A nice little Christmas card from Combs-la-Ville, a commune in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris. There are almost 23 000 people living here. 

Echternach is in eastern Luxembourg near the border with Germany. It is the oldest town in Luxembourg, dating back to 698 CE. There are about 6000 people living here.  The town grew around the Abbey of Echtermach, which was founded by St. Willibrord (c658-739), an English monk from Ripon, Northumbria (North Yorkshire). He became the first bishop of Utrecht and worked to Christianize the Frisians. In St. Willibrord's honour the Dancing Procession of Echternach takes place annually on Whit Tuesday (the day after Pentacost Monday).  The dance attracts many thousands of visitors and pilgrims to Echternach. It is listed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The card is part of a series entitled The Art of Urban Sketching . The particular card is a sketch of Roofs and Clouds, Naples, Italy by Simonetta Capecohi. A few weeks ago I learned there was a group here in Medicine Hat of urban painters. They choose a house, park, or other object wit...

The sender has been going to the Braunschweig Weihnachtsmarkt ( Christmas Market ) for nine years and loves going!

 

You can find Celle on the banks of the river Aller. There are about 71 000 people who live in Celle. Schloss Celle (Celle Castle) is here. It was built in the Renaissance and Baroque styles.  It was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Celle Castle is based on a fortified wall tower (Wehrturm) and it guarded the ford of the Aller. The first fortification here was built around 980 CE. Another forerunner of the castle was founded in 1292 by Otto the Strict (c1266-1330), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The cellar vault and the lower stories of the watch tower have survived to the present day and its ruins lie underneath the castle theatre. The first recorded mention of Celle Castle was in 1315.  Today the castle has a variety of rooms and halls that date back to different periods. There are guided tours of the historic castle rooms and castle chapel, which were restored between 1978-1981. 

The sender says the Slender West Lake (Shouzihu)  瘦西湖  is famous in Yangzhou. It was developed from the city moats of the Tang Era. During the Qing dynasty, the banks were the site of numerous estates for the areas wealthy officials and salt merchants. The lake and some of its attractions have been restored as a national park and AAAAA tourist attraction - the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in China. There are 359 tourist attractions in China given a AAAAA status. The lake is only open from 0700 - 1800 and there is an admission cost.  The lake runs for 3.4 kilometres and covers about 30 hectares. The park itself covers 120 hectares.