The Bavarian Forest Museum Village is located near Tittling. It is an open air museum on the southwestern shore of the Dreiburgensee in the Bavarian Forest. It covers about 25 hectares and has over 150 buildings from the period between 1580 to 1850, and a local history collection with over 60 000 items. It was founded in 1974 with the restoration of the 500 year old  Rothaumühle (Rothau Mill). Since then many buildings from across the Bavarian Forest have been transported to the museum. There are farmhouses, day labourers' houses, chapels, a village school, workshops, and mills. The history collection includes holy articles, farm furniture, along with household effects. Several times a year a large farmer's market takes place at the museum village and includes demonstrations of old customs and handicrafts. 

This card comes from an Italian ex-pat living in London. She's very active and is training to run a 10 k.  This beautiful card shows one of London's iconic symbols, Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge was constructed between 1886-1894 and spans the River Thames. It is 290 metres long and 65 metres high. The bridge was officially opened by the Prince and Princess of Wales (the future Edward VII and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark). Because the Thames is a busy commercial river, the bridge had to allow large ships to pass beneath it. The raising mechanism when the bridge first opened was powered by pressurized water stored in six hydraulic accumulators, with two pairs of engines on each pier. The original operating system was largely replaced in 1974 by new electro-hydraulic drive system. Oil is used in place of water as the new hydraulic fluid.  During the first year of Tower Bridge, the bridge was raised 6160 times, or about 17 times a day. River traffic is much reduced these days and t...

Bears are one of my favourite animals and I have been lucky to see a few grizzlies and black bears in the wild, but from a distance.  I'm going to copy what is on the back of the card: The Grizzly is a threatened species with the contiguous 48 states. Omnivorous, they feed on plants, small mammals (mostly rodents), large mammals, and carrion. Standing 3-4 feet at the shoulders, the adult male (boar) will weight 500-1000 pounds, while the adult female (sow) will weigh 225-550 pounds. The Grizzly will vary in color from black-brown to straw-yellow and may have light tipped guard hairs that give a frizzled appearance. Breeding occurs from mid-May to mid-July and young cubs, weighing 12-16 ounces are born in January and February. They emerge from the den with their mother in April and May. Grizzly bears are dangerous and should never be approached. 

Chesapeake By is the largest estuary in the United States. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bay's 167 000 square kilometre drainage basin. Along with Norfolk, Baltimore is another major city on the bay. Washington, DC, is also close by. As the photo suggests, seafood comes from the bay in the form of crabs, oysters, and other shell fish. 

The card is entitled Portugal de Azul/Portugal in Blue , with photos taken by David de Abreu, Manuel M. Pinturache, and Nuno Perestrelo. Braga is a city of about 200 000 people. it has ancient roots dating back to the Roman Empire, when it was known as Bracara Augusta . It is also home to the oldest Portuguese archdiocese, the Archdiocese of Braga.  There is an organ festival held annually in Braga since 2014.  Festival de órgão de Braga (The Organ Festival of Braga) takes place in several churches in the city that feature pipe organs. The main purpose of the festival is the safeguarding, valourization, and dissemination of the bracarense organism heritage, whose value in incalculable, is currently in the national and international panoramas a recognized cultural event. 

Tampere is home to two professional men's hockey clubs that play in the Liiga, the top tier of professional hockey in Finland. There was a third professional team, Koovee, that played mostly in Mestis, the second tier of professional hockey.  Tappara was founded in 1932 as the Tammerfors Bollklubb, and in 1955 as Tappara. Tappara plays out of Nokia Arena, which has a capacity of 12 700. They are the most successful club in Finland having won 20 Finnish league championships - Kanada-malja (13 Liiga titles and 7 Sarja (predecessor to Liiga) titles) the last being in 2024. They were also the runners up 17 times - 13 Liiga and 4 Sarja.  Internationally they have won the Champions Hockey League in 2023 and the Nordic Trophy in 2009.  Tampereen Ilves, or Ilves, was founded in 1931. They are the second most successful team in Liiga, with 16 Kanada-malja, and runners up nine times.  Koovee ry was founded in 1929, but dissolved in 2024. They mostly played in Mestis, the secon...