This is a typical tourist-type card that shows various places in the canton of Ticino. Locarno is located on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore and is also the capital city of the canton. There are about 16 000 people that call Locarno home. Also featured on the card are Ascona, Valle Verzasca, Lugano, Ronco's/Ascona, Bellinzona, and Morcote. 

Riddes was first mentioned in document in 1001 as Ride. It has a population of almost 2200 people. 

I never expected to receive a Hallowe’en card from Japan ! It’s a 3D card, and the sender decorated the back with a lovely orange border, Hallowe’en-themed stickers, and even matching stamps. She also has beautiful penmanship. The sender is involved in many sports and mentions karate as her favourite. Sapporo was the host city for the 1972 Winter Olympics —the first Winter Games held outside North America and Europe. I hadn’t realized that Sapporo had also beaten out Banff and Calgary in the bidding process. Calgary would later go on to host the 1988 Winter Olympics . The 1972 Sapporo Games featured 35 National Olympic Committees, with just over 1,000 athletes competing in 35 events across six sports and 10 disciplines. By comparison, the recent 2026 Winter Olympics will include around 92 committees, nearly 2,900 athletes, and 116 events in eight sports and 16 disciplines. The Soviet Union topped the medal table with 16 medals (8 gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze), followed by East Ger...

A great Postcrossing Meet Up card. It looks like about 7-8 people attended this meetup. The meetup was at the World Stamp Championship in Indonesia in 2022. World Stamp Championship? The Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) is the world federation for the study of postage stamps and postal history. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland and founded in 1926. In 2004 it ran its first World Stamp Competition in Singapore.  There are 11 FIP Commissions which deal with the following subjects: Aerophilately - air mail stamps and its history Astrophilately - stamps and postmarked envelopes that deal with spaceflight Fight Against Forgeries - philatelic fakes Maximaphily - the study and creation of maximum cards Philatelic Literature - written material related to philately, primarily about postage stamps and postal history Postal History - study of postal systems and their development Postal Stationary - stationary items, such as stamped envelopes, letter sheet, postal card, letter ca...

St. Gallen has ancient roots dating back to Saint Gallus. Gallus was an Irish missionary and hermit who established himself by the river Steinach in 612. A monastery on the site was founded in c720 by Saint Othmar. It prospered in the 9th century and became a site of pilgrimage and a centre of trade, along with one of the first monastery schools north of the Alps. By the 10th century, a settlement had grown up around the abbey.  In 926, Magyar raiders attacked the abbey and surrounded the town. Saint Wiborada reportedly saw a vision of the impending attack and warned the monks and citizens to flee. They heeded her call, but she herself remained behind and was killed by the Magyar's. She later became the first woman formally canonized by the Vatican.  The oldest football club in Switzerland and second oldest in continental Europe, FC St. Gallen, play here. They play in the Swiss Super League. They were founded in 1879. They have had relatively little success and usually finish ...

The card features Saastal, an alpine valley in Switzerland. Although Saastal has developed a major winter sports destination since the 1950s, this card shows the beauty of the area in the summer. Summer activities include glacier excursions, high-alpine hiking, and mountaineering. 

A great card of a medical heliocopter bring medical supplies and medical professionals to Chillon Castle in Veytaux. Chillon Castle is built on the island of Chillon, a small, steep-side oval limestone rock on Lake Geneva. Chillon Island has had a fortification on it since the 11th century. A restoration of the castle began in the late 1800s and became a draw tourists and romantic writers and poets from around the world. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron are some of the names who spent time at the castle. Today, it attracts about 300 000 tourists. 

Albbruck is a small municipality of 7500 located on the High Rhine, which is also the national border with Switzerland. 

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. 

The sender is a Dutch national living in  Grosshöchstetten. She sends a vintage photograph/card of  Grosshöchstetten (judging by the car) the 1920s.  Grosshöchstetten was first mentioned in 1146. Currently it has a population of about 4200 people. 

There are many places in Europe called Baden so this Baden is sometimes refered to as Baden bei  Zürich (Baden near  Zürich) , or Baden im Aargau (Baden in the Aargau). There are 19 000 people living here and the town is known for its mineral hot springs, which have been used since the Roman Empire. It is located in northern Switzerland so German is the main language, however the German is a local dialect called Alemannic Swiss-German.  FC Baden is the local football team and they play in the 1.Liga Classic, the fourth tier of the Swiss football system. They played in the Promotion League the previous year but finished second last and were regulated. The club, formally known as Fussballclub Baden, was established in 1897. They play at Esp Stadium which can hold 7000 spectators (only 1000 seated).  For women's professional sports, Baden Basket 54 plays in the SB League Women, the highest tier of women's basketball in Switzerland. 

Rheinfelden is located on the German-Swiss border in south west Germany. It has a population of about 40 000 people and located on the right bank of the Rhine.  On the card the German is translated to "I can read your mind! You really should be ashamed of yourself!" :)

Speiz is found on the shores of Lake Thun. It is an old city and was first mentioned in documents c761 as Spiets. There is also evidence of Bronze and Iron age settlements. Bronze Age graves have been found and contained bronze axes, knives, and cloak pins dating back to 1750-1500 BCE.  Today the city has a population of almost 13 000 people - 8.4% of those being foreign nationals. German is the main language. Spiez Castle is one of the main tourist attractions. It was built in 933, and re-built between the 15th and 18 centuries.   

Markdorf is a small community of 15 000 located in southern Germany, beneath the Gehrenberg Mountain. It was first mentioned in documents in 817, and was given city rights in 1250.  The card shows Markdorf on the shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee, in German). Lake Constance borders on Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Hohentengen am Hockrhein lies on the northern banks of the Rhine, overlooking Switzerland. The postcard is of Engstlenalp (mountain) and Englstleness (lake). The lake is in Switzerland near the Joch Pass and is 1850 m in elevation. 

Stefan lives in the hamlet of  Hellbühl. He mentions that my last name "Moll" is a famous name in Switzerland because of the child's book called Papa Moll . Papa Moll was first published in 1952 by Edith Oppenheim-Jonas. It is a novel about the events in the life of a father, Papa Moll, and his family, Mama Moll, Willy Moll, Fritz Moll, and Evi Moll. There is also a dachshund named Tschips. Papa Moll is a charming, clumsy, kind father and husband. Because of these traits he is always getting into adventures and troubles.  There is also a live action movie called  Papa Moll und die Entführung des fliegenden Hundes (Papa Moll and the Abduction of the Flying Dog).  Edith Oppenheim-Jonas died in 2001 at the age of 93. 

Bern is the de facto capital city of Switzerland: the Swiss call it their "federal city." There are about 144 000 people in Bern founded in the 12th century.  SC Bern, founded in 1931, plays in the National League in Switzerland. It is the top tier of professional hockey in Switzerland. It plays in PostFinance Arena, one of the largest hockey arenas in Europe with just over 17 000 seats. SC Bern averages about 16 000 per game.  SC Bern has won the National League Championship 16 times, the most recent one in 2019. The roster as of March 2020 included two Canadians - Andrew Ebbett and Christian Thomas.  Ebbett, from Vernon, British Columbia, has extensive National Hockey League and American Hockey League experience. His NHL totals include 224 games with 26 goals and 45 assists. He played with Anaheim, Chicago, Minnesota, Phoenix, Vancouver, and Pittsburgh. He also won a bronze medal playing for Canada at the Pyeongchang, South Korea Olympics in 2018. He played five season...

When I first saw the name of Châtel-Saint-Denis I thought it would be an interesting place full of historic buildings, skiers, and various tourist activities. Instead, the village of about 7000, doesn't mention any of that. There is a church, Saint-Denis, that is listed as a heritage site of national significance.  The sender of the card, Eva, is a Czech national who moved to Switzerland with her boyfriend. They have a daughter together. Eva's biography is sad as she says she regrets moving to Switzerland as the Swiss tend to be cold and uninterested in new relationships. She lost her job 2.5 years ago and can't seem to find another one, despite having two university degrees. A lack of public transit where she is makes it difficult to get out and about. It is one of the sadder biographies I've read on Postcrossing. I hope she finds what she is looking for. Her card is awesome! It's a photo of a Swiss campground from the 1960s. It's in black and white. There are ...