Nature and Night views

Both nature and night views are very popular collecting themes. I suppose there could be an overlap between these two but nature at night is rather hard to see.

In fact, when it came to picking out night views for the collage, even of cities, I had to be careful which ones to choose. Some combinations were very dark indeed so large amounts of floodlighting or other artificial lights were needed.

Reflections

St Front Cathedral in Périgueux, France can trace its origins back as far as a church built on that site in the 4th and 5th centuries. In 976 the Abbey of St Front was built on the site of the church and it became a cathedral in 1669.  It was rebuilt in the mid 19th century and only the bell tower and crypts are left of the 12th century building.

The significance of St Front lies with the fact that it was and still is an important stopping point for pilgrims following the Routes of Santiago de Compostela (Chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle) through France. These routes are recognised as of World Heritage importance by UNESCO.

So, the A to Z Challenge has come to an end.  I managed to keep ahead of the schedule though I nearly lost it when I had to be away for some days.  The intention was to kick-start my blogging which had sadly lapsed.  I hope I can keep up some of the impetus.

I found trawling through the list for blogs was very time consuming. I did have difficulty commenting on a lot of them, especially having to sign in to Disqus, Wordpress, Google+, and there were quite a few who hadn't updated though I noticed a lot were weeded out.

But, all in all, it was an enjoyable experience, though I doubt I will be repeating it.

My posts, in order of appearance
A is for Amsersfoort
B is for Biarritz and also for Bertie
C is for Czech Republic
D is for Dunes
E is for Estonia
F is for the Forth Bridge
G is for Green Giant
H is for Hollywood, Houston and Honeymoon Island
I is for Irkutsk
J is for Japan
K is for Korea
L is for Reading
M is for Mulu National Park and Malaysia
N is for Nürnberg or Nuremberg
O is for Ottawa and Ontario
P is for Potelych
Q is for the Queen
R is for Riquewihr
S is for Swiss tradition and for Silvesterkläuse
T is for Tango
U is for Ulm
V is for Vintage
W is for World
X is for Xinjiang
Y is for Yin and for Yang
Z is for Zulu

H is for Hollywood, Houston and Honeymoon Island

A journey across the United States of America, from east to west.

I would think the majority of people would know both Hollywood and Houston, but Honeymoon Island?  That one was new to me.  It was apparently once known as Hog Island but the name changed when some honeymoon cabins were built on the Island.  those cabins no longer exist, but the name remains.

A is for Amersfoort

Medieval buildings have always been fascinating for me.  I can almost feel the history they contain and I imagine what life must have been like in those days long ago.  The Koppelpoort in Amersfoort is one I'd love to visit and because it's not so very far away, maybe I will one day.

Amersfoort is a very old city in the Netherlands just over 750 years old.  The Kloppelpoort is part of the second city wall built in the 14th century when the city outgrew the original city walls.

The Kloppelpoort is both a land and water gate which was opened each morning and closed each evening.  Inside the building is a huge wooden wheel, a treadmill, which had to be turned to open or close the gate. At least twelve people had to be found to walk around it, dangerous work because when the gate was lowered the wheel accelerated.  It often resulted in broken limbs or worse.

This is my first ever attempt at A-Z blogging.  After quite a long pause, I just hope I can keep up the pace. :)

Schloss Schönbrunn

Schloss Schönbrunn, at least at first glance, reminds me of the Palace of Versailles, and like Versailles it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.  It is one of the main tourist attractions in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

A former imperial summer residence, it has 1441 rooms and 45 of those are open to the public.

A funny coincidence, the card was sent to me through Postcrossing by someone called Eva and when I was 14 I stayed with a girl named Eva in Vienna on an exchange arranged by my school.

Scarlet Sails

The Scarlet Sails is more than just a sailing ship with red sails.  After the end of World War II, a tradition started up to celebrate the end of the school year.  It was based on the adventure story written by Alexander Grin in 1922.  The tradition has become a huge public event with fireworks and music ... and a ship with scarlet sails.  The entertainment is all free, provided by the city of St Petersburg in Russia.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

World Book Day

With perfect timing, this card arrived from the Netherlands today, World Book Day.  Before everyone starts shouting at me, I know that most of the world celebrates World Book Day on 23 April, but in the UK and Ireland we celebrate on the first Thursday in March, that is today.  The reason for this is to avoid the school holidays.

The image is an untitled work by Teun Hocks.

Seeing in the New Year

Fireworks in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.  They may or may not be for the New Year but they are at least appropriate.

Hong Kong from the Peak

The Peak is Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island.  In the evening you can see what is considered to be one of the great night views in the world.

Bourges Cathedral

The cathedral in Bourges, in central France, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Read more here about the city as a whole.

The Royal Palace of Olite

The Palace of the Kings of Navarre at Olite.  Navarre is an autonomous community in Spain, bordering France and next to the Basque country.  The north of the area is primarily Basque speaking and the south is mainly Spanish speaking.

The old part of the palace is now a Parador, a type of hotel almost always in a historic building.

Star gazing

From a Russian series of cards, "Cats", this one called "At the Edge of the Earth".  I love cats and someone in Russia knew that. :)

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog The Best Hearts are Crunchy.  Just click on the button to visit and join in.

Temple Street Market, Hong Kong

Temple Street Market is one of the most famous markets in Hong Kong.  It's open from 4:00 pm until midnight but really it comes alive after dark when the lights turn it into a magical place.  The whole of the street is filled with market stalls on the pavements in front of the shops.

Hong Kong

As a complete contrast to my previous card from the wide open spaces of Africa, here is Hong Kong, exactly as I imagine it.

But there is so much more to Hong Kong, so much that I couldn't attempt to tell a fraction of it here.  I'll leave you with a trivial piece of information that interested me:

The name Hong Kong is an Anglicised attempt to pronounce the Chinese name which means Fragrant Harbour, possibly because of the fresh water delivered by the Pearl River, or possibly because of the incense that was stored around the harbour before export.

There is a novel, "Fragrant Harbour" by John Lanchester which covers the period just before Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1999.

Modern Melbourne

From the top:
The Docklands
Yarra River
Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex.

The waterfront looks stunning.  I can't help imagining Australia as full of wide open spaces with kangaroos and long straight roads stretching away in the distance, so it's good to receive a postcard such as this one as a reminder not to hang on to preconceived ideas and stereotypes.

Lantern Festival

In the district of Pingxi, or Pinghsi, in northern Taiwan, they hold a Festival of Lanterns each year, 15 days after the Lunar New Year.  People write their hopes, dreams, and wishes on sky lanterns, light a flame inside, and let the lantern rise up to the heavens.   The lanterns aren't small - about 60 cm across by 120 high (2 feet by 4 feet).

Everyone releases their lanterns at much the same time and the skies become full with hundreds of lights.  According to the sender of this card, "it becomes a painting as in Van Gogh's Starry Night".

I hope you see all your wishes and dreams come true this year.

Click on the button to visit Jocelyn's cuckootree to take part in Our Wonderful World Tuesday.  If you join in this week, you could win a lovely postcard.

Paris by night

I think this must be one of the best postcards I've seen of Paris at night.  It's a magical sight to go along the Seine when everything is lit up whether you're on foot or in a Bateau Mouche.  It looks beautiful on a bight day too, of course, but there's something special about the night time.  People often, very often, think of a view of the Eiffel Tower as a typical postcard from Paris or France, and it must be one of the most requested, but my preference would be this one any day.

Snow in Moscow

To get into the seasonal spirit, I've decided on a series of snowy postcards.  I apologise to all you people in warmer countries but in the same way that I associate windmills with the Netherlands, I associate Christmas with snow.  I don't believe I've ever experienced a white Christmas and I'm not sure that I want to, but I do enjoy snowy postcards.

This one shows the Red Square in Moscow at night, under a covering of snow.  The red stars on top of the Kremlin towers aren't Christmas decorations, as I fondly imagined.  I've see them in other pictures.  Nevertheless, it looks very magical and Christmas-like to me.

Marseille - La Canebière

The Canebiére is the road running from Marseille's Old Port.  It was once a relatively narrow road at about 8 metres but in 1859 the city decided to knock down the mansions between it and the road once called the "rue des Nobles" to provide the wide 30 metres they wanted.

The first card dates, I think, from the 1950s or 60s and the second is dated 1983.   In the first you can clearly see the trams.  The first trams were horse drawn and ran from 1876. Then they became electrified but by 1955, the Canebière was tramway-free.  A new tram network has been built in Marseille and since 2007, trams are once again running along la Canebière.


I would have loved to have found a card showing one of the new trams on the same stretch of road, but I have searched high and low, with no luck.

Old cars at Lago di Garda

At first I thought this card could be a reproduction because it's in such good condition but the postmark appears to be 1959.  After some time trying to decipher that, I saw that the message on the back is clearly dated 10 September 1959.

It doesn't show a great deal of Lake Garda the largest lake in Italy, it doesn't show it at all, or of the lovely old town of Sirmione, but the old cars in the square are beautiful I think.