I love this card from Paulami, It is a card a friend of hers created.  Kalkata is an Indian Megacity of 4.5 million, but 14.1 million in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. It is considered the cultural capital of India. Kalkata is the birthplace of modern Indian literary and artistic thought. It is called the "City of Furious Creative Energy." Tollywood is centred here - the home of the Bengal cinema industry.  Kalkata is known for having close-knit neighbourhoods. They once consisted of people of similar livlihoods, while others were based on caste. Today these neighbourhoods, called paras, each have their own community clubs and many having their own playing fields. 

What a great card! A painting of a Ukrainian tractor pulling a broken Russian tank. Juliana says in her card, "I believe in the victory of Ukraine!" Horodnia  Городня is a found on the banks of the Chibrizh River and is home to about 11 710 people. It was occupied by Russian forces near the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, but the Russians left on 1 April 2022.        

What a beautiful night view of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Victoria Harbour, of course, is named after Queen Victoria. The harbour itself is deep, sheltered, and in a strategic location on the South China Sea. The harbour is a big reason the area was established as a British Colony in 1841 and its development into a major trading centre. 

What a great card I received from Gabi. It is a children's drawing of Strekov Castle. It was built in 1316 as a gift to King John of Luxembourg, who was the father of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, and was meant to be a guard tower for an important trade route to Germany.  Today it is a well preserved ruined castle atop a cliff overlooking the River Elbe near Ústí nad Labem. The amazing views from the top have attracted visiting artists such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Richard Wagner, and Karel Hynek Mácha . Ludwig Richter painted  Überfahrt am Schreckenstein (Passing the Schreckenstein), one of the most famous paitings of Strekov Castle. 

 

This card is from a book entitled La Vallee des Moulins  (The Valley of the Mills) by Noelia Blanco, and illustrated by Valeria Docampo. Decampo is an Argentinian artist and it is her illustration on the front of the card. The story revolves around a seamstress and a birdman who live in a world where machines have gradually replaced people. The birdman dreams of flying away, but can't figure out how to get there. The seamstress would love to sew sea lace clothes with buttons, rather than just making alterations. Together they show the other villagers to believe in dreams and that machines cannot replaces everything. 

 

Beaverton is a city of just under 100 000 people found just outside of Portland. Duncan sent me a card from the series Bibliophila  and its a quote from Frederick Douglas.  Frederick Douglas was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He had to escape from slavery in Maryland and became a national leader of the abolitionist m ovement. He believed in dialogue to convince others that slavery was wrong and that former slaves should have rights.  He became the first African-American to be nominated for vice-president of the United States, and was the running mate for Victoria Woodhull, for the Equal Rights Party. Douglass, however, did not play an active role in the campaign.  Douglass was appointed Minister-Resident to Haiti by President Benjamin Harrison in 1889.  

Yanzhi sent me a first day cover from 2000 of a boy named Miguel Alzona of New South Wales. The title of the series is the Face of Australia. I think it must be a series of first day covers to honour the many cultures found in Australia.  Melbourne has two semi-pro hockey teams - the Melbourne Ice and the Melbourne Mustangs. Both teams play in the Australian Ice Hockey League, established in 2000 and supports eight teams (wth two more coming in 2023). The AIHL champion is awarded the Goodall Cup, the world's third oldest ice hockey trophy, first played for in 1909. The current champion are the CBR Brave (Canberra). The Newcastle Northstars have the most AIHL championships with six.  The Melbourne Ice have been in the AIHL since 2002 and have won four Goodall Cups and H. Newman Reid Trophies (awarded to the top team in the regular season). Their current roster includes one Canadian, Mac Caruana.  The Melbourn e Mustangs play in the same arena as the Ice. They were founded in 2010 an

Cari sent a card about Wisconsin cheese, but talked about living in Whistler, BC for a year and wanting to go see a Canucks game. However, she is a Minnesota Wild supporter. Sigh.... The Minnesota Wild are a National Hockey League team that started play in the 2000-01 season. Minnesota had an NHL team, the North Stars since 1967, but they relocated to Dallas in 1993. They haven't had a lot of playoff success over the years, making it to the Conference Final once (final four). 

Rose is from Spring, Texas. Spring is a part of the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Area. Spring itself has 63 000 people, but the metro area has almost seven million people! Looking through Spring's entry in Wikipedia I noticed that Simone Biles the great American gymnast was raised and lives in Spring. She has four gold medals and a bronze from Rio de Janeiro - and a silver and a bronze from Tokyo. She also has 19 World Championship gold, including 5 for the All-Around event, three silver medals, and two bronze medals.  A neat fact about Simone is she holds dual American and Belizean citizenship. Her adoptive mother is Belizean and Simone regards Belize as her second home.  Jim Parsons, Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory , graduated from Klein Oak High School in Spring. 

Yoshimi sends a great card of  Kōshibyō  孔子廟  found in Nagasaki.  Kōshibyō is the oldest Confucian school in Japan. The word means "Temple of Confucius." Confucianism was introduced from Korea during the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592-1598. It developed into an elite religion, and had a profound effect on the fabric of Japanese society during the Edo period. Confucian philosophy believes the universe could be understood through human reason, corresponding with universal reason, and thus it is up to man to create a harmonious relationship between the universe and the individual.  Confucianism also created a social system that previously had not existed. Japanese society was divided up into four social classes: samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Samurai were avid readers and teachers of Confucian thought and established many Confucian academies. Japanese Neo-Confucianism introduced elements of ethnocentrism into Japan. Chinese and Korean Neo-Confucians regarded t

Lisa says that the local football team is Hannover 96 and they play in the 2.Bundesliga. For some home games, her son gets to be a ball boy! Hannover 96 was founded in 1896 and have won two German championships and one DFB-Pokal. They played in the Bundesliga for 30 years between 1964 and 2019, but currently play in the 2.Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. In 2021-22 they finished in 11th place in the 18 team league. 

There is a lot of interesting information about Neu-Isenburg! It is a relatively new town, by German standards, founded in 1699. Exiled Huguenots, who had to flee France after the Edict of Nantes was revoked. The landlord of the area was Count Johann-Philipp von Isenburg-Offenbach and he guaranteed them safety, the free use of the French language, and religious freedom. The surrounding towns mistrusted the French settlers and called the town Dorf, which refers to peoples who speak Romance languages. By 1834, there were only 1762 inhabitants in Neu-Isenburg. It grew to 15 100 by 1939. Today it has a population of 38 000 people.  Neu-Isenburg is an attractive city for businesses because of its proximity to Frankfurt and the Frankfurt Airport. There are many hotels in the areas because of this. About 230 000 people stay in Neu-Isenburg every year.  In 1960 the Autokino Gravenbruch was opened in Neu-Isenburg. It was Europe's first drive-in cinema.

I love the photo of the red Volkswagon Bug that Jacqueline sent me. Her message on the back goes like this: Cologne/Bonn Airport is an important economic factor and at the same time one of the largest workplaces in the region. Around 15 000 people work at 130 companies and authorities who are employed at the site, more than 1700 of them directly the airport company. It is located in the south of Cologne, a city of over a million inhabitants, the  the immediate vicinity of the federal city of Bonn, the Rhein-Sieg district and the Rheinisch-Bergisch district. Around 16 million people live and work within a radius of 100 kilometers. It lies in the heart of one of the largest import and export regions in Europe. In the immediate vicinity is also the Wahner Heide nature reserve, which is one of the most valuable and species-rich nature reserves in central Europe. Environmental protection and sustainability will become more and more important for the airport in the future. Best regards, Jacq

Brno is a statutory city of 380 000 people founded just over a 1000 years.  HC Kometa Brno is Brno's entry in the Czech Extraliga and is the most successful hockey club in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1953 as an army hockey team "Red Star." It has 13 Czechoslovak and Czech league titles and three European Cup titles. Two of the 13 titles are in the Czech Extraliga - 2016-17, and 2017-18. They also won the Spengler Cup in 1955.  Two Canadians play on Kometa - Rhett Holland from Calgary, and Kevin Tansey from Hammond, Ontario. 

Ivan lives in Bílina, and small and ancient town of over 14 000 people. It was first mentioned in 993.  Bílina is known for its spas and as a source of strongly mineralized water, Bílinská kyselka. The spas began to be used in the late 1660s. Princess Eleonore of Lobkowicz had the mineral springs cleaned up for guests to use in 1702. 

Anneli sent me a beautiful card of her family tree starting in 1792 (this is all speculation). The tree starts with a picture of a man and a woman, and then there are a few names that go up the tree. The names could also be place names showing where the family moved over the years. Anneli does say she is a genealogist on her card. 

Rudolstadt hosts Germany's largest folk, roots, and world music festival, Tanz- und Folkfest (TFF Rudolstadt. It is held at multiple locations throughout Rudolstadt, including the Heidecksburg Castle. It takes place the first full week in July. 

Semarang is the largest city in the Central Java province. It has a population of almost 1.7 million residents. It is a major tourist destination and has been named as the cleanest tourist destination in Southeast Asia by the ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard for 2020-2022. In fact, Semarang has won the Adipura Award six times in a row from 2012-2017. It is an Indonesian award for achievement in cleanliness and greenery in parks, streets, markets, shop buildings, premises, schools, cleanliness of waterways and rivers.