Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Prague

Received from: Czech Republic
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

Prague is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of twentieth century Europe. Main attractions include the following: Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, the Lennon Wall, and Petřín hill. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Bremen

Received from: Germany
Category: Choose a country RR
Date: February 2012
Time of travelling: 3 days

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area (2.4 million people). Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany. Bremen is some 60 km (37 mi) south from the Weser mouth on the North Sea. With Bremerhaven right on the mouth the two comprise the state of Bremen (official name: Freie Hansestadt Bremen - Free Hanseatic City of Bremen).

Friday, February 24, 2012

Taiwan

Received from: Taiwan
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 8534 km
Time of travelling: 13 days

Taiwan's train system is excellent, with stops in all major cities. Train stations are often located in the centers of most cities and towns and serve as a convenient hub for most types of transportation. In addition, the train system allows you to bypass the highways, which can become extremely crowded on weekends and national holidays.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wrocław

Received from: Poland
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

Ostrów Tumski is the oldest part of the city of Wrocław in south-western Poland. It was formerly an island (ostrów in old Polish) between branches of the Oder River. Archaeological excavations have shown that the western part of Ostrów Tumski, between the Church of St. Martin and the Holy Cross, was the first to be inhabited. The first, wooden church (St. Martin), dating from the 9th century, was surrounded by defensive walls built on the banks of the river. The island had approximately 1,500 inhabitants at that time.

Turku

Received from: Finland
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 916 km
Time of travelling: 5 days

Turku is a city on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed to have been first settled around the end of the 13th century, making it the oldest city in Finland. It quickly became the most important city in Finland, a status it retained for hundreds of years. After Finland became part of the Russian Empire (1809), and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland was moved to Helsinki (1812), Turku continued to be the most populous city in Finland, until the end of the 1840s. Today it remains a regional capital and an important business and cultural center.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Mount Bromo

Received from: Indonesia
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

Mount Bromo (Indonesian: Gunung Bromo), is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia. At 2,329 metres (7,641 ft) it is not the highest peak of the massif, but is the most well known. The massif area is one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java, Indonesia. The volcano belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. The name of Bromo derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.

Den Helder

Received from: the Netherlands
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 1102 km
Time of travelling: 3 days

Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. The Royal TESO ferryboat service operates the transportation link between Den Helder and the nearby Dutch Wadden island of Texel to the north.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Podgorica

Received from: Montenegro
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 1096 km
Time of travelling: 10 days

Podgorica is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement. The city is close to winter ski centres in the north and seaside resorts on the Adriatic Sea. A census in 2011 put the city's population at 150,977. The Podgorica municipality contains 10.4% of Montenegro's territory and 29.9% of its population. It is the administrative centre of Montenegro and its economic, cultural and educational focus.

The Netherlands

Received from: the Netherlands
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 1067 km
Time of travelling: 8 days

Ukraine

Received from: Ukraine
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 691 km
Time of travelling: 12 days

Ivan Honchar: Romantic conversation.
[Ukrainians in local folk costume of the village of Berezotocha, Lubny District, Poltava Province]
1979. Canvas on cardboard, tempera. National Centre of Folk Culture 'Ivan Honchar Museum'.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Peterhof

Received from: Canada
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 8252 km
Time of travelling: 21 days

Peterhof, known as Petrodvorets (Петродворец) from 1944 to 1997, is a municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. The town hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University and the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, one of the leading Russian watch manufactures. A series of palaces and gardens, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great, and sometimes called the "Russian Versailles", is also situated there. The palace-ensemble along with the city center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Taiwan

Received from: Taiwan
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

The Flag of the Republic of China is red with a navy blue canton bearing a white sun with 12 triangular rays. In Chinese, the flag is commonly described as Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth to reflect its attributes.

It was first used in mainland China by the Kuomintang (KMT, the Chinese Nationalist Party) in 1917 and was made the official flag of the ROC in 1928. It was enshrined in the 6th article of the Constitution of the Republic of China when it was promulgated in 1947. Since 1949, the flag is mostly used within Taiwan where the Republic of China relocated after having lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communists.

Russia

Received from: Russia
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 1030 km
Time of travelling: 9 days

The flag of Russia is a tricolour flag of three equal horizontal fields, white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant and war ships and only became official in 1896. The flag continued to be used by the Russian Provisional Government after the Tsar was toppled in the February Revolution and was not replaced until the October Revolution which established a Bolshevik government. From that time period, a red flag charged with communist symbols was favoured over the tricolour. It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the tricolour was brought back as the official flag of the new Russian Federation. The modern era flag underwent a slight change in 1993 and has been official since 2000.

Australia

Received from: Australia
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Singapore

Received from: Singapore
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: February 2012
Distance: 9405 km
Time of travelling: 6 days

Marina Bay Sands (traditional Chinese: 濱海灣金沙; simplified Chinese: 滨海湾金沙) is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion, including cost of the prime land.

Malaga

Received from: Spain
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe. It lies on the Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun) of the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 km (62.14 mi) east of the Strait of Gibraltar and about 130 km (80.78 mi) north of Africa.

Bali

Received from: Indonesia
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island (strictly speaking, the province covers a few small neighbouring islands as well as the isle of Bali).

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Rio de Janeiro

Received from: Brazil
Category: private swap
Date: February 2012

The Theatro Municipal (Municipal Theatre) of Rio de Janeiro is located in Cinelândia (Praça Marechal Floriano) in the city center of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Built in the beginning of the twentieth century, it is one of the most beautiful and important theatres in the country. The building is designed in an eclectic style, inspired by the Paris Opéra of Charles Garnier. The outside walls are inscribed with the names of classic Eurocentric & Brazilian artists. It is located near the National Library and the National Fine Arts Museum, overlooking the spacious Cinelândia Square.