ft. you can see the wonders of Mother Nature at work.

Sent by Cayman Islands Department of Tourism.

This is from Wikipedia : The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is a major world offshore financial centre.

The Cayman Islands were first logged as sighted by Christopher Columbus on 10 May 1503 during his fourth and final voyage to the New World. He named the islands Las Tortugas after the large number of sea turtles observed there. The first recorded English visitor to the islands was Sir Francis Drake in 1586. He subsequently named the islands "Cayman" after caiman, a Neo-Taino word for "alligator".

The Cayman Islands remained largely uninhabited until the 17th century. While there is no archaeological evidence for an indigenous people on the islands, a variety of settlers from various backgrounds made their home on the islands, includingpirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica. (Read more)

Netherlands - Ermelo

Multiviews of Ermelo.

Sent by Tirca, a postcrosser from Ermelo, Netherlands.

This is from Wikipedia : Ermelo (Dutch Low Saxon: Armelo or Armel) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland in theVeluwe area with a population of over 26.000.
Ermelo comes from "lo" woods and "irmin" for which several explanations are given. Some of those are "great", "divine" or it refers to an old Germanic god called Irmin.

The town has been known to exist since at least 855, when the name Irminlo first appeared in a legal document. Human presence in the area goes back further however, with many archaeological finds of the Bell-Beaker culture having been made in the area.

For a long time the town most likely consisted of little more than a few farms and some other buildings like a windmill and a churchand it didn't really grow much until the 19th century; in the year 1830 a road was made to make this part of the Veluwe more accessible and at the end of the 19th century the town got a train station. Because the trainstation was some distance away from the town centre a road was constructed, the Stationsstraat, which is now considered to be the centre of the town. After the second world war a shortage of houses resulted in a rapid growth of Ermelo. In 1973 Nunspeet became its own separate municipality after having been part of Ermelo before. In 2005, Ermelo celebrated its 1150 year long existence. Various artists from across the country performed during the festivities. A classic windmill dating from 1863 located in the town centre, named De Koe (The Cow), partially burned down in 1990 after having been hit by lightning, but was restored to working order in late 2008. A nightclub moved out due to the complete renovation.

Martta Wendelin (27)

Happy Easter postcard by Martta Wendelin.

Sent by Seija, a postcrosser from Finland.

Honduras - Maya Site of Copan

Honduras - Copan Ruins.

Sent by Mervin from Honduras.

This is from UNESCO : Copán with its temples, plazas and terraces, comprises a type of architectural complex among the most characteristic of the Mayan civilization. The lengthy inscription on the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza is of considerable historical significance.

There is evidence that Copán was inhabited during the American Formative period (2000 BC-AD 300), although few remains exist today which attest to this occupation. The great period of Copán, paralleling that of other major Mayan cities, occurred during the Classical period, AD 300-900. Major cultural developments took place with significant achievements in mathematics, astronomy and hieroglyphic writing.

Architectural activity, as well, made strides during this period. The site of Copán went through three principal stages of development during which evolved the temples, plazas, altar complexes and ball courts that can be seen today. Shortly after 900, the site was abandoned. Although Copán was discovered in 1570 by Diego Garcia de Palacio, its existence did not receive worldwide attention until the work of John Lloyd Stephens from 1839 to 1841. Since then, numerous archaeological expeditions have explored and excavated various parts of the site.

The Mayan city of Copán as it exists today is composed of a main complex of ruins with several secondary complexes encircling it. The main complex consists of the Acropolis and important plazas. Among the five plazas are the Ceremonial Plaza, with an impressive stadium opening onto a mound with numerous richly sculptured monoliths and altars; the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza, with a monumental stairway at its eastern end that is one of the outstanding structures of Mayan culture. On the risers of this 100 m wide stairway are more than 1,800 individual glyphs which constitute the longest known Mayan inscription. The Easter Plaza rises a considerable height above the valley floor. On its western side is a stairway sculptured with figures of jaguars originally inlaid with black obsidian.

From what is known today, the sculpture of Copán appears to have attained a high degree of perfection. The Acropolis, a magnificent architectural complex, appears today as a large mass of rubble which came about through successive additions of pyramids, terraces and temples. The world's largest archaeological cut runs through the Acropolis. In the walls of the cut, it is possible to distinguish floor levels of previous plazas and covered water outlets.

During the period when Mayan civilization spread across Central America, Copán was the largest and most influential city in the south-eastern sector.

Copán remains endangered by continued erosion of the river, microflora; and the outlying complexes, by continued agricultural practices. The site is a seismic zone and had suffered damage from at least two earthquakes. Further, the natural surroundings of the area are being threatened by the infringement of the neighbouring town of Copán Ruins.