A great song lyric by a great Canadian singer/poet, Leonard Cohen. It comes from the song A Smokey Life  (1979). I've never seen your eyes so wide I've never seen your appetite quite this occupied Elsewhere is your feast of love I know when long ago we agreed to keep it light So let's be merry one more night It's light enough to let it go Remember when the scenery started fading And I held you until you learned to walk on air So don't look down, the ground is gone There's no one waving anyway The smoky life is practiced everywhere So set your restless heart at ease Take a lesson from these autumn leaves They waste no time waiting for the snow Don't argue now, you'll be late There is nothing to investigate It's light enough to let it go Remember when the scenery started fading And I held you until you learned to walk on air So don't look down, the ground is gone there's no one waving anyway The smoky life is practiced eve...

A creative map card of the river Saale. The sender is a nurse for the German Red Cross.  Halle is home to Halloren Chocolate Factory - the oldest chocolate factory in Germany - dating back to 1804. It is also home to the Halloren Schokoladenmuseum (Halloren Chocolate Museum). It includes exhibits about the history of chocolate, chocolate making equipment, moulds, and a view of the factory process. 

Bismark  was establish in the 12th century in an area ruled by Albert the Bear, Margrave of Brandenburg (c1100-1170). There are about 8000 people in Bismark today.  Bismark was the birthplace of Elise Lemme. Elise and her husband, Otto Hampel, protested against Nazism during World War II. They would write postcards denouncing Hitler's government and leave them in public places in Berlin. Otto was a World War I veteran. Over the course of 2 years years, they hand-wrote 287 postcards and dropping them into mailboxes or leaving them in stairwells. On the postcards they urged people to refuse to cooperate with the Nazis, to refrain from donating money, to refuse military service, and to overthrow Hitler.  The couple was arrested and denounced in the autumn of 1942. They were put on trial at the Volksgerichtshof (people's court) and convicted of Wehrkraftzersetzung (sedition) and of "preparing for high treason." They were both buillotined on 8 April 1943 at the Plötzensee...

This card was made by the sender's 12 year old son and it is titled Axolotl . They live in Magdeburg, in eastern Germany. I've noticed that a lot of the card I receive from Germany come from the former West Germany - there aren't a lot that come from the former East Germany. I'm not sure why that is.  Magdeburg is the capital city of Saxony-Anhalt and sports a population of 240 000 people. The city was established in 805 by Charlemagne. Madgeburg means big or mighty fortress.  In 1207 a fire burned down a large part of the city, including the Ottoman Cathedral. In 1631, the Catholic League sacked the city and killed about 25 000 people. This was during the Thirty Years' War. During World War II, the city was bombed by the Allies in 1945 and destroyed much of the city.  Since German reunification, man new construction projects have been implemented and many old buildings are being restored.  In 2005, Magdeburg celebrated its 1200th anniversary. 

Magdeburg is the capital city of Saxony-Anhalt. It was founded by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. He was buried in the city's cathedral after his death.  Magdeburg has been destroyed twice. In 1631 the Catholic League sacked the city resulting in the death of 25 000 non-combatants during the Thirty Years War. Magdeburg was a Protestant city as most of the citizenry turned Protestant in 1524. Once the soldiers entered Magdeburg, they set fire to single houses to smoke out people. Wind fanned the flames and 1700 of the 1900 buildings were destroyed. Soldiers went out of control after the fire died down. They had not been paid and began looting the city. When people couldn't give the soldiers anything, they began to beat, skewer, and hang people, as well as gang rape minors and commit torture. Only 20% of residents survived. The bodies were dumped into the Elbe River so as to prevent disease.  Magdeburg was also heavily bombed by British and American forces in World War II. Magdeburg ...

Christiane is from the small city of Quedlinburg, found in the Harz Mountains. She's back there after living in Berlin for 8 years studying law. She doesn't mention if she is a lawyer or not. Regardless, she moved back to her home town.  Quedlinburg has existed since the early 9th century, first mentioned in 922 as a part of a donation by King Henry the Fowler. The abbey at Corvey holds this record. The Quedlinburg castle complex was founded by King Henry I and built up by Emperor Otto I in 926, and was a imperial Pfalz (secondary seats of power). It includes a male convent in the valley, while the women's convent was located on the castle hill.  Today this area of Quedlinburg is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Sielke sent me a card she picked up in Berlin. She lives in Merseburg, which is a part of the Central German Metropolitan Area. The CGMA is centred around Halle and Leipzig. Merseburg has an interesting history of being apart of many kingdoms, countries, and regimes in a thousand years. They include: Bishopric of Merseburg (1004-1565) Electorate of Saxony (1565- 1657) Duchy of Saxe-Merseburg (1657-1738) Poland-Saxony (1738-1763) Electorate of Saxony (1763-1806) Kingdom of Saxony (1806-1815) Kingdom of Prussia (1815-1871) German Empire (1871-1918) Weimar Republic (1918-1933) Nazi Germany (1933-1945) Allied Occupied Germany (1945-1949) East Germany (1949-1990) Germany (1990 - present) Phew. That is a lot of changing allegiances!

Beate is a brand new Postcrossing with me being her ninth card sent. She lives in Helbra, which is so small, there is only one sentence about it on the Wikipedia page.  Her card translates to "Really Nice" and Sachsen-Anhalt is "Saxony-Anhalt." Its a very beautiful postcard. I'm a sucker for pictures with the sun in the background.

Hanneloire sent me a neat card that shows a cycling tour  people can do along the Elbe River. It starts in Ronney and goes all the way to Dresden. Hanneloire's town, Dessau, is the fourth stop on the tour.  Dessau is slightly larger than Medicine Hat - about 10 000 people bigger -  and has been around since the 1200s.