CUTE!!!
Without a shadow of a doubt, this has to be the cutest postcard that I have received so far. It comes from Heather, who lives in Massachusetts in the USA. It’s my first Valentine’s gift in 10 years, exactly. But before I start blurting out all the tales of my non-existent love life, I would just like to take the time to thank you, Heather, for a great postcard and I hope you get spoiled to bits this year!
Enterprising Tree
This postcard of a tree that clearly saw a gap in the market comes from Susanne, who always blesses me with these great Ralph Rutte postcards. In this postcard the tree is selling ropes with nooses at 20 Euro each and asking people the simple question: Isn’t it a terrible day today? European trees are so helpful in the economy, as opposed to ours that just stand here. Thank you Susanne! As always, I love these postcards!
Kangaroo Maxicard, Australia
My first ever maxicard came from Colin in Australia. A maxicard, short for maximum card, is a normal postcard with a stamp that is very similar to picture put on the picture side of the postcard. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about kangaroos. Kangaroos are of course endemic to Australia and even though they are not an official symbol of the country, they are used in many pop culture references to the country and are also used as symbol for well-known companies like Qantas. These beautiful animals have very few natural predators left, as most of them have gone extinct. Defensively, kangaroos would, however, give a predator a tough time. These techniques include going into water (as they are good swimmers) and drowning their predators with their front paws. Another, more disturbing defensive technique includes grabbing the predator with their front paws and disemboweling it with their hind legs. Yummy! Thank you for my first maxicard, Colin!
West Coast Beach, Denmark
This pretty postcard of a beach on the West coast of Denmark was sent to me by Rila, who is also from the country. It would appear from the way in which the plants gorw that this beach might be a windy one but then again, I don’t really know. Nor do I know exactly where this beach is, so I shall not be posting any facts. Thank you Rila!
Danaerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons
Ever since I started watching Game of Thrones, I have had one character that I just loved. That of course being Danaerys. Brook was kind enough to send me this great postcard of her and I absolutely love it. If Danaerys is the mother of dragons, then surely that would soon mean that I will get to be the stepfather of dragons. I will not be adding value to her campaign of taking over Westeros by claiming the Iron Throne but I will certainly be more than happy to give her more heirs than all the great houses of Westeros have combined. Happily obliged! Thank you Brook, I love this postcard!
Helsinki, Finland
Another postcard showing the Finnish capital, Helsinki, comes from Tuula. Since I have already posted a postcard on my blog about this great city, I will not bore you with repetition. So, do take a look at that postcard if you should be interested. But in this post I will add that Helsinki in my language, Afrikaans, sounds something along the lines of “little boy from hell.” Except that we would spell that Helseuntjie but pronounce it as Helsinki. Fun fact, hey? And no, that is not a hair.
Barn in Virginia
This postcard comes from Brook, who is from Virginia in the USA. She took this photo herself and made it into a postcard. How neat is that! Brook tells me that she loves to drive around and take pictures, especially in autumn, when the leaves are changing colour. She also says that a barn like this one is usually used to dry tobacco after harvesting. As a smoker, I am most familiar with Virginian tobacco. So, thank you Brook for showing me where my suicide sticks come from!
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
I was most pleased when I received this great postcard from Kordula from Germany. I also received an exact copy of this postcard from Nico, making it my first ever duplicate but then I got a few more duplicates after that. There are 16 states in Germany, as well as the capital city, Berlin. Germany is made up as follows:
Baden-Württemberg
Capital: Stuttgart
Population: 10.8 million
Area: 35 752 sq. km
Bavaria
Capital: Munich
Population: 12.5 million
Area: 70 552 sq. km
Berlin
Capital: Berlin
Population: 3.5 million
Area: 892 sq. km
Brandenburg
Capital: Potsdam
Population: 2.5 million
Area: 29 479 sq. km
Bremen
Capital: Bremen
Population: 655 000
Area: 419 sq. km
Hamburg
Capital: Hamburg
Population: 1.8 million
Area: 755 sq. km
Hesse
Capital: Wiesbaden
Population: 6.1 million
Area: 21 115 sq. km
Lower Saxony
Capital: Hanover
Population: 7.9 million
Area: 47 609 sq. km
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Capital: Schwerin
Population: 1.6 million
Area: 23 180 sq. km
North Rhine-Westphalia
Capital: Düsseldorf
Population: 17.8 million
Area: 34 085 sq. km
Rhineland-Palitinate
Capital: Mainz
Population: 4 million
Area: 19 853 sq. km
Saarland
Capital: Saarbrücken
Population: 1 million
Area: 2 569 sq. km
Saxony
Capital: Dresden
Population: 4.1 million
Area: 18 416 sq. km
Saxony-Anhalt
Capital: Magdeburg
Population: 2.3 million
Area: 20 446 sq. km
Schleswig-Holstein
Capital: Kiel
Population: 2.8 million
Area: 15 799 sq. km
Thuringia
Capital: Erfurt
Population: 2.2 million
Area: 16 172 sq. km
Houses of Westeros
This awesome postcard of my favourite ever series, Game of Thrones, comes from Brook from the USA. It shows the great houses that all play their part in conquering the Iron Throne. Here they are:
Stark
Words – Winter is Coming
Arryn
Words – As High as Honor
Tully
Words – Family, Duty, Honor
Greyjoy
Words – We do not Sow
Lannister
Words – Hear Me Roar
Baratheon
Words – Ours is the Fury
Tyrell
Words – Growing Strong
Martell
Words – Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken
Targaryen
Words – Fire and Blood
Like I have previously mentioned, I really do not mind being bombarded by postcards and Martin is yet again responsible for the bombardment this time. He sent me 6 postcards of Jablonec Nad Nisou, which is locally known as Jablonec, in the Czech Republic. It is the second largest municipality in the Liberec region and between 1938 and 1945, it was part of Sudetenland. The Germans, who call the town Gablonz, composed 86% of the population until 1938. The rest being Czechs and Jewish people. After German occupation, many of the anti-Nazi Germans, Jews and most of the Czechs escaped the town to move to other parts of the country. In 1949 most of the Germans were expelled, with only those that were part of the anti-Nazi struggle and Germans married to Czechs were allowed to stay. To this day a German minority of between 1000 and 2000 people remains. Meaning that between 2.5% and 5% of the town’s 40 000 inhabitants are German. Interesting to learn that Jablonec is the Gablonz I had heard so much about on WWII documentaries. Very interesting. Thank you Martin!
The Stationary Traveller 