Northern Europe

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is visiting the cities of Northern Europe

St Petersburg and The Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great). The statue is mounted on the massive Thunder Stone originally weighing 1500 tonnes which was carved down during transportation to its current size of 1,250 tonnes.  Noticing the woman in white I discovered that Alexander Gardens is a popular place for wedding photos.  Lots of background interest for the photographer including the red lighthouse just making it onto the postcard. This is one of a pair on the Neva River that once guided ships into the port, the bowl on the top was filled with oil and lit. Today they are supplied with gas and only lit on special occasions. Technically they are called rostral columns and decorated with nautical images and have statues at the bottom. Russia Beyond shows them in all their glory.

 The main square in Krakow, the text translates as Old Town Market Square. The Cloth Hall is a renaissance era market hall. The gothic church is St Mary's Basilica.

Ceramics

 

|1961: Pottery of the Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty (618-907) low temperature glazed pottery called Sancai meaning three colours, usually brown (or amber), green and off white. Easier to make than porcelain they were used as tomb figures for the journey to the afterlife. Many are camels with their bushy bearded Central Asian riders

but horses were the most popular

1981: Ceramics from Cizhou Kilns

Cizhou ware is named after one of its main centers of production in Northern China. Generally sturdy large objects, very popular and especially associated with the late Tang and Early Ming Dynasty (11th to 14th Century). 4f - Vase with two tigers (Song Dynasty) and 8f - Carved black glazed vase (Jin Dynasty)

8f - Amphora with apricot blossoms (modern) and 7f - Jar with two phoenix (Yuan Dynasty)

10f - Flat flax with dragon and phoenix (Yuan dynasty) and 60f - Vessel with tiger shaped handles (modern)

1976: Europa -Handicrafts

Changing continents to scenes of daily life in 18th Century Germany originally made by the Ludwigsburg Porcelain company. A girl selling trinkets and copperplate prints

Boy selling copperplate prints

 

Sunday Stamps A-Z - for China, Camel and Copperplate - C at  See It On A Postcard 

South

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Cities in Southern Europe

Night falls in Toledo which is surrounded on three sides by the Tagus River. The Alcazar fortification dominates the highest part of the city, always a useful location if under siege, as has happened in past.  The cathedral occupies the other high point.

Arezzo in Tuscany described a destination for "culture without the crowds". The view is of the arcades of Via Roma, a covered shopping street. A  welcome cafe-bar beckons in the distance to rest those tired tourist feet. 

Berlin

 

1988: European City of Culture

Welcome to Berlin. Lets take an armchair walk, distance will be no problem,

1978: Berlin Views (2nd series)

to  the Belvedere Castle in Charlottenburg Palace Gardens, originally used as a summer house/tea-house and observation tower. Today it houses the world's largest collection of porcelain. On to the medieval, much altered, village church at Lichtenrade right next to Berlin's largest village pond.

The 10 Kilometre Landwehr Canal which "cuts through the heart of Berlin like a green ribbon". A popular area to relax. This January it froze over so skating was an added leisure opportunity.

1978: Woodland Flowers

The flowers of Solomon's seal, primrose, hellebore and bugle to be seen in the western part of Berlin in the Grunewald Forest. A big green space (3000 hectares) where it is easy to forget you are in a metropolis of millions.

Sunday Stamps A-Z here for B for Berlin, Belvedere and bugle - See It On A Postcard

Old and New Cities

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is visiting the cities of Asia

AI tells me this is Qiwang Hall in Jingshan Park a scenic area near the Forbidden city. It sits at the bottom of Jingshan Hill (also called Longevity Hill), the highest part of Beijing and from where one can have extensive views of the Forbidden City. Sent, as can be seen, on the 7th December 1908 to Belgium (via Siberia) arriving on the 26th December in Brussels with its Happy Christmas message.

I've used this view of Singapore before when we doing aerial views but needs must, I couldn't find anything else.

Light Dazzles

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt looking for light, or bright, colours

Venice, the Bridge of Sighs - exhibited 1840

JMW Turner working his magic with water, sky and light in a dreamlike view of Venice. A place he visited three times.

Pottery by Patrick Caulfield 1969

The paintings of  Patrick Caulfield (1936-2005) from the 1960s are characterised by flat areas of colour with objects defined by outlines. 'Pottery' is probably his most famous painting from that decade. His style would change permanently in the 1970s with highly complex paintings that play with definitions of reality and artifice.  From static colourful pots

"Fashionable Irish Sheep"

to sheep bringing a splash of colour to an island that has 40 shades of green.

Zambian Birds

 

1968: Decimal Currency definitive

The Grey Crowned Crane, the 'grey' refers to its body plumage but as can be seen, its crown is a wonderful golden yellow. It is the national bird of Uganda and appears on their flag.

1975: Helmeted Guinea-fowl 

I used to walk past a smallholding that had a few of these round spotted birds. Delightful.

African Fish Eagle, the national bird of Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Sudan. Their call is sometimes called the sound of Africa.

Lady Ross's Turaco whose tails are used for balance, useful for foraging for fruit in trees. Their outer toes can rotate backwards and forwards another useful attribute.

2007: Animals of Zambia

And for something completely different, a bat eared fox. Their ears have a role in regulating temperature by dissipating heat. As it mainly eats insects the ears and their exceptional hearing are very useful when burrowing underground for termites and beetles. Their ears can reach 5 inches (13cm) and are able to rotate independently.

Sunday Stamps A-Z  for Zambia - See It On A Postcard