Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Did I say Four postcards, No Make That Five

In yesterday's update I said I had received 4 postcards for today. That is true but I also received another postcard , but in an envelope. Postcards that arrive that way don't normally make it in this blog but every now and then one does. Such is the case today. Let's have a look at the postcards that arrived on their own- no envelope.
The first one is from Latvia. It shows The Gate of the Sigulda New Castle. Sigulda is a town in Latvia , 53 km from Riga. This postcard is a reprint of an old postcard from the early 20th century. The New Sigulda castle was built in the 19th century. A Postcrosser , Raivita sent this card and used a number of stamps. The two smaller stamps are from a 2007 set of 3 showing Coats of Arms. The larger stamp on the right is 1 of 2 Europa issued stamps from 2008.

Next is a card from Lithuania. It shows a number of scenes and buildings in Kaunas. Kaunas is the 2nd largest city in Lithuania. It is located at the confluence of the two largest Lithuanian rivers , the Nemunas and the Neris. The top right corner of the card shows Laisves aleja (Liberty Avenue) .This is the main pedestrian street and one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe. Another Postcrosser, Roberta sent this card. She used just a wonderful stamp from 2008. It honors S. Darius and S. Girenas.
They were Lithuanian pilots. On July 15, 1933 they flew across the Atlantic, covering a distance of 6411 km , in 37 hours and 11 minutes. Flying without navigational equipment, their flight was one of the most precise in aviation history. Unfortunately , they crashed and perished on this same flight , on July 17th , just 650 km short of this goal, the city of Kaunas.
This is an extra special stamp to me as I have now another stamp for my topical airplane on stamp collection.

Now another card from Guyana. Last week , zero cards from Guyana, yesterday three and now one more today. Who would have thought ? This one was sent by Jennifer. Again a multi view card showing a parrot, a snake, a jaguar and City Hall.

The last of the cards that arrived normally is from Finland. Showing a winter scene on the front, it was sent by Jenni of Tampere. Jenni used a brand new stamp issued Jan 22, 2009. It features Pallas-Yllastunturi national Park. This stamp is offset with Braille lettering.

And now the card that arrived unconventionally, in an envelope. It shows The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. This is an Islamic Shrine and a major landmark located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was complete in 691 , making it the oldest extant Islamic building in the world. Husam from the Westbank sent this card. It arrived in a Registered letter from Jerusalem.
Now Husam has already sent a postcard , regularly through the mail, from Palestine , with Palestinian Authority stamps. Hopefully it will arrive soon and I will be able to add another stamp issuing entity to my collection.

That it for today. Hopefully more tomorrow or Friday. Thanks to Raivita, Roberta, Jennifer, Jenni and Husam for their cards. Without people like them , there would be no blog. As always, your comments are welcome.

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