Scranton is a city of 77 000 people, and is a part of the Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazleton Metropolitan Area, which has 563 000 people.  The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are the minor league affiliate of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. They play in the American Hockey League, the second tier of professional hockey in North America. The Penguins are the franchise's fourth located. They were formed in 1981 as the Fredericton Express, moved to Halifax in 1988 to become the Citadels, left for Cornwall, Ontario to become the Aces in 1993, and were moved to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the 1999 season. The Penguins have been tot he Calder Cup finals three times, but have come up short all three times. 

A great card of a self portrait of George Baselitz (1952). Baselitz is a German painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He lives with his wife in Salzburg, Austria. The sender is from Fukuoka, the sixth largest city in Japan with 1.6 million people (2.6 million in the metropolitan area). It has been a centre of international trade since ancient times. 

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from northern Norway to the Black Sea - 10 countries and 2820 km. This chain was established by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve between 1816 - 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the Earth.  In 2005, the chain was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Molières-sur-Cèze is a commune (similar to a township or incorporated community in Canada) in the south of France. It has about 1600 people. 

New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India. Although it only has a population of 250 000 people, it is a part of the National Capital Region metropolis with almost 29 million people.  This card is a Postcrossing Meetup card from 1 October and a World Postcard Day card. There were only 7 signatures and ink stamps on the back. I hope they had a great time!

This card is an ad for a Japanese television series based on the life of Shizo Kanakuri  金栗 四三. He was a Japanese marathon runner and is considered the father of marathon in Japan.  Kanakuri qualified to attend the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Japan only sent two athletes and they had to pay for their own travel expenses. It took Kanakuri 18 days to get to Stockholm. He took a ship to Russia and then traveled on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He needed five days to recover from the journey. The day of the marathon, the temperature was  25°C. Kanakuri was weakened by the journey to Sweden, had problems with the midnight sun, and had troubles with the local food. His coach, Hyozo Omori, was bedridden due to tuberculosis during his stay in Sweden. Halfway through the race, Kanakuri pulled out and was taken care of by a local family. Embarrassed, Kanakuri returned back to Japan without notifying race officials. Rumours that he disappeared swirled in Sweden.  Kanakuri was selected for the 1916 Oly

Ventura (officially San Buevaventura) is a city of 111 000 people just north of Los Angeles. It is a popular tourist destination. Businesses that cater to tourists and hospitality make up a big portion of Ventura's economic activity. 

San Mateo is a city about 32 km south of San Fransisco. There are 106 000 people that live here. Its economy is driven by technology, health care, and education.  The card is a photo of the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve in Palo Alto. The Monte Bello Open Space Preserve is found near Palo Alto in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The preserve has over 25 km of hiking trails and mountain biking trails.  When the land was acquire to create a preserve there was a commune of about 100 people - called "The Land" who had to be evicted. The Land had a variety of dwellings on platforms scattered in the forests and canyons. There was a large ranch building that was used as a central dining hall, a woodworking shop, a stained-glass workshop, and a food store selling bulk items. The Land grew their own food, engaged is artistic pursuits, and gathered for holiday dinners and celebrations. 

New York City is the largest city by population in the United States with 8.8 million people. It also holds the most densely populated city with 11 313.81/square km. It is also the centre of the Northeast Megalopolis with 52.3 million people.  New York has one of the largest natural harbours in the world. There are five boroughs that make up New York City - Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.  Tourism is a major part of the economy of New York with 66.6 million tourists visiting in 2019. Times Square is one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections and the heart of the Broadway Theatre District. Three of the world's ten most visited tourist attractions are in New York City. 

 

 

The writers say they had this card for decades and decided to share it with me. They had travelled to Michigan in the summer and visited Detroit. 

Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It is located 19 km west of Colorado Springs. The town of Manitou Springs lies at its base. Pikes Peak is named after Zebulon Pike.  

Redmond is a city of 74 000 found just outside of Seattle. Elon Musk opened a SpaceX facility in Redmond, as well as Hyperloop Genesis. Both facilities are research and development and the manufacturing for a proposed internet communications satellite constellation and new transport system. Hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportation system for both public and goods transport. The hyperloop would comprise of three essential elements: tubes, pods, and terminals. The tube is a large, sealed, and low pressure system. The pod is a coach pressurized at atmospheric pressure that runs substantially free of air resistance or friction inside the tube. Magnetic propulsion would propel the pod. The terminal would handle pod arrivals and departures.  Companies and organizations have collaborated to develop the technology. The Technical University of Munich Hyperloop set the speed record of 463 km/h on July 2019 at a pod design competition hosted by SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. Virgin Hyp

 

 

 

 

 

Blekendorf is a small town of 1700. The card is from Hohwacht. It is a seaside health resort and tourism is a big part of the economy. 

Guangzhou  广州市  is a city with over 2200 years of history and has population of 18.7 million people, and 66 million people in its metropolitan area. Its located on the Pearl River about 120 km north-west of Hong Kong. It is a major port and transportation hub.  The Guangdong Leopards are in the Chinese Baseball League and play in the 1000 seat Tianhe Sports Centre. They were formed in 2002 and won their first league title in 2010, defeating the Beijing Tigers 2-0.  The Chinese Baseball League  中国棒球联赛 was founded in 2002 and ceased operations in 2018 after the establishment of the China National Baseball League. There are two divisions: Division 1 - Beijing Tigers, Guangdong Leopards, Jiangsu Huge Horses, Shanghai Golden Eagles, Sichuan Dragons, and the Tianjin Lions. Division 2 - China Society Baseball Club, Henan Elephants, People's Liberation Army Baseball Club, Shandong Institute of Commerce and Technology Baseball Club.  Tianjin have dominated the league winning 6 championships

Bornheim is a city of 50 000 found on the west bank of the Rhine, with Bonn 10 km to the north-west, and Cologne 20 km to the south. Bornheim has a strong agricultural industry and is famous for white asparagus. 

Bondorf is a small community of 6100 people located in south west Germany. 

This card is from the First Nanxlin Water Culture and Art Exhibition. A beautiful card! Shanghai has an amazing array of fine arts. The Songjiang School  淞江派  was founded by Gu Zhengyi, a famed painted during the Ming Dynasty. During the Republic of China era, many famous Chinese artists settled in Shanghai and it became the art centre of China. Artists such as Zhang Daqian, Liu Haisu, Xu Beihong, Feng Zikai, and Yan Wenliang created many different art styles with photography, wood carving, sculpture, comics, and Lianhuanhau.  In Shanghai today the China Art Museum is China's most comprehensive art and cultural facility.  

Villingen-Schwenningen is a city of almost 90 000 people. They were two seperate cities, but in 1972, they were merged along with some other villages to form the new city of Villingen-Schwenningen. However, both of Villigen and Schwenningen remain separated by a plateau.  The Schwenninger Wild Wings play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). They were formed in 1904 and currently play in the 6200 seat Helios Arena. Marcel Goc, Dennis Seidenberg, and Yannic Seidenberg are the three most famous players to play for the Wild Wings. All three went on to play in the National Hockey League in North America.  Their current roster includes four Canadians: Brandon DeFazio (Oakville, Ontario), John Ramage (Mississauga, Ontario), and Tylor and Tyson Spink (Williamstown, Ontario).  DeFazio has played two NHL games, both with the Vancouver Canucks. He played with a variety of American Hockey League teams, the second tier of professional hockey in North America. He also played in China for HC Kunlun

Bigfork is a small town of 5100 people located where the Flathead River and Swan River flow into the Flathead Lake. Tourists come to Bigfork to golf, hike, and play water sports. There is an active fine arts community in Bigfork as well. The Bigfork Independent Film Festival is held in the autumn and features Montana made films and Montana filmmakers are recognized.  The photo is an Ansel Adams photograph from 1968 and is called Half Dome and Clouds, Yosemite National Park.  Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in California. The one side is a sheer face, and the other three sides are smooth and round. Thousands of hikers a year ascend to the peak using a 13.7 km trail from the valley floor. It's not an easy hike and includes several hundred feet of granite stairs. There are also a dozen rock climbing routes to the top as well.  Interestingly, Ansel Adams, the photographer, had his ashes scattered on Half Dome. 

When I registered this card, the account was closed. The sender is a geography teacher but doesn't say where from.  He did send a great card from the  Musée  Picasso in Paris. 

Cottbus is a city in eastern Germany of just under 100 000 people. Cottbus is home to Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU). BTU has more than 7000 students, and about one-third of those are international students from more than 100 nations. There are six faculties at BTU: Faculty 1: Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology; Faculty 2: Environment and Natural Sciences; Faculty 3: Mechanical Engineerings, Electrical and Energy Systems; Faculty 4: Social Work, Health Care, and Music; Faculty 5: Business, Law, and Social Sciences; and Faculty 6: Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Urban Planning. Cottbus is also home to FC Energie Cottbus, who play in the Regionaliga Nordost, the 4th tier of German football. Teams are from the former East German states and West Berlin. FC Energie Cottbus played three seasons in the Bundesliga starting in 2000. 

Rüsselsheim am Main is a city of 66 000 people. It is located on the Main River, thus the name  Rüsselsheim on the Main.  Rüsselsheim am Main is home to  Rüsselsheim Ruder-Klub 08 (RRK 08), a sports club that started as a rowing club, but the main sport has been (field) hockey since the late 1960s. Tennis is another sport offered at the club. Fifteen members of the club are Olympic medallists in field hockey.

A nice card for a Postcrossing meetup in Bielefeld - the 12th annual one! The German Football Museum is found in Dortmund. It was established after the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The German Football Association financed the establishment of a national German football museum. It finally opened in October 2015.  A German Football Hall of Fame opened at the museum in April 2019, and eleven players and one coach were selected to be the first members. 

A great infographic card about Guangxi Province  广西 . Nanning is the capital city and it has a population of 5.01 million people. The city of Guilin is a major tourist attraction. Guilin is found on the Li Jiang among karst peaks. Guilin is also the former capital of Guangxi and Jingjiang Princes' City.  South of Guilin is Yangshuo and it is a popular destination for foreign tourists.  On the China-Vietnam border is Ban Gioc-Detian Falls, two waterfalls of the  Quây Sơn River. It straddles the international border.

A great football card from the send. Football, of course, is the most popular sport in Germany. The men have won the FIFA World Cup four times, and the women twice. Germany always seems to be a favourite to take the title every tournament.  Bergkamen is a town of about 50 000 people. It is a new town, founded in 1966, when five smaller communities were merged into one.  The local football team is TuRa Bergkamen. They started out in the Amateurliga Westfalen from 1948-62. Today they play in the Kreisliga A (IX) (lowest division of German football). 

The sender is a big fan of Ghibli. Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo. Its mascot is a character named Totoro. It is a giant spirit inspired by raccoon dogs and cats. The studio's highest grossing animated films are Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), and Ponyo (2008).

The San Diego Zoo receives more than 4 million people annually, and is the most visited American zoo. It was a pioneer is the concept of open-air, cage-less exhibits that recreate natural animal habitats. The zoo sits on 40 hectares of Balboa Park.  The video below is the oldest surviving YouTube video that you can still access. It was put on in 2005.

The card is from The Postal Museum in London. The sender had recently visited London.  The Postal Museum began in 2004. It operates three sites - Phoenix Place, London; Mount Pleasant Sorting Office, Clerkenwell; and The Museum of the Post Office in the Community, Shropshire.  The sender had a couple of interesting facts. Of course the first postage stamp was from Great Britain. It has a bust of Queen Victoria on it. The second fact is that Great Britain is the only country that doesn't put their name on the stamp, only and outline of the reigning monarch.

This photo is the peak of  Teufelstättkopf, which is 1758 meters, and is found in the German state of Bavaria. 

Büsum is a fishing and tourist town in northern Germany. It was first mentioned in documents in 1140. During medieval times,  Büsum was an island with three villages -  Süderdorp, Middeldorp, and Norddorp. Floods in 1362, 1436, and 1570 drowned most of the island and destroyed  Süderdorp and Middeldorp. Norddorp forms the old core of  Büsum. In 1585 the island was connected to the mainlain with the building of a dam. Sediment that was deposited by the sea created new land, which was then further secured with dikes. Flooding was still a problem. In 1634, a flood killed 168 people in  Büsum. In 1717, a village near  Büsum sank completing due to flooding. The last devastating flood was in 1825. Improved dikes have been able to protect the town from storm tides. The Kriegsmarine (Germany navy between 1935-45) used  Büsum as a base. Because of that,  Büsum was bombed several times - the last being on the same day German troops surrendered in northern Germany. In that air raid, nine people w

Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia and one of the fastest growing cities in Asia.  Great Kuala Lumpur (metropolitan area) has 7.564 million people.  Kuala Lumpur is where hashing began. It originated in December 1938 but a group of British immigrants you began meeting to run. It was fashioned after the traditional British paper chase. One runner (the hare)runs ahead and drops shredded paper along the way to make a trail. The other runners (the hounds) follow the trail to try to catch the first runner. At the end of the trail they would partake in beer and cigarettes.  Following the Second World War, the hashers became more formalized and created a constitution. The objectives would be: to promote physical fitness among the members to get rid of weekend hangovers to acquire good thirst and satisfy it in beer to persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel. Today there are over 1500 chapters of hashers, called Kennels. 

The Cabrillo National Monument is located at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego. It commemorates the landing of Juan  Rodríguez  Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on 28 September 1542. It is the first know arrival of a European to set foot on the west coast of the United States. It is a California Historical Landmark (1932) and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Juan  Rodríguez Cabrillo is a Portugese explorer best known for his explorations of the west coast of North America. He was the first European to explore what is know California in 1542-43. He died on Santa Catalina Island on gangrene on 3 January 1543 and buried on the island. 

Everett is a city of 111 000 people found north of Seattle. Boeing built an aircraft assembly plant here in 1967. Boeing's presence brought more industrial and commercial development to Everett. Boeing and the US Navy (Naval Station Everett, est. 1994) are the two largest employers of the city. Everett has also become a bedroom community for Seattle as it is connected by Interstate 5, the Sounder commuter train, Amtrak, and commuter buses.  The Seattle Mariners have played at T-Mobile Park since it opened in 1999. It has a seating capacity of almost 48 000 people. The first game saw the Mariners lost 3-2 to the San Diego Padres. T-Mobile was named Safeco Field until 2018. T-Mobile paid $87.5 million for the naming rights for 25 years.  T-Mobile does have a retractable roof, but it is more like an umbrella for the playing field and the stands. Because of Seattle's mild climate, the park does not need to be heated or cooled. Seattle remains the only Major League Baseball team not

Mantel is a town of 2700 people and is best known for its nature preserve, Naturwaldreservat Gscheibte Loh, and its castle, Schloss. The town was first mentioned in official documents in 1212. I think this card is a photo of a character from the HBO show Game of Thrones, but the card doesn't say whether it is or not. It does mention a copyright from HBO. I've also never watched Game of Thrones  so I wouldn't know. 

This is a photo of the Twin Pagoda Temple  双塔寺  found in Taiyuan. The two pagodas date back to the Ming Dynasty. The east pagoda was build in 1597, while the west one was built until 1612. A high ranking monk named Fodeng  佛灯  was in charge of the construction.  Deterioration of the pagodas has resulted in a slant of the east pagoda of almost 3 meters from its centre of gravity. By removing earth underneath the pagoda successfully corrected this slant.  The pagodas are eight cornered. The west pagoda is 54.78 meters tall, and the east one is 53.3 meters. 

Kleve is an ancient town found on the border of the Netherlands. Kleve is where one will find Schwanenburg Castle (Swan Castle). It was first mentioned in 1020. The Swan Tower collapsed in 1439. The Dukes of Cleves resided in the castle.  During the Second World War, Kleve was the site of one of the two radio wave stations. Luftwaffe bombers used radio beams from Kleve and a second station at Stolberg to navigate to British targets. Kleve was heavily bombed during the war and over 90% of the buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. As such there is very little of the pre-1945 city left. 

A great meetup card with a World Postcard Day logo on it. It looks like there were only seven folks at this meetup.  Kajaani is found southeast of Lake Oulu and has a population of 37 000.  Kajaanin Hokki is the local hockey team. They were founded in 1968. They play in the Mestis (championship series), the second highest men's hockey league in Finland. Hokki has never won the Mestis title, but were runner-ups twice.  Hokki has a cooperation agreement with  Kärpät , who play in the SM-Liga (top tier of men's hockey). Some of  Kärpät 's younger players play with Hokki to gain experience playing with men in Mestis. Hokki also as a cooperation agreement with Kainuu Brigade. This cooperation makes it possible for young players to do their mandatory military service while training and playing competitive hockey.  Kainuu Brigade is a Finnish Army unit situated in Kajaani. It trains 4000 conscripts annually. The brigade trains for combat in heavy snow and poor road infrastructure.

A great card from the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming.  William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was born in 1948 in Iowa Territory. Soon after he was born the family moved back to Cody's father's hometown in Toronto Township, Upper Canada (Mississauga , Ontario today). Cody's father was anti-slavery so when they moved back to the United States, he would speak out against it. This led to death threats.  Eleven year old Bill had to take a job as a "boy extra" with a freight carrier after his father died. At 14 he decided to travel to California to mine for gold. On the way, though, he joined up with the Pony Express. Cody joined the Union Army during the American Civil War and worked as a teamster with Company H, 7th Kansas Cavalry. He was discharged soon after the war's end. He re-joined the army in 1868 as a dispatch rider, and then as the Chief of Scouts for the 5th Cavalry Regiment and 3rd Cavalry.  He won the Medal of Honor in 1872 during the I

An official World Postcard Day card from Tennessee. Tullahoma has a population of just over 20 000. We know what metropolis areas are. Ever heard of a micropolitan area? Tullahoma is the principal city in the Tullahoma Micropolitan Area. Coffee, Franklin, and Moore Counties are a part of it and it is the second largest micropolitan area in Tennessee.