2301 - Kasterlee, Antwerp, Belgium

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 son, Axel, also became a road racer and won the bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He married a Canadian and they live in Kelowna, British Columbia.

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3584 - Blaine, Minnesota, United States of America

The sender was in Las Vegas recently and bought this card from The Mob Museum. The Mob Museum, officially known as the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, is located in downtown Las Vegas. It open in 2012. It features artifacts, stories, and the history of organized crime in the United States, but also the actions and initiatives by law enforcement to prevent such crimes. The museum is found at the former Las Vegas Post Office and Courthouse, which was built in 1933. The quote on this card was from John Gotti. John Gotti (1940-2002) was the mafioso and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. After ordering the killing of Gambino boss Paul Catellano in 1985, he took over the family and led what was the United States' most powerful crime syndicate. He was known as The Teflon Don after three high profile trials in the 1980s resulted in acquittals. Later it was revealed that the trials had been tainted by jury tampering, juror misconduct, and...

3564 - Kassel, Hesse, Germany

A wonderful message on this card that translates to to those wh o can wait, everything comes with time.

2346 - Iwate, Iwate, Japan

Keita is a junior high science teacher in Iwate 岩手町. He sent me a photo of the Tokyo Sky Tower during a fireworks display. The Tokyo Sky Tower is a broadcasting and observation tower in Simide, a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010. In 2011, when it was completed at a height of 634 meters, it became the tallest tower in the world, and the second tallest structure in the world, after Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE.

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