2496 - Weesp, North Holland, Netherlands

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's Cocoa!" before being hanged. 

The card is a picture of Vincent van Gogh's "Das Gelbe Haus" (the Yellow House). It was painted in 1888 and the house was located in Place Lamartine, Arles, France. Van Gogh rented four rooms here in 1888. Paul Gauguin also lived here for nine weeks with van Gogh. The building was severely damaged in a bombing raid by the Allies on 25 June 1944, and had to be demolished.