A great tourist card from Suzhou  苏州市 . Suzhou is famous for the Suzhou  Gardens.  Gardens in Suzhou have an ancient history. The first garden in Suzhou belonged to the emperor of Wu State in Spring and Autumn period (600 BCE). More than 200 gardens existed in Suzhou between the 16th and 18th centuries. Gardens in Suzhou were built according to the style of Chinese Paintings. Every view in a garden can be seen as a piece of Chinese Painting and the whole garden is a huge piece of Chinese Paintings. At present, the Humble Administrator's Garden, built in 16th, is the largest private garden in Suzhou. It belonged to by Wang Xianchen, an imperial censor.  

A great World Postcard Day '23 card from Greven. It's funny because as I am writing this it is November 2024 and I have been received WPD cards for this year in the mail, while writing about ones from a year ago.  Greven is a town of 39 000 people. In Germany, Greven is considered a medium sized town. The river Ems flows through the town. 

A great photograph of Albert Einstein sailing. And the card was sent on World Postcard Day (2023) Burlington is the largest city in Vermont with almost 45 000 people. Of the 50 states, it ranks 50 when it comes to being the largest city in the state. .  As a history nut I found this story about the War of 1812 interesting. The War of 1812 was unpopular with Vermont and the other states in New England. They all had close trading ties with the British North American Colonies (Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick). Vermont did not provide any militia unites or financial support for the war. At one point there were 5000 US soldiers stationed in Burlington. On August 2, 1813, British forces from Canada shelled Burlington. The cannonade lasted about 10 minutes and resulted in no casualties. Vermont residents supported the Federalist Party at this time which was against war with Britain.  Another interesting historical fact is Burlington is the site of the first known international hockey game.

 

The sender is a New Yorker and an actor/director (http://www.lawrencelesher.com/)  . He sent me this card while he was directing a show at Florida Southern University. Florida Southern University is home to the largest single collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world. In the photo is Lucius Pond Ordway Arts Building, built in 1950 and designed by Wright. 

Vechta is home to the Stoppelmarkt Fair , which takes place every summer. It is first mentioned in records in 1298. Many merchants from many European countries would come to Vechta and sell their wares on the streets within the fortress walls. In 1577, plague forced the fair to an open field outside the city walls. Today it attracts up to 800 000 people and is one of the biggest annual fairs in north-west Germany. 

The northern mockingbird ( Mimus polyglottos ) is the state bird of Texas. The species is known for its ability to mimic bird calls and other types of sound, including artificial and electronic noises. They have also been shown to be able to identify individual humans and treat them differently based on learned threat assessments.  The mockingbird is the state bird of five states. 

A nice Meet Up card to celebrate the 2020 new year. It looks like about 15-16 people were at this meetup.

I love this photo. It was taken by the sender and is of her husband on his favourite horse in the poppy fields in the spring on their ranch. Their ranch is near Acton, which is located in Los Angeles County.  Acton is a town of about 7600. During the term of Governor Henry T. Gage, who served as governor of California from 1899-1903, considered moving the state capital from Sacramento to Acton. The governor owned the Governor Mine in the area. In the 1880s, Acton became a ranching and farming community. 

The sender says this artwork has been exhibited at an exhibition of native/nature art. The sign on the card translates to Small fish and Cream for Kiosks  and the name of the artwork is Cats in the 70s. Janakkala is a small city of 16 000 located in southern Finland. There is a paper mill located nearby. 

I remember seeing the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign when I first visited Las Vegas and was a bit star struck. It's one of those things you see all the time in movies and on television shows. My first time in Las Vegas was for a conference on educational assessment (yes, it was as 'exciting' as it sounds). A colleague and myself were on Freemont Street when we stumbled upon filming for the television series, CSI - this was CSI 's second or third season. We didn't see much but briefly saw one of the stars of the show. We then ran into some extras dressed as police officers and had them pretend handcuff us. The one extra had a cigarette in his mouth while he pretend to handcuff my colleague.  Ted Rogich, a local Las Vegas businessman, felt a flashy sign was needed to welcome visitors to Las Vegas. Betty Willis designed the now world famous sign in 1959. The sign was erected by Western Neon on a lonely stretch of U.S. 91 where the lights of Las Vegas still

I love the history lesson the sender gives me in her message! Kankakee is a city of 25 000 people on the outskirts of Chicago.  The city caught the eye of David Letterman in 1999. Kankakee was named as America's worst place to live. Letterman donated two gazebos tot he city in the hopes it would proclaim itself as the home of the world famous twin gazebos. In 2015, the gazebos were torn down and a rocking chair was made out of the recovered lumber. The rocking chair was sent to David Letterman for his retirement.  This American Life  a weekly radio program on National Public Radio (NPR), analyzed Kankakee and its title as America's worst city. 

The sender sent a postcard that shows various amphibians and insects with their warning colourations. I think it is a part of a series. She also mentions that St. Louis is famous for its barbeque.  St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent,  Pierre Laclède Liguest , and Auguste Chouteau. They named it after King Louis IX. It becamse the regional centre of the French Illinois Country. St. Louis was transferred to the United States in 1804 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.  St. Louis is one of the 173 global cities by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.  The Gateway Arch is its most famous landmark. It was completed in 1965. It is a monument to the westward expansion of the United States - a gateway to the west. It is a part of the National Historic Landmark and located in Gateway Arch National Park. 

A cute little meet up card. Based on the ink stamps on the back, there were 8 at this meet up  in Bad Kissingen.  Florstadt is a small town of about 9000 people located about 26 km from Frankfurt am Main. 

The sender is from New York, but sent a card she bought when visiting the Vatican. It is a commemorative card celebrating the 500 anniversary of the Swiss Guard. They are an armed force and honour guard unit maintained by the Holy See that protects the pop and the Apostolic Palace within the territory of Vatican City. Pope Julius II established the unit in 1506 and is one of the oldest military unites in continuous operation. It is sometimes called the world's smallest army.  The Swiss Guard stand out in their Renaissance-era dress uniform - a tunic striped in red, dark blue, and yellow; high plumed helmet; and the traditional weapon, the halberd. The Guard also dress in functional attire with modern firearms.  The Swiss Guard is considered elite and is highly selective in its recruitment. Candidates must be unmarried Swiss Catholic males between the ages of 19 and 30, and must be a minimum of 1.74 meters talls. Candidates must also have completed basic training with the Swiss Arme

 

This card is a part of a series entitled Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India. The sender works as a chemical laboratory officer in a power plant in Kota  कोटा . Kota is the third largest city in Rajasthan with just over one million people.  This card features Makrana marble. It is a type of white marble that is popular with sculptures and architects in building decor. The Taj Mahal features Makrana marble. Makrana marble is minded in Makrana. 

Once again I have become backlogged with received cards. This card was sent just over two years ago! The sender writes she is in her garden and harvesting her pumpkins.  Berlin was allegedly founded by Albert the Bear (c1100-1170), the first Margrave of Brandenburg and, although briefly, the duke of Saxony (1138-1142). He married Sophie of Winzenburg in 1124 and they had 13 children. The oldest son, Otto, became the second Margrave of Brandenburg.