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).

USA - Colorado - Grenadier Range

GRENADIER RANGE, COLORADO

Sent by Dawn from Denver in Colorado, USA.

Tucked away in the San Juan Mountains lies the heart of the Weminuche Wilderness: the Grenadier Range. Forming an eight-mile arc from the Animas River to Vallecito Creek, the Grenadier Range is a treasured gem for mountaineers and winter athletes because of its sequestered location.

Any trip into the Grenadier Range will require at least a one-night backpacking trip. The range is 32 miles northeast of Durango, so trips require dedication, adequate planning, and proper gear (read more). 

uncancelled stamp.

United Kingdom - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's 80th Birthday

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's 80th Birthday

Reproduced from a stamp designed by Jeffery Matthews

FSIAD and issued by the Post Office on the 4 August 1980

Sent by Jennifer from Connahs Quay, Wales, United Kingdom.

Germany - Hamburg - Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus

Greetings from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg

Historic Speicherstadt

Sent by Muriel from Hamburg, Germany.

Speicherstadt and the adjacent Kontorhaus district are two densely built central urban areas in the German port city of Hamburg. Speicherstadt, originally developed on a 1.1-km-long group of narrow islands in the Elbe River between 1885 and 1927 (and partly rebuilt from 1949 to 1967), is one of the largest unified historic port warehouse complexes in the world. The adjacent Kontorhaus district is a cohesive, densely built area featuring eight mainly very large office complexes that were built from the 1920s to the 1950s to house businesses engaged in port-related activities. Together, these neighbouring districts represent an outstanding example of a combined warehouse-office district associated with a port city. Speicherstadt, the “city of warehouses,” includes 15 very large warehouse blocks that are inventively historicist in appearance but advanced in their technical installations and equipment, as well as six ancillary buildings and a connecting network of streets, canals and bridges. Anchored by the iconic Chilehaus, the Kontorhaus district’s massive office buildings stand out for their early Modernist brick-clad architecture and their unity of function. The Chilehaus, Messberghof, Sprinkenhof, Mohlenhof, Montanhof, former Post Office Building at Niedernstrasse 10, Kontorhaus Burchardstrasse 19-21 and Miramar-Haus attest to architectural and city-planning concepts that were emerging in the early 20th century. The effects engendered by the rapid growth of international trade at the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century are illustrated by the outstanding examples of buildings and ensembles that are found in these two functionally complementary districts (read more).

Germany - Lower Saxony - Bremen

Greetings from the Hanseatic City of Bremen.

Sent by Anna from Bremen, Germany.

Bremen (Low German also: Breem or Bräm), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (German: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, IPA: [ˈʃtatɡəˌmaɪndə ˈbʁeːmən] ), is the capital of the German state of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen), a two-city-state consisting of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. With about 577,000 inhabitants, the Hanseatic city is the 11th-largest city of Germany and the second-largest city in Northern Germany after Hamburg.

Bremen is the largest city on the River Weser, the longest river flowing entirely in Germany, lying some 60 km (37 mi) upstream from its mouth into the North Sea at Bremerhaven, and is completely surrounded by the state of Lower Saxony. Bremen is the centre of the Northwest Metropolitan Region, which also includes the cities of Oldenburg and Bremerhaven, and has a population of around 2.8 million people. Bremen is contiguous with the Lower Saxon towns of Delmenhorst, Stuhr, Achim, Weyhe, Schwanewede and Lilienthal. There is an exclave of Bremen in Bremerhaven, the "Citybremian Overseas Port Area Bremerhaven" (Stadtbremisches Überseehafengebiet Bremerhaven). Bremen is the fourth-largest city in the Low German dialect area after Hamburg, Dortmund and Essen (read more).

Germany - Lower Saxony - Osnabrück

in Osnabrück Land.

Sent by Lara from Bielefeld, Germany.

Osnabrück (German: [ɔsnaˈbʁʏk] ; Westphalian: Ossenbrügge; archaic English: Osnaburg) is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168,145 Osnabrück is the fourth largest city in Lower Saxony.

More recently Osnabrück has become well known for its industry. Numerous companies in the automobile, paper, steel and grocery sectors are located in the city and its surrounding area. In spite of the massive destruction inflicted on the city during World War II, the Altstadt (old town) was eventually reconstructed extensively with designs loyal to the original medieval architecture there. Osnabrück was also the home of the largest British garrison outside the United Kingdom. Osnabrück's modern, urban image is enhanced by the presence of more than 22,000 students studying at the University and the University of Applied Sciences. Although part of the state of Lower Saxony, historically, culturally and linguistically Osnabrück is considered part of the region of Westphalia (read more).

Japan - Mount Fuji

A view of Mount Fuji from Lake Motosu
National Park Mt. Fuji

Sent by Sumiko from Imari, Japan.

My other postcard of Mount Fuji is here.

United Kingdom - Scotland - Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle (Long Shot)

Sent by Paulina from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcolm III in the 11th century, and the castle continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as a military garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half (read more).

Germany - Saxony - Seiffen

Seiffen in Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony.

Sent by Uwe from Dessau in Saxony, Germany.

Seiffen is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in the central south of Saxony in Germany.

Seiffen nestles in the heart of the Ore Mountains, which are famous for many Christmas traditions. As the silver and tin deposits declined, former miners had to look for new ways to feed their families. In addition to lace making and weaving, the local population turned to wood carving. Nutcrackers, "smoking men", Christmas pyramids (carousels with figures of the Christmas story or from mining) and Schwibbögen (wooden candle arches, displayed in windows, symbolising the opening of a mine) are some of many Christmas goods made in the Ore Mountains. Seiffen is a centre of the wooden toy industry (read more).

My Russia - #2 - Spring in Smolensk

Spring in a village, Smolensk region.

Sent by Olga from Orel in Oryol Oblast, Russia.

Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, 360 kilometers (220 mi) west-southwest of Moscow.

First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of the past millennium, beginning as the capital of an eponymous principality in the 11th-15th centuries, then the Smolensk Voivodeship of Lithuania and Poland, and Smolensk Governorate and Oblast within Russia. It was the main stronghold of the Smolensk Gate, a geostrategically significant pass between the Daugava and Dnieper rivers, and as such was an important point of contention in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe, passing at various times between Lithuania, Poland and Russia. In more recent history, it was captured by Napoleon's Franco–Polish forces and Hitler's Germany during their marches towards Moscow, and was the place of the Smolensk air disaster of 2010.

It has a population of 316,570 (2021 Census).(read more)

Malaysia - Malacca - Jonker Street

Jonker Street, Malacca.

Sent by Azizi from Muar in Johore, Malaysia.

The Jonker Walk (Malay: Persiaran Jonker, Chinese: 鷄場街; pinyin: Jīcháng jiē) is the Chinatown area in Malacca City in the state of Malacca, Malaysia located along Jonker Street (Malay: Jalan Hang Jebat). It starts from across Malacca River near the Stadthuys, with the street in the area filled with historical houses along its left and right sides dating back to the 17th century, many of which are shops selling antiques, textiles, foods, handicrafts and souvenirs such as keychains and shirts. The area turns into a night market every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the evening from 6 p.m. until 12 midnight, with its street blocked for traffic (read more).