Freiberg is a former mining town, best know now for being a university town. Freiberg annually hosts the Mining Town Festival (Bergstadfest) on the last weekend of June. The historic Miners' and Ironworkers' Guilds have a parade.  Eric's card has a quote from Joan of Arc: "I am not afraid...I was born to do this." She apparently uttered these words before her execution.

This is a great card of the Arnhem Bridge. Of course it is the iconic bridge in A Bridge Too Far . The movie is set during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. The British 1st Airborne Division, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were ordered to secure the bridge at Arnhem. At the beginning of the operation, a bulk of the paratroopers were dropped far from the bridge and weren't able to get to their objective. The 2nd Parachute Battalion, led by Lt-Col John D. Frost (1912-1993), did get to the bridge but couldn't secure both sides. They met with resistance from the German 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions.  The British forces ran out of ammunition and were captured on 21 September, four days after they were dropped. Remaining forces were ordered out on 26 September. The bridge was eventually destroyed by the US Army Air Forces shortly after.  The bridge built to replace the bridge after the war was named after Lt-Col Frost. The Arnhem Bridge was named John Fr

Dany from Poitiers sends a great card from Marseille and the Notre Dame de la Garde (Our Lady of the Guard). The Notre Dame de la Garde is a Catholic basilica in Marseille and the city's best known symbol. It is located at the highest point in Marseille. The plans were made by architect    Henri-Jacques Espérandieu. The still unfinished basilica was consecrated on 5 June 1864. The bell tower is 41 metres high and there is a 11.2 metre statue of the Madonna and Child.  A major restoration on the basilica took place between 2001-2008. Mosaics that were damaged by candle smoke were cleaned up. Pollution that had corroded the green limestone was repaired. Bullet holes in stonework from the Liberation of France were also repaired.  Notre Dame de la Garde receives about 1.5 million visitors each year. Some are tourists to check out the Cathedral, others to check out the incredible view, and others are pilgrims. Poitiers is a city of almost 90 000 people and has an ancient history. In 143

Another World Postcard Day card. This one is a from a meetup in Saint Petersburg. The participants either signed or used personalize ink stamps to autograph it. It's a great card design and some of the ink stamps are neat.  Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703, on the site of a captured Swedish fortress. Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the Russian Empire and Russia's entry into modern history as a European great power. It was the capital city of Russia from 1713 - 1918, except for a brief period between 1728-1730 when it was situated in Moscow. The Soviets moved the capital to Moscow in 1918. 

Annette is from Wadersloh, which is a small city of about 12 500 people. She sends a card from  Løkken, which is in northern Denmark. It is a popular tourist and vacationing destination. 

Leverkusen is a city of 163 000. Leverkusen is made up of the following former villages:  Wiesdorf, Opladen, Schlebusch, Manfort, Bürrig, Hitdorf, Quettingen, Lützenkirchen, Steinbüchel, Rheindorf and Bergisch-Neukirchen. Ozan, the sender, is from Opladen which joined Leverkusen in 1975.  Ozan's card is from the island of Frauenchiemsee. It is the largest of three islands in Chiemsee. Frauenchiemsee is 15.5 hectares and is car free. There is a convent of Benedictine nuns, along with 300 permanent residents.  The monastery was founded in 782 by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria. The first abbess was Blessed Irmengard in 850 and was dedicated to the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. King Ludwig I of Bavaria rebuilt the monastery for the Benedictine nuns and allowed them to receive new candidates on the condition the nuns created their livelihood by opening schools. As such a grammar school, called Irmengard Gymnasium, existed on the site until 1995. The current monastery was declar

Herbert is a student at City University of Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 and has nine main schools offering courses in business, science, engineering, liberal arts and social sciences, law, and veterinary medicine, as well as the Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies.  Herberts card was created by an art students to highlight the various clubs there are at CUHK. At CUHK there are 80 different clubs of interest groups, residents' associations, cultural groups, debate, and departmental societies.  Herbert lives in Kowloon  九龍 , which is an urban area within Hong Kong. Kowloon has 2.1 million residents (a population density of about 43 000 people per square kilometre). It is the most populous area in Hong Kong. 

Mable's card, I think, is an ad card for a photography exhibit in Thailand, or it is a photo for a photography exhibit in Hong Kong. The photo is a black and white photo with a a boat coloured in red. The boat looks like those one sees on the rivers in SE Asia. 

Awi is a "69 year old pensioner" from Taichung. He sends a card from the Department of Information of the Hsinhai Elevated Road, found in Taipei.  The Hsinhai Elevated Road is named in honour of the 1911 Revolution, or Xinhai Revolution. This revolution ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. It ended 2132 years of imperial rule, and 276 years of the Qing Dynasty. The revolution is celebrated as Double Ten Day in Taiwan (10 October), and in the People's Republic as the Anniversary of the 1911 Revolution. 

Königstein is a town in Saxony with a population of almost 2100.  It's in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and on the banks of the River Biela. The town was first mentioned in 1379 as a settlement near the castle of  Königstein. It was named after the King of Bohemia.  During the Second World War, the castle was prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-B for Allied officers. Polish officers were imprisoned there after the Invasion of Poland in 1939. The officers were granted relative freedom and had a part of the fortress gardens at their disposal. All Polish army commanders were held there with the exception of two -  Generał dywizji Antoni Szylling and General Tadeusz Piskor. Szylling, after being freed by the Americans in 1945 decided not to return to Poland because of Soviet Russia and instead emigrated to France, then the United Kingdom, and finally to Canada in 1947. He lived on a farm at Abercorn, near Montreal. Piskor ended up emigrating to London but died in 1951.  After the fall of Fran

Weesp is a city of almost 20 000 people within the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. In fact, on 24 March 2022, Weesp will merge with Amsterdam.  Weesp's most famous product is Van Houten Chocolate. Coenraad Johannes van Houten (1801-1887) was a Dutch chemist and chocolate maker. He treated cocoa mass with alkaline salts to remove the bitter taste and make cocoa solids more water-soluble. This is known as Dutch Process Chocolate.  van Housten's father, Casparus, opened the chocolate factory in Amsterdam in 1815. The mill was powered by labourers. The factory was a boon for Weesp as the population of the town doubled in the second half of the 18th century. The Van Houten Company was sold in 1962 to W.R. Grace and Company and in 1971 the factories is Weesp closed. Since 2002, the Van Houten company is owned by Barry Callebaut, a Swiss chocolate manufacturer.  There is an urban legend that says the Van Houten company paid a condemned man to shout their slogan, "Drink Van Houten&#

Inez' card is a reproduction from  Wolf Eribruch's Nursery Calendar. It is a picture of the Tortoise (which I think looks like a frog) and the Hare from Aesop's fable racing in the Tour de France.  Inez is from Soest, a city of almost 50 000 people.  Möppken bread and pumpernickel are considered traditional specialities of Soest. The Haverland bakery in the city centre has existed since 1570. It once supplied  Möppken to the royal court of Bavaria.  Another recent speciality is Bullenauge (Bull's Eye), a mocha liqueur, as well as Zwiebel-Bier (Onion Beer) which has been brewed since 1993 at the Zwiebel Inn.  Otto Modersohn, who we learned about a few cards ago, was born here. He was the German landscape artist that lived in Fischerhude. 

Anja is from  Mühldorf am Inn, a town in Bavaria of about 17 800. It is located on the River Inn, thus the name. In English it would be  Mühldorf at the Inn, similar to Stratford Upon the Avon in England.  Her card is a photo of a traditional  Bavarian farmhouse.  Mühldorf am Inn was the site of the Battle of  Mühldorf. It was fought on 28 September 1322 between the Duchy of (Upper) Bavaria and Austria. The Bavarians were led by the German King Louis of Wittelsbach, while the Austrians were under the command of his cousin, the anti-king Frederick of Habsburg.  The battle went poorly for the Austrians. Louis had forged an alliance with John of Bohemia and Burggrave Frederick IV Of Nuremberg. He had 1800 knights and 500-600 mounted Hungarian archers. The battle saw high losses on both sides with Louis coming out on top. He was able to capture 1000 noblemen as well as Frederick and his younger brother, Henry the Friendly.  Pope XXII also contested Louis' royal title. Frederick remaine

Sydney is a university student in Cultural Heritage Conservation. She recommends the National Palace Museum, which is located in Taipei.  The National Palace Museum has 700 000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and art. The collection covers 8000 years of Chinese history. Most of the items are high quality pieces collected by China's emperors.  There are two museums - the Northern Branch, in Taipei, and the Southern Branch is Taibao. In the Northern Branch, the museum was expanded four times. In 2002 the museum underwent a major renovation, making it more spacious and modern. Permanent exhibitions of painting and calligraphy are rotated once every three months. About 3000 pieces can be displayed at one time. In the Southern Branch, the museum was completed in 2015. It is earthquake and flood resistant. It is found on 70 hectares of land, complete with a lake and Asian style garden on the grounds.  Sydney sent a World Postcard Day card, I think this was the fourth or fift

Steve from Gloucester sent a souvenir card on a recent trip to London. A couple of London's famous attractions - the red double decker busses and Big Ben.  Double deckers busses have a long history in London. The first was a horse-drawn double decker omnibuses. Double deckers are favoured in the United Kingdom because of the shorter length and larger seating capacity. They are also safer to operate through the narrow streets and tight corners common in the UK. Most of the busses are between 9.5-11.1 meters long. The red double decker buses in London have become a national symbol of England. Starting in 2007, a hybrid power double decker entered service. Many more were purchased and used in 2008. In 2015, five all-electric double deckers were added to the fleet.  Big Ben was completed in 1859 and became the largest and most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world. The tower is 96 meters tall. The official name of the tower Big Ben is on was called Clock Tower, bu

Pyramid lives in Taipei and is a self-described "Disney Child." She was brought up watching Disney cartoons and music and learned some English early on by watching them. On her bucket list is to visit all the Disneylands in the world. She has already check-marked the three Disneylands in Asia - Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. 

I love old maps and this one is a copy of one from the 17th century of Virginia. The map mistakenly shows the Pacific Ocean, along with the Atlantic Ocean, common mistakes by Europeans in the early 1600s. A copy of this map was ordered by Virginia Chase Steedman, the wife of Alexander Wilbourne Weddell, an American diplomat from Richmond, Virginia. Weddell was the American ambassador to Argentina (1933-1938) and the Ambassador to Spain (1939-1942). He was also the author or editor of four books - three on the history of Virginia through portraits and photographs, and one on an introduction to Argentina.  Karla is from Baker City. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only sitting United States Senator to be killed in military combat. He was a senator from Oregon and served as a U.S. Army colonel during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. He was killed in the Battle of Ball's Bluff while leading a Union Army regiment. Senator Baker tried to reinforce the Union tro

Strasbourg in located at the border with Germany in the Alsace region. The city itself has 285 000 people, but the metropolitan area has 500 510. It is also one of the de facto capital cities of the European Union along with Brussels, Luxembourg, and Frankfurt. Strasbourg has the European Parliament, the Eurocorps, and the European Ombudsman of the European Union.  Strasbourg is unique in that it is immersed in Franco-German culture, and acts as a cultural bridge between France and Germany. Strasbourg has also been in the middle of violent disputes between France and Germany. The University of Strasbourg, where the author of the card is attending as a doctoral fellow in psychology, is the second largest in Europe. Catholics and Protestants also co-exist in Strasbourg, as well as being the home of the largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque.  Étoile Noire de Strasbourg (Strasbourg Black Star) is the local semi-professional ice hockey team and plays in Div

This card was sent on World Postcard Day! Tokyo  東京都  is the home of the NEC Blue Rockets  NECブルーロケッツ, a men's semi-professional volleyball team that plays in the V.Premier League. The team's owner is NEC, a multinational information technology and electronics corporation. The V.League is the top-level semi-professional volleyball league for men and women. It started in 1994. There are 10 teams in the men's league, and 12 in the women's league. NEC Blue Rockets have been the men's champions four times - 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1999. The Suntory Sunbirds are the current men's champions, while the JT Marvelous are the women's champions. 

Another World Postcard Day card! Fischerhude is a village located next to the Wümme River in northern Germany. It is famous as an art colony where the artists Otto Modersohn and Clara Westhoff used to work and live.  Otto Modersohn (1865-1943) was a German landscape painter. With his second wife, Paula, led to the development of a style emphasizing simplicity and humanity. His wife's subject matter was very different than his, but he always considered her work a complement to his.  Clara Westhoff (1878-1954) was a pioneer German female sculptor and artist. She was married to poet Rainer Maria Riilke. Westhoff was burdened by being seen as the wife of Riilke. However through the efforts of Marina Sauer, her work began to stand on its own. Much of her work today is in private collections. She died in Fischerhude on 9 March 1954.  

Krefeld is a city is western Germany, near the border with Netherlands and a few kilometers from the River Rhine. It was first mentioned in 1105 under the name Krinvelde.  In 1607 Mennonites arrived from neighbouring Roman Catholic territories where they were persecuted. The rulers of Krefeld at the time, the House of Orange-Nassau, were tolerant of the Mennonites. In 1657 their congregation was officially recognized and in 1693 they were allowed to built their own church. Quaker Evangelists also received a sympathetic audience among the larger German-Mennonite congregations.  In 1683, a group of 13 Mennonite families, 12 of which were Mennonite-Quakers) left Krefeld to settle in Pennsylvania in order to enjoy the religious freedom it offered. They said on the Concord and founded the settlement of Germantown (invited by William Penn himself) and thus began the Pennsylvania Dutch ethnic identity. Germantown was later incorporated into Philadelphia. 

Johanna from Middelburg send me a neat card of the night sky over the Netherlands during the winter.  In a European winter the Winter Hexagon (Wintersechseck) is visible. It consists of six fixed stars that are parts of other constellations. Pollux, Procyon, Sirius, Rigen, Aldebaran, and Capella make up the Winter Hexagon. Also visible is the Germinids and Quadrantid meteor showers (sternschnuppen). The Big Dipper (Plough Grosser Wagen) is also visible. The Milky Way (Milchstrasse) is also visible is areas of low light pollution. 

Mogilev is Belarus' third largest city with a population of 360 000. It was first mentioned in 1267 when it was a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the Second World War the city was occupied by Wehrmacht forces in 1941 until 1944. It became the official residence of High SS and Police Leader Erich von dem Bach. After the city was liberated by the Red Army it became a site for German prisoners-of-war.  HK Mogilev was formed in 2000 and joined the Belarusian Extraleague. It has never won the league championship.  Valetin's card is from the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk. It was the first the first time it was held in an independent Belarus. There were concerns holding here as the authoritarian government were known to be human rights abusers. In the tournament, France upset Canada for the second time in their history and advanced to the quarterfinals.  Russian won the gold, with Finland taking silver, and Sweden took the bronze over the Czech Republic. 

Gomel  Го́мель  is an old city first mentioned in 1142, however it was probably founded two or three hundred years before that. Today it is a city of over half a million people and is Belarus' second largest city.  In 1986, Gomel suffered radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. It significantly worsened both the ecological situation and socio-economic crisis that had struck the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. There was a sharp decline in living standards and a gradual depopulation of Gomel that lasted until the early 2000s.  In an effort to improve the health of the population, the government of Gomel spent a great deal on developing and building sporting facilities. HK Gomel is the professional hockey team that plays in the Belarusian Extraleague, the top league in Belarussian professional hockey. The team was founded in 2000 and have been the Extraleague champions once in 2004. They have also won the Belarusian Cup four times - 2003, 2007, 2012,

Kanpur (Cawnpore) was founded in 1803 and is found on the banks of the Ganges River. At 5.1 million people, it is the 11th largest metropolitan area in India. The population density is 20 000 people per square kilometer.  It is famous for its colonial architecture, gardens, parks, and fine quality leather products which are exported mostly to the West.  It is considered one of the world's most polluted cities in the world based on particulate matter concentration. In fact, in 2018, the World Health Organization declared it the city with the worst air pollution. 

Kraljevo is a city of just under 70 000 people found on the West Morava and Ibar Rivers. The card is from  Čačak, a spa town that lies about 144 km south of Belgrade. Basketball, volleyball, and football are the most popular sports in Kraljevo.  OK Ribnica is playing the the Volleyball League of Serbia, the top-tier volleyball league in Serbia. The club was founded in 1954, and joined the newly created Volleyball League of Serbia in 2006. Vojvodina has won six titles, including the last five championships starting in 2017.  KK Sloga competes in the Basketball League of Serbia, the top tier of basketball in Serbia. They were founded in 1949. Vlade Divac, who played for the LA Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, and Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball League (United States/Canada), played here from 1983 to 1986. 

Laureen from Singapore sends a book cover card of Giorgio Abetti's book, The Sun . Abetti was an Italian solar astronomer.  Abetti was born in Padua, Italy in 1882. His father, Antonio Abetti, was also a noted astronomer. In 1921, he succeeded his father as the director of the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri until 1957. He was also a professor at the University of Florence from 1925 to 1957.  Abetti led expeditions to observe solar eclipses to Siberia in 1936 and Sudan in 1952. The Sun  was his seventh and last book on astronomy. 

Another World Postcard Day card. Tatjiana is from  Rüsselsheim am Main, found on the Main River.  Rüsselsheim am Main is a city of 66 000 people. The German car company, Opel, is located here.  Opel was founded in 1862 by Adam Opel. The company first produced sewing machines, and then expanded to bicycles in 1886. The first cars were designed in 1898, after Adam died. His widow, Sophie, and their two eldest sons entered into a partnership with Friedrich Lutzmann to design automobiles. The first car was built in early 1899. They only sold 65 cars. Opel then partnered with a French company Automobiles Darracq France. They used Opel bodies mounted on Darracq chassis, and p owered by a two-cylinder engine.  Today, the PSA Group owns Opel. 

Lelystad is a new city established in 1967. It was build on reclaimed land. Lelystad are actually five metres below sea level. It was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdijk, making the reclamation possible.  Afsluitdijk is a major dam and causeway constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from the Den Oever in North Holland to the village of Zurich in Friesland. It is 32 km long and 90 m wide, and 7.25 m above sea level. The Afsluitdijk dams off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea, and turning it into a fresh water lake of the IJsselmeer. It also serves as a sea barrier to protect the inland against flooding. The highway on top of the dyke has a 130 km/h speed limit. 

Eva sent me a beautiful card from Stralsund, a north east city in Germany. Ship building is a main industry, along with fishing, mechanical engineering, and tourism. 

Dülmen is a city of 46 700 people. It was first mentioned in 889 as Dulmenni, a property of Werden Abbey. It received town privileges  in 1311 and joined the Hanseatic League in 1470. It was a part of the Prince-Bishopric of M ünster untiil 1803. It belonged to the House of  Croÿ  for a few years until 1811, when it was taken by the French. After the defeat of Napoleon , is became a part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia. The  Dülmen oil plant was a target during World War II and 90% of the city was destroyed as a result.  Kira's card is a photo of The Pleiades. The Pleiades are a group of star and an open star cluster with hot B-type stars. The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years.It is believed there are 250 to 500 stars here. 

Sue from Germany is vacationing in Greece. She must spend summers there as she changed her address to Greece (Greek registration number). Normally Sue lives in Weil der Stadt. Sue was in Astypalaia, a Greek island of 1350 people and is a part of the Dodecanese, an archipelago of 12 major islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Astypalaia is named after Astypalaea, an ancient Greek mythological figure. She is believed to be a Phoenician princess, daughter of King Phoenix and Perimede, daughter of Oeneus and the sister of Europa. 

Eileen sent me a nice card of a book character in 1907. The book was part of a series of books. This book was entitled, The Sly Old Cat .  Singapore is a city-state located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. The territory has one main island, and 63 satellite islands and islets. There are almost 5.5 million people in Singapore. Chinese make up 76% of the population; 15% are Malay; 7.5% Indian; and 1.5 others.  Singapore's economy is regarded as free, innovative, dynamic, and business-friendly. Because of this, Singapore received a great deal of foreign investment. Location, a skilled workforce, low tax rates, advanced infrastructure, and zero-tolerance against corruption also make Singapore a darling with foreign investors. There are 7000 multinational corporations from the United States, Japan, and Europe in Singapore. And 44% of Singapore's workforce are non-Singaporean.  Urbanization in Singapore has lost 95% of its historical forests and half of the naturally occur

My first World Postcard Day card, which was celebrated on 1 October 2021. This one is from Anja from Sonsbeck.  Sonsbeck is a municipality of 8700 people. The area was settled by the Germanic Cugernii tribe. A watchtower was constructed by the Romans for protection of the road between Castra Vetera and Blerick. Adolf Althoff (1913-1998) was a circus owner, animal tamer, and performer, and a member of a 300 year old circus family. He is remembered for saving several Jews from the Holocaust. Althoff provided a family of four, the Danners, with false identity papers and had the family work for the circus under false names.  In 1995, Althoff and his wife, Maria, were named Righteous Among the Nations, an Israeli honour awarded to non-Jews for risking their lives to protect Jews. 

Družec is a small village of 1100 about 27 km west of Prague. The pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is located here and dates back to the first half of the 14th century. It was rebuilt in Baroque style in the 1690s.  Magola's postcard is a Alphone Mucha illustration of Leslie Carter, an American silent film and stage actor. She was known as "The American Sarah Bernhardt." Mucha made posters of Carter, but they are considered echoes of the posters he made for Sarah Bernhardt.  Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage actor who starred in most of the popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

I received a beautiful card of a watercolour from Hanzhou. I can't read the sender's name, nor is information about the artist included in English.  The writer is from Wenzhou  温州 , a city of 3.6 million people; 9.5 million in the metropolitan area.  In 1995 Wenzhou was given the title of "City of Chess" by China Qiyuan, the agency responsible for all board games and card games in China. Ye Rongguang, Zhu Chen, and Ding Liren are all Chinese grandmasters from Wenzhou.  Zhu Chen became a grandmaster in 1999, becoming the seventh woman to do so. Grandmaster is a title bestowed by the International Chess Federation and is the highest title a chess player can achieve. The title is held for life, but in a few instances, has been revoked for cheating. Zhu married Qatari Grandmaster Mohamad Al-Modiahki and became a Qatari citizen in 2006. She now represents Qatar at competitions. 

Wenden is a small community of just under 20 000 people, in the southernmost tip of the Sauerland, an area of low mountain ranges.  Vereinigte Sport-Vereine Wenden 1930 e.V play football in the Landesliga - the sixth, seventh, and eighth tiers of German football. 

Ludwigsburg is a city of just over 93 000 in southern Germany. It has a largest pumpkin festival in Europe. MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg is a professional basketball team that plays in the Basketball Bundesliga and the Champions League. MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg was formed in 1961 and plays in MHP Arena. They were the Basketball Bundesliga runners-up in 2019-20, and finish fourth in the Champions League in 2017-18. 

Kharkiv  Харків  is the second largest city in the Ukraine. It has a population of almost 1.5 million people. It was created by Russian settlers in 1654 as a fortress to protect the souther borders of the Tsardom of Russia. 

Paul is from Driffield which is a village of about 13 000. It was first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle where King Aidfrith of Northumbria died on 14 December 705. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Driffield is mentioned and is said to mean "dirty (manured) field." Paul mentions that he play petanque. Petanque is also called French Boules. Petanque is very similar to lawn bowls, but is played on hard dirt or gravel. 

 

Chantal is a cyclist. This card, she writes, she bought in France last weekend after spending eight days travelling 600 km on her bike. The card is a photo of the lighthouse of La Jument (Le hare de la Jument). The lighthouse of la Jument is built on a rock about 300 m from the coast of the island of Ushant. It is one of two lighthouses located the north west part of France, off the coast of Brittany. It's a area known to be rugged and dangerous, but is heavily trafficked. Severe weather during much of the year is also a hazard.  It was listed as a historic monument in 2017.  The building of la Jument was planned after the wreck of the SS Drummond Castle in 1896. Around 250 people perished in the wreck. The capital for the project was financed by a wealthy French citizen who almost died in a separate wreck. 

Deanne is from Lebanon, Oregon - a city of 15 500 people. She says the pastor at her church is a huge Vancouver Canucks supporter. Deanne's card is of Smith Rock State Park located near Lebanon. Smith Rock is considered the birthplace of modern American sport climbing, and is host to cutting-edge climbing routes. It is a popular spot for sport climbing, traditional climbing, multi-pitch climbing, and bouldering.  It is also home to some extreme running races, ranging from 6.5 km to 81 km in length.  Visitors can also camp and hike.  Howard Hesseman, best known as Dr. Johnny Fever on the American sit-com WKRP in Cincinnati, was born here.