Humen  虎门镇  is found on the east side of the Humen Strait on the Pearl River Delta. It is a city of 575 000 people.  @heartee is a university student studying Japanese. Her card features a science museum near where she lives. At first I thought it might be The Sea Battle Museum, or the Opium War Museum, but she states its not in her town.  Humen was a big part of the First Opium War (1839-1842). Major battles were fought here and on the water of the Bocca Tigris. Lin Zexu was the Viceroy of Liangguang and he opposed the opium trade. He is considered a catalyst for the start of the war. He is praised for his constant position on the moral high ground in his fight against opium, but criticized for his rigid approach which failed to account for domestic and international complexities of the opium problem. The Daoguang Emperor endorsed Lin's hardline policies and anti-drug movement, but then blamed Lin for the resulting war, which was disastrous for China. 

Olesya sent me a Postcrossing card with a space theme to it. Krasnogorsk is a city of 120 000 located on the north west border of Moscow.  One interesting tidbit about Krasnogorsk is after the Second World War, German scientists that were a part of the V2 rocket program were resettled here with their families. 

Nataliya from Moscow sent me a beautiful card of the Komsomolskaya  Комсомо́льская  Metro Station. She works as a Russian language teacher. The Moscow Metro - the official name is State Unitary Enterprise of the City of Moscow "Moscow Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour named after V.I. Lenin" - was first opened in 1935 and was a single line of 11 km, with 13 stations.  Stalin wanted the stations designed in socialist classism and they were meant to be "palaces of the people." Komosomolskaya, Kiyevskaya, and Mayakovskaya are three of these stations and are considered tourist attractions, as their photogenic architecture, large chandeliers, and detailed decoration are so unusual for an urban transport system. Stalin wanted a palatial underground environment to remind riders that their tax rubles had been well spent. These stations have reflective marble walls, high ceilings, and grand chandeliers. Some of these stations have been likened to an ...

Apple lives in Hsinchu  新竹  and has sent me a Postcrossing Meetup Card. Meetups are just what it sounds like - a meetups. Postcrossers in the same region or city schedule a day and time to meet, trade postcards, and send specially designed meet up cards.  Apple's meetup was specifically for Superhero Fans Meetup, which took place on 29 May 2021. The Postcrossers in this case are all superhero fans. The neat things about meetups is all the people attending sign their name or leave their stamp. Some Postcrosser have rubber stamps designed to use for these occasions. Looks like at this meetup there were 10 participants. During COVID, many Postcrossers had virtual meetups over Zoom. 

Innsbruck is a tourist mecca and a skier and mountaineering paradise! Innsbruck means "Bridge Over the Inn." Evidence of human activity dates back to the stone age. A Roman settlement was also in the area.  Innsbruck has hosted two Winter Olympics - 1964 and 1976. I didn't know that Denver, Colorado was supposed to host the 1976 games after being awarded them in 1970. However, Denver voters rejected a bond referendum to finance the games in 1972. Innsbruck was awarded the games as they had the infrastructure to host after hosting in 1964 and hosting many World Cup and World Championship events. Sochi, Russia, in 2014 almost had a similar fate with cost overruns and worries about venues not being completed on time. Vancouver, who had hosted in 2010, was rumoured to having been asked to stand in if the International Olympic Committee determined Sochi wasn't going to be ready.  Russia insisted they were going to be ready and they were, although I think there was still so...

Toruń  is an ancient city on the Vistula River and named a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2007. There are just under 202 000 residents.  Toruń has the largest number of Gothic houses in Poland, many of them with Gothic paintings or wood-beamed ceilings that can date back to the 1500s. Toruń also managed to avoid the destruction that befell many of Poland's old cities by the Nazi invasion and occupation during World War II. In Old Town, all of the important architectural monuments are originals, not reproductions as is the case in many Polish towns and cities. Efforts are being made to improve the condition and the external presentation of  Toruń's Old Town. Streets are being reconstructed to resemble their historic appearance. Toruń's botanical garden was opened in 1797. TKH  Toruń plays in the Polska Hokej Liga, Poland's top ice hockey pro league. They were founded in 1924 and won the Polish Cup in 2006. Their home arena is Tor-Tor and it seats 3200 spectators. There is a...

What a great card from Peggy! She took this photo of all these birds on a beach. Peggy goes on to say how much of a gift it is to live in Monterey, Previously she spent 30 years as a school librarian in Abilene, Texas - in the middle of the desert.  Monterey has a long history of human habitation starting with the Ohlone peoples. There is evidence of gathering mussels and abalones.  The Spanish arrived and set up Monterey on 3 June 1770. It became the capital city of Alta California under the Spanish (1804-1821) and under the Mexicans (1821-1836). Monterey was even occupied by Argentina for six days in 1818. Argentine soldiers stole cattle and burned down the fort, artillery headquarters, the governor's residence, and Spanish houses. No Monterey citizens were harmed. Monterey was the site of the Battle of Monterey between American and Mexican forces. The Americans took Monterey on 7 July 1846. Commodore John D Sloat of the United States Navy raised the American flag over the c...

Trnava is a city of 65 200 people and is the capital city of Trnava Region. Trnava is found on the banks of the Trnavka River. The city is also known as "Little Rome" because of the all the churches found in its historic city centre and it is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishopric.  Trnava is first mentioned in 1211. At this time it was an important market settlement at two important roads: Bohemia to Hungary and Poland to the Mediterranean Sea.  PSA Peugeot Citroen opened a large automobile manufacturing plant in Trnava is 2003.  HK Trnava was established in 1957 and plays in the Slovak 1 Liga - the second division of Slovakian hockey. 

Andrew sent me a tourist card of a street in the Wan Chai District  灣仔區  of Hong Kong  香港. The Wan Chai District has 153 000 people and is a very affluent district of Hong Kong. Twenty percent of residents have liquid assets of HKD$1 million. The district is considered to be the heart of Hong Kong and represents the epitome of the Hong Kong lifestyle. It has a well established art centre, large exhibition and conference complexes, luxury apartments, five-star hotels, shopping malls, metropolitan office towers, and a large government building cluster.  Wan Chai also has a mosque and several cemeteries of different faiths. The noisy district is 5 minutes away from Bowen Drive, which is popular with politicians, movie stars, and government officials who go for a jog or a walk.  Wan Chai also has a great number of bars and strip joints in its red light district. It is a popular place for tourists and USN sailors. 

Lyubov is a German language teacher in Rybinsk. She says her name in Russian means "love." Rybinsk  Рыбинск is located close to Moscow on the Volga River. It was first mentioned in 1071 and is one of the oldest Slavic settlements on the Volga River. It was first recorded at Ust-Sheksna "the Mouth of the Sheksna." It became a centre of craft and metalworks which were traded. In the mid 1200s, Rybinsk was laid waste to by the Mongol invaders. In 1504, Rybinsk was referred to as Sloboda "the Fishing Village" because sturgeon and sterlets were supplied to the Muscovite court by local fishers. Catherine the Great granted Rybinsk municipal status in 1777 and named it Rybinsk.  During Soviet times, Rybinsk's name was changed to Shcherbakov in 1946 after Aleksandr Shcherbakov, a prominent Soviet politician who died of heart failure at the age of 44. In 1957, Shcherbakov became Rybinsk again. The name was again changed in 1984 to Andropov, after Yuri Andropov, ...

Bethany from Minneapolis sent me a card that her grandparents sent her from their visit to Florida. After reading about both cities, Panama City, Florida seemed more interesting.  According to Wikipedia, Panama City got its name because, "George Mortimer West hoped to spur real estate development in Bay County during a period of intense popular interest in the construction of the  Panama Canal  by changing the town's name from Harrison to Panama City, because a straight line between  Chicago  and Trujillo Honduras the Central American country  Panama's national capital  intersected the Florida town. Additionally, since required meanders around land formations in a seaborne route to the canal added distance when starting at other ports, Panama City was the closest developed port in the US mainland to the  Caribbean  entrance of the Panama Canal." Panama City is also the home of Tyndall Air Force Base and the US Navy's Naval Support Activity, w...

Potsdam is found just outside of Berlin. Johanna says there has been a rivalry between Berlin and Potsdam since the German monarch decided that Berlin would be the capital of Germany, while Potsdam would be where they live.  Johanna goes on to say that many people that work in Berlin, don't live in Berlin. Berliners think that everything outside Berlin "seems provincial." When I thanked Johanna for her card I told her that's how Canadians view Toronto - they see Torontonians as arrogant and that they view the rest of Canada as 'not Toronto.' In fact, the joke in Canada is that Toronto is an indigenous word that means 'centre of the universe.' I would imagine most countries have that one or two cities they loathe Johanna's card says "Moin Moin" which means "good morning." 

Iy is from Shanghai but sent me a card of Hongcun Village in Anhui Province. Hongcun was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 because of its exceptional preservation of architecture and city plan of a rural village from feudal China. It was established in 1131 by Wang Wen, a general during the Han Dynasty. The Wang because prosperous merchants. The village is shaped like an ox: the Leigang Hill is considered the head and the two trees on the hill are the horns. The four bridges across the Jiyin Stream are considered the legs and the houses of the village are the body. The Jiyin also represents the intestines, while the various lakes represent organs. Many scenes for the film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" were filmed here. Hongcun is the birthplace of Wang Daxie (1860-1929) who served as premier of the Republic of China twice for a grand total of 13 days! His first term was in November 1917 for 8 days, while his second term was in November-December 1922 for 13 days. ...

Bridget (I think) is a nurse and was born in East Berlin in the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. East Berlin, if you aren't familiar, was one of four sectors of Berlin that the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union occupied after the Second World War. The four countries administered Berlin together until the Soviets decided to leave the group. East Berlin became the de facto capital of East Germany from 1949-1990.  Berlin was separated by a wall from 1961-1989. East German soldiers had shoot to kill orders for anyone caught in no man's land.  On 3 October 1990, Germany reunified into one country again which meant Berlin also became one city again. Since reunification, Germany has poured a lot of money into the former East Berlin side to try to bring services and infrastructure up to German standards. There is still a visible difference in architecture on the east and west sides of Berlin. East Berlin still has evidence of war damage.  Amon...

Sabrina sent a card of a painting by August Macke. Macke was a part of the German expressionist movement. Garten mit bassin (Garden with Basin) was painted in 1912. Macke, unfortunately, was one of many young, German artists to go to the First World War and perish. Macke died near Champagne, France in the second month of the war, September 1914. He was only 27.  Schwandorf is a city of 30 000 and is on the River Naab. There are a lot of hiking trails, according to Sabrina. Wikipedia doesn't say much about it. 

I received a neat card from Belgium. The photo shows the cyclist, Eddy Merckx. I had never heard of Merckx so I did some research. Merckx, nicknamed The Cannonball, is considered one of the most successful riders in the history of cycling. He participated in road racing and track cycling. He won 11 Grand Tours - the three big races - Tour de France (5), Giro d'Italia (5), and the Vuelta a Espana (1) He also won the Five Monuments - the five 'classic' races - three times. One of three that have done that (all Belgians), but the only one to win them all twice. The Monuments consist of: Milan-San Remo (at 298 km, the longest one day race), Tour of Flanders (de Ronde), Paris-Roubaix (one of cyclings oldest races), Liege-Bastogne-Liege (La Doyenne, which dates back to 1892 and is the oldest of the Monuments), and Giro di Lombardia (Il Lombardia) Merckx won 80 races as an amateur before turning professional in 1965. Over his 18 year cycling career, he won 525 times.  Merckx's...

Lysá nad Labem is a town of about 10 000 people just outside of Prague. It was first mentioned in the Cosmas Chronicle (see below) in 1034. There is also evidence of  Lysá as a town from 1291.  Lysá has had its share of good times and bad times.  Lysá was involved int he Hussite Wars and the Thirty Years' War (the Battle of White Mountain). In 1696, the Augustine Monestery was restored and the Chapel of Three Kings was built. Count Franz Anton von Sporck, had baroque artists come to  Lysá. The most famous of the artists was sculptor Matthais Braun. Braun and his pupils sculpted many statues for the town, many of which are still found on the palace grounds. Lysá is now famour for its horse racing course and its exhibition grounds.  Marcela originally got my address on 1 January 2021, but delayed in sending it as the Covid lockdown forced her to teach her three children from home. When things settled down, she sent me the card, which is dated for 18 May. Her card ...

Samira is a fellow colleague in Dresden and teaches music and maths, although her area of study in university was French and Catholicism. She hopes to be able to teach those someday. That's a common story with many teachers, not teaching what their major or minor was in school.  Dresden was first documented in 1206. It means 'forest' or 'lowland forest dweller.' People have been living in and around Dresden since Neolithic times, around 7500 BCE. The Linear Pottery Culture tribes lived in the area. These people were known by the type of pottery they produced.  Dresden is one of the greenest cities in Europe with 62% of the city either green space or forest. It is also considered one of the least stressful cities in the world.  ESC Dresdner Eislöwen is the local hockey team and they play in the second tier DEL2 league. 

Daniela lives in Troisdorf and sent me a postcard of typical scenes in Cologne, which 22 km north of Troisdorf.  Troisdorf is a city of about 75 000 and is located between Cologne and Bonn, both much largers centres. In 1969, Troisdorf merged with Sieglar, Altenrath, and Friedrich-Wilhelms-Hutte. Troisdorf has Europe's only picture book museum, which is located at the Wissen Castle.