Sarcey is a small commune of about 980 people located northwest of Lyon. The postcard comes from the Burgundy region, home to Beaujolais wine. These wines are typically made from the Gamay grape, known for its thin skin and low tannin levels. Wine has been cultivated in this area since Roman times.

I would love to tell you about the dog skeleton pictured here, but I am having trouble finding information on it.  Beaune-la-Rolande is a commune of about 2000 people. In 1870, it was the site of a battle during the Franco-Prussian War. In this battle, French impressionist painter Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) was killed. Bazille had joined Zouave regiment in August 1870. He was second in command. At the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande, his commanding officer was killed, which necessitated Bazille to take over the unit and lead an assault on German positions. He was hit twice in the failed attack and died on the battlefield. His father travelled here to take his body back to Montpellier for burial.  Beaune-la-Rolande was also the site of a Nazi internment camp. It was a transit and deportation centre for Jews. Eighteen thousand Jews were held at Beaune-la-Rolande with most of them eventually transported to Auschwitz to be murdered.  The Polish artist Zber (1909-1942) was held ...

Bitburg is an ancient city with roots going back 2000 years. It was a stopover for traffic from Lyon through Metz and Trier to Cologne. The first time it is mentioned in documents is around 330 when Emperor Constantine the Great expanded the settlement to a road castle. It's been a part of many different rules over the years including Luxembourg, France, and Prussia.  Spangdahlem Air Base, a NATO airbase is nearby. The United States Air Force is the tenant. It is home to the 480th Fighter Squadron and the 726th Air Mobility Squadron

This card is a promotional card for tourists to visit Cotentin, which is a peninsula in north west France. This photo is from a commune from Cotentin, Fermanville.  The senders are a group of seven people who meet every Tuesday afternoon to do some activies, such as play games, go for walks, or go see a movie and to send postcards. They reside in Troyes, which is in north east central France.  There are about 62 000 people in Troyes and it dates back to Roman times, where it was known as Augustobona Tricassium. Reading about its history, a name stood out for me - Louis the Stammerer. Louis the Stammerer (Louis le B ègue) was the son of Charles the Bald (another great name), King of West Francia. Louis actually succeeded to the throne when his younger brother, Charles the Child, died. Louis reigned over West Francia from 877-879. The Archbishop of Reims, Hincmar, crowned Louis on 8 October 877. Pope John VIII crowned him a second time at Troyes in August 878 when the pope atten...

Nouzenville is a commune in north east France near the Belgian border.  This card is a  Commemorative card for the collectors' and unusual items fair at the Lac des Vieilles Forges complex. ,

A nice little Christmas card from Combs-la-Ville, a commune in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris. There are almost 23 000 people living here. 

A birthday postcard from Emma. She lives in Buzançais, located in central France. There are about 4500 people here. Buzançais is near the  parc naturel régional de la Brenne (regional nature park of Brenne). It is  1672 km 2  and was created in 1982. 

Ifs is a small town/commune in Normandy, France, near the city of Caen. There are about 12 000 people there.  The card is a scene from The Last Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris - "High in the hill-woods, huge surf breaks far from any ocean."

Montargis is a French commune of almost 15 000 people about 110 km south of Paris. The town is known to date back to ancient times. At one point it was the stronghold of the Frankish king Clovis I (466 - 511).  In the 1910s and 20s, Montangis was a hub of Chinese expatriate political activity. Deng Xiaoping   邓小平 ( 1904 - 1997) worked here producing rubber goloshes in 1922. He went on to become the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1989. He is regarded as the "Architect of Modern China." The square in front of Montargis railway station was renamed in his honour. 

Sevran is a commune, located in the north east suburbs of Paris, about 16 km from the centre of Paris. It has a population of almost 52 000 people. It is an ethnically diverse population, with over half of the resident from outside of France. Many are from sub-Saharan Africa, Algeria, and Morocco.  French rapper Kaaris, born to parents from the  Côte d'Ivoire, is from Sevran. He started rapping in 1999. Kaaris returned to  Côte d'Ivoire for a short period of time but returned to France due to political unrest. His first rap to chart was Kalash . He also dabbles in acting and has appeared in five films to date. 

A neat card about cycling in the Pyrenees, a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. The card shows all the altitudes of the mountains.  Luz-Ardiden, 1720 meters; Col de Bagargui, 1327 meters; Col D'Ispeguy, 672 meters; Port de  Balès , 1755 meters;  Col de Putmorens, 1920 meters; Col D'Aubisque, 1709 meters; Hautacam, 1509 meters; Col du Tourmalet, 2115 meters; Col de Portet, 2215 meters; Col du Somport, 1632 meters; Col du Soulor, 1474 meters; Col D'Aspin, 1489 meters; and  Col de Peyresourde, 1569 meters. 

Don Lever's 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card, #53 The sender sent me a printed copy of this old Don Lever hockey card. Lever played for my favourite team, Vancouver Canucks.  Don Lever was drafted third overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1972 National Hockey League Amateur Draft. He played parts of eight seasons with the Canucks. He was traded to the Atlanta Flames iin the 1979-80 season, with the Canucks picking up Ivan Boldirev and Darcy Rota. Atlanta moved to Calgary the following year. After 23 games with the Flames in the 1981-82 season, Lever was traded to the Colorado Rockies. It was the Rockies last year in Denver as they were moved to New Jersey the following year. He became the first captain of the New Jersey Devils. His rights were then traded to the Buffalo Sabres, where he split his time with the Sabres, and their American Hockey League affiliate, Rochester Americans.  Lever played 1020 National Hockey League games, scoring 313 times, and assisting 367 times. I...

This is a wonderful painting by Spencer Frederick Gore (1878-1914), a British painter of landscapes, music-hall scenes, and interiors. This particular painting is hanging in the New Walk Museum in Leicester.  Gore was the first president of the Camden Town Group - a group of English post-impressionist artists founded in 1911 and remained active to 1913. It was decided that there should only be 16 members and they must be men.  Gore died at the age of 35 in Richmond, Surrey.  Kleinblittersdorf is a village of about 11 000, situated on the river Saar. Across the river is Grosbliederstroff, France.

The neat thing about Montereau-Fault-Yonne is it is split in three by the rivers Yonne and Seine. Paris is located 70 km to the north-west. It has been a busy place in French history. 1359 - the King of Navarre Charles II of Navarre lost the town to the regent of France, future French King Charles V 1419 - John the Fearless, who played a key role in French national affairs in place of his cousin, King Charles VI, who was mentally ill. He was assissinated on the town's bridge on September 1419 by Tanneguy du Chastel 1420 - Philip the Good, son of John the Fearless, seized the town and held it for eight years. King Charles VII retook it after a long seige. 1567 - During the Wars of Religion, Louis de Bourbon, 1st Prince of  Condé, briefly seized the town. 1587 - residents sided with the Catholic League during the Wars of Religion. 1590 - residents accepted the legitimacy of the new French king, Henry IV. 1814 - Montereau was the site of the one of the last victories of Napoleon on 14...

Pensacola is old by North American standards. It was first settled by the Spanish in 1559 when conquistador and explorer, Tristán de Luna y Arellano , landed here with about 1500 on 11 ships. They had come from Veracruz, Mexico to establish an outpost. Later that year a hurricane decimated the outpost and killed a number of sailor and colonists, sank six ships, and ruined supplies.  Today Pensacola has a population of about 55 000 people, but are a part of the Pensacola Metropolitan Area which has about 500 000 people.  Pensacola is nicknamed The City of Five Flags  because five different governments have ruled it: Spain, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Confederate State of America. It also has the nickname of The World's Whitest Beaches  because the sand of this area of Florida is white.  Pensacola Beach, from where this card is from, is an unincorporated community on Santa Rosa Island, just south of Pensacola. It has about 2750 residents...

I remember watching the FIFA World Cup in 1986. It was Canada's first appearance at the World Cup. We were put into a tough pool with the Soviet Union, France, and Hungary. However, the Canadians played well and only lost to France 1-0; to Hungary 2-0; and to the USSR 2-0. At the tournament's end, Canada officially placed 24th out of 24 teams. Argentina went on to win the World Cup with a 3-2 win over West Germany. One of the most infamous plays was the "Hand of God." In the quarterfinals, England and Argentina, who had been at war with one another a few years back because of the Falkland Islands, had to play one another. Marado na scored the go-ahead goal in the 55th minutes off his hand. The Tunisian referee did not have a clear view of the play and thus consulted his linesman, who called it a good goal. That goal would prove to be the game winner and eliminate England from the World Cup.  Today, of course, that goal would have been disallowed because of video revie...

This card is from a Ukrainian refugee who is now living in Paris. She even mentions she has friends who have settled in my own home province of Alberta.  Her card is a painting of Pont Alexandre III, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine. It is considered the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris. In 1975, it was declared as a French monument historique.  The bridge itself was built between 1896 and 1900. It was named after Tsar Alexander III, who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. Tsar Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in 1896. It is 160 meters long, and 40 meters wide. The architects of the bridge designed it in a way as to not obscure the view of the Champs-Élysées   or the   Invalides . There are several sculptures featured prominently on the bridge.  The Fames are four gilt-bronze statues, supported on 17 meter masonry socles that provide stabilizing count...

A great touristy postcard of Cathedral of Saint Pierre and Saint Paul ( Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul ). Construction on it began in 1434 and took 457 years to complete in 1891. Even before it was finished it was listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture (1862). 

I nice little tourist postcard from Sologne. Sologne is a natural region in Centre-Val de Loire. It is about 5000 square kilometres.  The sender actually lives in Chuzelles, which is a small town or village just over 2000 people. 

The card says "Many kisses to all the family." Aussois is located in the French Alps, near the border of Italy. In fact, near Aussois is the  Fréjus Road Tunnel, which links France and Italy. The tunnel is 13 km long and started in 1974. It was completed in 1980 making it the 13th longest tunnel in the world.  There is a toll to use the tunnel. As of January 2023, it costs 51.50 Euros for a single car. If you use the tunnel a lot, you can get 50 passes for 266.70 Euros. There are also rates for motorcycles, recreation vehicles, and semi-trucks. In 2000, in order to improve safety in the tunnel, a strict 70 km/h speed limit and a safe distance of 150 m between vehicles was imposed. The tunnel has closed four times due to accidents in the tunnel, the worst being the death of two Slovak truck drivers. Their death and the resulting fire caused the tunnel to be closed to cars until 4 August 2005 (2 months).  Aussois is a popular ski resort in the winter. It is also a popular s...