The sender is from Bellevue, Washington , located just across Lake Washington from Seattle . This postcard comes from a recent trip she took with her husband to Jordan , Turkey , and Ireland —a journey that spans quite a range of landscapes and cultures. I’ve actually written about Cappadocia before in Post 4013. Bellevue is the fifth-largest city in Washington , with a population of nearly 152,000 people. It has grown into a major technology hub and is home to the headquarters of T-Mobile US . Many other global tech companies—including eBay , Meta Platforms , ByteDance , Oracle , Salesforce , Google , and Microsoft —also have major offices there. The city is also closely tied to the video game industry. Companies such as Valve Corporation , Bungie , Sucker Punch Productions , and The Pokémon Company International are based in or around Bellevue. Looking at this postcard, it’s interesting to connect a place known for cutting-edge technology with a journey that spans ancient landsca...

The Aviva Stadium was finished in 2010. It is the home of Irish Rugby, the Republic of Ireland National Football Team, Leinster Rugby, and Lansdowne Football Club. It was built at a cost of  € 410 million. The stadium can seat almost 52 000 for rugby, and 65 000 for concerts.  The first football match was Manchester United against a League of Ireland XI side. Manchester won 7-1 with United player Park Ji-Sung scoring the first ever goal in the Aviva. The first international football match was between Ireland and Argentina. Argentina took the game 1-0.