Lucerne is a city of 82 000 people located in central Switzerland on the shores of Lake Lucerne ( Vierwaldstättersee). It is a nexus of economics, transport, culture, and media in the region. German is the official language but a locale varient of German, Lucerne German, is mostly used.  In 1993 the  Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) caught fire. It was originally built in 1365. It is a covered bridge and was a part of Lucerne's fortifications. On 18 August 1993, the bridge caught fire. About two-thirds of its interior paintings, daiting back to the 17th century, were destroyed. Forty-seven damaged paintings were recovered, but only 30 were able to be restored.  Many of the paintings were created during the Counter-Reformation and featured scenes of the Catholic Church. An explanation of each painting was printed below each one. They also explained the life and death of St. Leger, Lucerne's patron saint. 

A photo of Fenway Park, home of the dreaded Boston Red Sox. Fenway Park opened on 20 April 1912. It has been renovated three times - 1988, 2002-2011, and 2017 - and expanded five times - 1934, 1946, 2002-2011, 2017, and 2022. It's been the home field for the Boston Red Sox since it opened. However, it has also been home to the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves) (1914-15), the Boston Bulldogs of the American Football League (1926), the Boston Redskins of the National Football League (1933-36), the Boston Shamrocks of the American Football League (1936-37), the Boston Yanks of the National Football League (1944-48), the Boston Patriots of the American Football League (1963-68), and the Boston Patriots of the North American Soccer League (1968) Fenway is famous for the Green Monster, a 11.329 m wall in the left field of the park. The scoreboard at the Green Monster is manually updated throughout the game.  Fenway Park is named for being in the Fenway-Kenmore neighbourhood in Bosto...

Yiwu  义乌  is home to the Yiwu International Trade City  义乌国际商贸城 , or the Yiwu Market. It is the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities. It is a vital node in global supply chains.  The market itself is huge and can take days to explore. There are five districts: District 1 - opened in 2002 and covers 340 000 square meters with over 8000 booths. It mainly sells toys, plush and inflatable items, jewelry, hair and flower accessories, festival and wedding crafts, porcelain, crystals, and photo frames. About 70% of the items are exported. District 2 - opened in 2004 and covers over 600 000 square meters and over 8000 booths. It specializes in bags, suitcases, unbrellas, hardware, kitchenware, electronics, auto parts, and telecommunication equipment. District 3 - opened in 2005 and covers 460 000 square meters and 8000 booths. It sells buttons, zippers, cosmetics, glasses, pens, paper, office supplies, sporting goods, and arts.  District 4 - covers 1 0...

The sender is from Bandung, which is the capital city of the province of West Java. It is the third largest city in Indonesia with 11 million people in the metropolitan area. The Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies Company was responsible for starting a city here as it surrounded by volcanic mountains that provided a natural defence system. 

This card was sent from Japan while the sender was on vacation there. She writes that she is on a solo trip. 

On the back of the card it reads:: Robert Eagle's Heart Prairie Chief in typical Cheyenne attire living in Western Oklahoma in Clinton. The majority of the Oklahoma Cheyennes are still found in this area today. This card comes from a librarian in Tulsa. She found this card at a flea market. She mentions the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was a forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of about 60 000 peoples of the "Five Civilized Tribes" and their black slaves between 1830 and 1950 by the United States Government.  Cherokee ( Aniyvwiya) , Muscogee ( Mvskoke) , Seminole, Chicksaw ( Chikashsha),  and Choctaw ( Chahta)  nations were forcibly moved to the new designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River as a result of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The relocated people suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations or shortly thereafter. 

Nantong  南通市  is located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. It is an important centre for the textile industry and important port city.  On Langshan  狼山  ("Wolf Hill") is the site of a Buddhist temple dedicated to a Song dynasty monk. The monk had legendary powers over water demons, so sailors pray to him for protection on their voyages. 

The headdress on the front is from the Malaysian Indigenous people called the Kenyah. This translates to 'upriver people.' The Kenyah were traditionally swidden agriculturalists. This means they would cut and burn an area to cultivate for crops. The downed vegetation is left to dry, usually right before the rainy season. The biomass is then burned, resulting in a nutrient rich layer of ash which increases soil fertility and temporarily eliminates weeds and pests. In a few years, the soil wouldn't be able to support crops anymore so then a new area would be cut and burned, allowing the first area to grow over again. Kenyah people lived in longhouses of small communities. Each longhouse would choose their own leader.  It is estimated there are about 100 000 Kenyah people living in Malaysia and Indonesia.  

Among the many UNESCO World Heritage List's places found in Berlin, there is the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery). It was built between 1862-1876 on the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia. There is a memorial on the outside stair to King Frederick William IV. The Alte Nationalgalerie is home to paintings and sculptures of the 19th century.

This is a detail from Hieronymus Bosch's painting Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony (c1501).  On the left panel portrays the legendary flight and the fall of St. Anthony. The centre panel exemplifies St. the temptation of St. Anthony. On the right panel it depicts the Contemplation of St. Anthony. The two figures portrayed on the postcard obtained the ability to fly by the Devil in order to partake in  Witches' Sabbaths. 

This card comes from Gifhorn, with a population of 42 000. It sounds like it is a bedroom community to the larger industrial and commercial cities of Brunswick and Wolfsburg. It is a part of the Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region.  The sender is a big football supporter and supports  Borussia Mönchengladbach. They play in the Bundesliga and finished in 10th place in the 2024-25 season. They were founded in August 1900. They are five time Bundesliga champions, two time UEFA Cup champions, and reached the European Cup final in 1977. The stadium, Borussia Park, seats almost 55 000. 

Merry Christmas from China. The sender is from Qingyuan, which is home to the Feilai Temple  飞来寺. It is a Buddhist temple located on the bank of the Bei River, It was originally built in CE 520, but because of natural disasters has been rebuilt several times. The current version was completed in June 2004.  Chan master Zhenjun  贞俊禅师  and Ling'ai  灵霭禅师  first built the temple in the first year of Period Putong in the Liang Dynasty. Bodhidharma preached dharma at the temple when he visited.  On 8 May 1997, Feilai Temple was destroyed along with eleven monks and nuns, and two workers, by floods and mudslides. The current temple began rebuilding in December of the same year. 

One of Frankfurt's monikers is "The City of the Euro" in 1998. The European Central Bank ( Europäische Zentralbank) is found in the Ostand District in Frankfurt. The bank has a balance sheet of  €7 trillion. The Seat of the European Central Bank is housed in the former  Großmarkthalle and a newly built (2014) 185 meter skyscraper. Up to 2300 European Central Bank employees can be housed here. 

A French movie poster postcard (?). I think this is from a film festival. 

Pulheim is home to Pulheimer SC - a sports club founded in 1966. There are sections for the following sports: Football Handball Baseball, Hockey Basketball Inline Hockey Volleyball Badminton Tennis Table Tennis Budo Fencing Track & Field Cycling Swimming Dancing Chess The Pulheim Gophers play in the baseball and softball section of the club and were founded in 1989.  Did you know there was a Baseball-Bundesliga (now called Deutsche Baseball Liga) in Germany? It was founded in 1984 and there are 11 teams in the top tier. Just like other sports in Europe, teams can be promoted or regulated to higher or lower leagues. Deutsche Baseball Liga is the highest tier of German baseball.  The Gophers played in the Deutsche Baseball Liga in 2009 and 2010 and finished 7th and 5th respectively. Today they play in the Baseball-Bundesliga Nord

Ratenice is a small village of about 700 people located in the Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.  The sender's card is a Christmas card for 2024.

Stuttgart has become a widely cited case study in urban climatology for its use of ventilation corridors to mitigate the effects of heat and air pollution. Owing to its location in a basin surrounded by hills, the city is prone to stagnant air masses and elevated summer temperatures. To address these challenges, municipal planners developed a detailed Climate Atlas (Klimaanalyse) beginning in the late 20th century, which maps local wind patterns, cold-air drainage flows, and areas of heat accumulation. The atlas has informed zoning regulations that preserve open spaces and prohibit construction in designated corridors, allowing cooler night-time air from surrounding forests and vineyards to flow into the urban core. These corridors also function as green belts, providing ecological and recreational benefits in addition to climate regulation. Studies in urban climatology have highlighted Stuttgart’s approach as an early example of integrating microclimatic analysis i...

Great card of a rice paddy field. Rice is such an important staple food in Asia. 

Monschau is a small resort town in western Germany. There is a historic town centre which has many half-timbered houses and narrow streets which have remained unchanged for about 300 years.  Monschau Castle is found in the southern part of town. It was first recorded in 1217 as castrum in Munjoje by the Archbishop of Engelbert I of Cologne. It was expanded in the middle of the 1300s into a fortress for the counts of  Jülich and equipped with mighty ring walls and wall walks. It was beseiged by Emperor Charles V in 1543. The eventually captured it and plundered the castle and town. It was sold to a private buyer in 1836 who ordered the roofs removed to avoid paying a building tax. It fell into ruin until the government of the Rhine province secured and repaired it. A youth hostel was opened after the First World War. The youth hostel still operates today. 

Eight kilometres from downtown Tucson is Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. It was established in 1925. It is home of the 355th Wing assigned to the Twelfth Air Force, part of Air Combat Command. However, the base is better known as the location of Air Force Materiel Command's 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, which is an aircraft boneyard for all excess military and US government aircraft and aerospace vehicles.  The 309th takes care of nearly 4000 aircraft, which makes it the largest aircraft storage and preservation facility in the world. The arid climate prevents the aircraft from corroding. The ground is so hard that they do not sink in the ground.  There are four categories of storage for aircraft at the 309th: Long Term - aircraft are kept intact in inviolate storage for future use. No parts are removed without the express permission of appropriate program office. Parts Reclamation - aircraft are kept, picked apart, and used for spare parts. Flying Hold - a...

In my biography I write down that I do not want to tell you what to send me as I like the variety of cards I receive. However, I do put at the bottom if you have a lawn bowling (bowls) card, I would love it. I have only received a handful of bowls cards over the 10+ years I've been Postcrossing, but I do have four times as many regular lane bowling cards. This is a card showing for lane bowling in Germany. I'm not sure if Kegelbahn is 'bowling' in German, or its just the name of the lanes. 

The words on the front of the card translate to: The Twilight Saga I sell dusk in the world. I collect the worl gentle to see you.

This card from Berlin features the World Clock (Weitzeituhr) at Alexander Plaza (Alexanderplatz). East Germany erected the clock in 1969 and it was named a historical and culturally significant monument by the German government in 2015.  The clock was designed by Erich John, an employee of the planning group for the transformation of Alexanderplatz. He got the idea for the clock when wreckage of the  Uraniasäule, a pre-World War II public clock, was found during the restoration of the square in 1966.  In 1997, during a necessary repair of the clock, cities who were renamed or which moved time zones were updated. Leningrad, for example was changed to Saint Petersburg. There were also 20 cities that were omitted from the original clock by the East German government for political reasons, such as Tel Aviv, Cape Town, and Seoul, were added to the clock. 

 

This card was sent from Wingate, a town of 3500. The sender is a high school student "because their teacher thought it was a good idea." He sent this card because he likes frogs.  The card is from the American Museum of Natural History - August Johann Rosel vod Rosenhof, Historia naturalis ranarum nostratium.

A New Years card from Toronto. There was a postal strike in November 2024 and this was sent after the strike was over. 

This is a reprint of the large letter state name postcard, probably around the 1930s-1940s. The sender comes from Orange, a township of 35 000 people. The name derives its name from William III of England, or William IV, Prince of Orange. 

The sender challenged me to find some information on the checkerboard flowers. which is pictured on the front of the card. Checkerboard flowers, also known as Fritillaria, is a genus of spring flowering herbaceous bulbous perennial plant in the lily family. Species come from the Middle East and Asia and were introduced to Europe in the 1500s. There are about 140 different species divided among eight subgenera. Flowers are usually solitary, nodding, and bell shaped. The bulbs have fleshy scales and resemble lilies. Today they can be found from the Mediterranean, North Africa, Eurasia, southwest Asia, and western North America. 

The card is a reproduction of an oil pastel entitled Circle Dance  by Ann Altman.  Sandy is a city of almost 100 000 people located in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. There are a couple of theories as to how Sandy got it's name: The first theory is Brigham Young named Sandy because of it's thirsty soil. The second theory is it is named for Alexander "Sandy" Kinghorn, the engineer who ran the first train line to this end of the Salt Lake Valley.  Sandy is home to Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer and the Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League. Both play in America First Field (American First Credit Union) which has seats for 20 213 soccer spectators. 

This card from Baltimore is a part of the "Women in Science" series. This card features Karen Horney (1885-1952). Karen Horney was a German psychoanalyst. She questioned some of Sigmund Freud's theories, specifically the ones about sexuality. In response to Freud's Theory of Penis Envy she founded feminist psychology. Feminist psychology centred on social structures and gender. Horney disagreed with Freud about inherent differences inthe psychology of men and women, and she traced such differences to society and culture rather than biology.  In 1932 she accepted a position at the Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis, mostly due to the rise of Nazism in Germany. After two years she relocated to Brooklyn, New York. She taught and trained psychoanalysts while working at the New School for Social Research and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.  After Horney's death, the Karen Horney Clinic opened on 6 May 1955 in New York City. It continues to research and train me...

The sender says she lives on the Detroit River and looks over Windsor, Ontario. She loves to cross into Canada and buy all-dressed potato chips and butter tarts!

A great Postcrossing Meet Up card. The meet up was at San Marcos, Texas, and it looks like there were 8-9 people that attended! The sender is from Belton, a city of 23 000 people located in east-central Texas. There is evidence of human habitation in the area that dates back to 6000 BCE. The Tonkawa are the earliest identifiable Indigenous peoples in the area. The area was also home to the Lipan Apache, Wacos, Nadaco, Kiowas, and Comanche. Most Indigenous people were pushed out of the area by the 1840s, but there were skirmishes with the Comanche until the early 1870s. 

This card was sent about 10 days before Hallowe'en 2024, but took 92 days to get to me.Postal strike? Westminster is a city of 20 000 people and a part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. It was named after William Westminster (1706-1790), who purchased 167 acres of land in 1754. It became known first as White's Level, and later the town of Winchester. It was officially named Westminster by the Maryland General Assembly in 1768 to avoid confusion with nearby Winchester, Virginia.

 

It's funny to write about a small Japanese city, but Yuzawa  湯沢市 only has 42 000 people. It is located in northern Japan, away from the mega cities of the south.  Yuzawa was home to Ono no Komachi  小町 (c825 - c900), of the Rokkasen - the six best waka poets of the early Heian period. She was renowned for her unusual beauty, and Komachi is a synoonym for feminine beautfy in Japan today.  The Rokkasen were six Japanese poets of the mid-ninth century who were named by Ki no Tsurayuki in the kana and mana prefaces to the poetry anthology Kokin wakashu (c905-914) as notable poets of the generation.  The sender has sent a card designed by Shinzi Katoh.

The sender said he found this vintage card in an old stationary store on his last visit to his hometown. This is an old sugar mill, he writes, that rules the economy of Cd. Maute. He mentioned his grandfather worked here as a maintenance chief. 

A curious photo from a photographer, but its not her photograph. I'm trying to figure out if the bite in the apple represents something... What do you think?

A great card from the series The Story of the Forbidden City . This one shows the Bronze Vats. According to the back of the card "the bronze vats have been standing beside the door of the Palace of Heavenly Purity for hundreds of years, a period of witnessing the transition of imperial power like a fleeting cloud."

This card is from Anna Freud School . It is a school for children with physical and mental disabilities. This card is from their 6a class in order to practice their English. 

A "Happy New Year 2025" card from Toyokawa - the Year of the Snake! Toyokawa  豊川市  is home to the temple of Toyokawa Inari, or  Myōgon-ji  妙厳寺 , a popular pilgrimage destination. It dates back to 1441 during the Muromachi Period. It is a  Sōtō Zen   Buddhist   temple . The temple is well known for its guardian deity Toyokawa Dakini Shinten, a goddess of fertility, rice, agriculture, industry, and worldly success. 

A nice handmade card with two autumn leaves titled "Autumn in Xi'an - 2024.11.11." The sender is from Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province. There are almost 10 million people who live here. It is also one of China's oldest cities. However, for much of history is was known as Chang'an.  Xi'an was a terminal city on the Silk Road. It is here where you will find the Terracotta Army, created in the third century BCE, commissioned by Emperor Qin Shi Huang.  Lantian Man, a subspecies of Homo Erectus, was discovered near Xi'an in 1963 and dates back almost a half a million years ago. A 6500 year old Neolithic village was also discovered in 1953 near Xi'an. It contains the remains of several well organized settlements that date back 5600 - 6700 years ago.  Xi'an was cultural and political centre of China in the 11th century BCE with the founding of the Zhou dynasty. 

The sender mentions that she and her partner went on an Ottawa to New Orleans drive, stopping in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Memphis on the way. The loosly quote William Faulkner when he said "American has 3 cities - New York, San Fransisco, and New Orleans - the rest is just Cleveland." The sender defends Cleveland by saying they enjoyed it very much there and enjoyed the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.  This is a photo from their journey of the Delta Blues Alley Cafe. Notice the barbeques in the front. 

I like the picture on the front but the postage stamps on the back cover any explanation of what it is and the artist. However, some of the stamps feature some Canadian history! Captain James Cook is featured on a 14 cent stamp. This is probably from 1979, which was the bicentenary of his death. He saw combat with the Royal Navy in the Seven Years' War at the Siege of Louisbourg (present day Cape Breton Island). He was also a cartographer and mapped much of the entrance of the St. Lawrence River during the Siege of Quebec. He mapped the coastline of Newfoundland and made important astrological observations which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. He was commissioned in 1768 as the commander of the HMS Endeavour .  He charted coastlines, islands, and features across the globe in greater detail than previously charted - Easter Island, Alaska, and South Georgia Island. He sailed up and down the west coast of what is now British Columbia, Washington, a...

The sender lives on Naru Island  奈留島  part time, while their other home is in Tokyo. Naru Island is a part of the Gotō Islands  五島列島.  Gotō Islands literally translates to "five-island archipelago." There are actually 140 islands, and five are considered the main ones: Fukue Island  福江島 Hisaka Island  久賀島 Naru Island  奈留島 Wakamatsu Island  若松島 Nakadōri Island  中通島 There are about 77 000 people that live on the  Gotō Islands. Fishing is the main economic activity. This includes oysters and sea urchins.  After World War II, on 1 April 1946, the United States Navy scuttled 24 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines off the islands. They included first, second, and third class submarines. On 3 February 1948, The Japanese destroyer Hanazuki  was sunk as target practices for the United States Navy. 

 

 

There are 14 million people in Tianjin 天津!  It is governed as one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of the State Council of China (Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing are the other three).  It is found on the coast of the Bohai Gulf in the Yellow Sea. It is a part of the Bohai Economic Rim. Needless to say it is a very important economic driver of China. 

A World Postcard Day card!. This one was sent by a high school student in Xiamen  厦门市. Xiamen is a city of 5.35 million people located in south east China. It is classified as a Large-Port Metropolis. It is also a top 40 city in the world by scientific research, according to Nature Index. 

The sender lives just outside of Boston in Malden, but bought this card while on vacation in Charleston, South Carolina.  Malden is a city of 66 000 people located on the north side of the Mystic River. It was settled by Puritans in 1640. During the American War of Independence, Malden was the first town to petition the colonial government to secede from the British Empire.  Malden is also home to Malden High School, which has the second-oldest continuous high school American football rivalry in the United States with Medford High School. Their first Thanksgiving Day Game dates back to 1889.