Arizona state flag

If you were to read the Postcrossing forum, you would once find people there saying how very many cards they reeive from Finland.  As things developed, American cards became commonplace and at the moment they remain so - though with the Far East rapidly catching up.

Personally I seem to have far more cards arriving from Eastern Europe than anywhere else, and sadly few from the USA.  So I was pleased when this card arrived, and doubly so when I read that it came from 6 year old Benjamin and he had written it himself.  I will treasure it.

Arizona State Flag
The Arizona State Flag was adopted by the legislature in 1917.  The top half of the flag represents the original 13 colonies of the United States and the western setting sun.  The copper star in the center identifies Arizona as the largest copper producing state in the union.

Yaroslavl, Russia

This card from Russia was sent to me recently in an envelope so there is no postmark and I seem to have mislaid the cover.
Yaroslavl
Elijah the Prophet Church
Fragment: Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral
Eglise de Prophète Ilia
Détail: cathédrale de la Transfiguration du Saveur.

I've included the French version which does translate the Spaso-Preobrazhensky into something I understand.  I don't know why the English equivalent wasn't used.

The original building on the site dated back to the 13th century, but the main building now is the cathedral of St Saviour (Spassky) Monastery, dating from 1506.  In 1787 the mastery was closed and converted into a residence for the bishops.  The whole of the old city, which includes several Russian Orthodox Churches, is included on the Unesco World Heritage Site list.

Another point of interest about Yaroslavl is that Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space was born in a nearby village and went to school in the city.

Flowers in Thailand

This very lovely card shows a landscape in Northern Thailand.  Doi Hua Moe Kham is on the border with Myanmar in the Chiang Rai province.  The yellow flowers are Mexican Sunflowers which cover the hillsides in the cool season in November and December.  They are especially beautiful in the early morning mists.

Chester Cathedral

This card has never been used at all, no writing, no date, no postmark.  I think it probably dates from the 1960s.

Chester, The Cathedral from the south-east.
This magnificent church is said to have its earliest foundations in Roman times , when a church dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul traditionally stood on this site.  The relics of St. Werburgh, legend has it, were brought here in 875 but the earliest document referring to the church dates from 958.  In 1093 the foundation was changed to an Abbey of Benedictine Monks and dedicated to St. Werburgh.  It became a cathedral after the Dissolution in 1540 and was dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Art of the Postcard in Cornelius, Oregan

There is a call for Mail Art on The Art of the Postcard.  A postmaster in Cornelius, Oregon, has asked for help in celebrating "the joy of small works of art and the beauty of personal communication".  I don't have an artistic bone in my body and can't at the moment get postcards printed from my own photos, so I've sent the card pictured above.  All it says by way of a description on the reverse is "Ancien bureau de poste".  It's certainly ancient! 

PFF - 500 years of German postcards

This lovely card with the "matching" (both thematically and colour-wise) stamp, arrived recently, to my great delight.  It shows two postal workers of the from the 19th century and is one of a series that commemorates 500 years of the German postal services.

Five hundred years!  I was sure it must be a misprint.  But no, in 1490 Franz von Taxis of the Thurn and Taxis family set up a postal service on behalf of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian, to replace an ad hoc courier service already in existence.  This earlier system used horns to announce its arrival and these horns have since become the symbol of many postal services, including the German.

Deutsche Post has yellow as its primary colour, and this too is thanks to Emperor Maximilian whose imperial livery was yellow and black.  

It continues to fascinate me, the things you can learn from a postcard.

Visit Marie Reed's The French Factrice to find more people this Postcard Friday.

Musée d'Orsay on strike

I've changed my scheduled post for today to show this unused postcard of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.  Why?  Because employees in French museums and national monuments are on strike.   The Pompidou Centre, the Palace of Versailles and the Musée d'Orsay are all affected, and not only places in Paris, so too are Carcassonne and the city walls at Aigues-Mortes, as well as many other famous monuments.

The Musée d'Orsay has always been a particular favourite of mine.  It is a converted railway station, but such a splendid one.  It was there that I realised that great art wasn't something I ought to enjoy, but something that really did bring something special into my world.

So very many of the places that are mentioned as being on strike are ones I have visited and loved.  It seems such a shame that there will be people who will miss that opportunity because of being in France at the wrong time.  However, I will say that all is not lost - there are many other places well worth visiting in Paris and beyond, and many of them may even be every bit as enjoyable.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Louvre, Versailles, Mont Saint-Michel on strike alert tomorrow (gadling.com)
• Public sector jobs protest shuts French museums and galleries (guardian.co.uk)