Mongolia

This week's Sunday Stamp theme about places and building you would like to visit set me a dilemma because that is usually a thought I have whenever I see somewhere I haven't been on a stamp or postcards, however a decision has to be made. I decided on a place that has fascinated me through travel films and books of its culture and scenery the 'Land of the Eternal Blue Sky' - Mongolia.

1982: Landscapes and Animals

From the Gobi Desert to the mountains Mongolia has an amazingly diverse landscape, and climate. This stamp shows a beaver and Lake Hovd but the others in the set show seven distinct landscapes.

1969: Landscapes and Flowers

This set features some of  Mongolia's wildflowers, here is variegated pink or carnation (dianthus).

1969: 10th Anniversary of Co-operative Movement

Of course I would want to see the horses that are eternally linked with Mongolia whether it is the history of the Golden Horde or the more peaceful herding as featured in this stamp of the painting 'Horse-herd' by A. Sengetsohyo which is displayed in the National Gallery in Ulan Bator.  Yes I would have to fit in a visit to an art gallery too and

1968: Mongolian Paintings

perhaps stay in a Mongolian ger or yurt. Ger in the Mongolian language refers to their traditional portable dwelling place but carries an added meaning of home, household or family. The stamp features the painting 'Camel Calf by B. Avarzad.  The temperature in Mongolia can range from -35 to +40 Celsius (-31 to +104 Fahrenheit) so as I am a bit of a softy spring or summer would be my preference

On Remote Roads by A. Sagatzohyo

although winter might have its charms or challenges.  Who might be met on this remote road?

1969: Mongolian Costumes

Costumes from the far west of Mongolia, a frontier land of snow-capped mountains, lakes, deserts and pastureland.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - place you would love to see - take a trip at See It On A Postcard

 
  

Leap for London Bridge

One of the postcards issued to support London's bid to stage the Olympics in 2012 featured Tower Bridge being hurdled. Another of the cards featured a gymnast on 'The Gherkin' skyscraper (30 St Mary Axe) which can be seen on the right through the bridge.  Despite visiting London many times I've never actually been on the trip inside the bridge towers to view among other things the Victorian Engine Room, which once used steam to raise the bascule and allow the tall ships up and down the Thames River.

The reverse of the card bullet points what London was promising to deliver.  Work had started on the bid in 1997 but I would guess the card dates from between 2003 when parliamentary approval and the associated funding needed was given and the games being awarded to the city in 2005. I found the card when browsing a second hand bookshop in central England, it hadn't travelled as far as some of the competitors who enthralled us in the weeks of the sporting competition.

Postcards for the Weekend theme - Bridges - cross over to Connections to the World 

Ancient Statues

Definitives issued 1914-1922

The mysterious Great Sphinx of Giza, in Arabic Abū al-Haul, which translates as The Terrifying One believed to have been created circa 2558–2532 BC. Photographs of the Sphinx from all its giant angles can be seen here.   A mythical creature with the head of a man and the body of a lion. So what about seeing some lions

1950s: Official Stamps

which at 7ft (2.15m) are small in comparison to the sphinx but this once stood on a tall pillar in Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh) and this polished sandstone capitol is now in the museum there.  It is the most important of many lion columns that were put up by Ashoka and the most elaborate, there are four lions which symbolise the four noble truths of Buddhism.  Today it is also a national emblem of India

1984: Parthenon Marbles

Next we have a human statue although not quite for this is Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest or more particularly wine, but also madness, vegetation and the theatre

1959: Ancient Greek Theatre

where this fellow would perform because this 3rd Century statuette portrays an actor.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Statues or Monuments -  at See It On A Postcard

 
    

Smolny Cathedral

The Smolny Cathedral in St Petersburg was originally built to be the central church of a monastery and with the other churches in the complex forms a cross.  Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, started to build a convent just before here 40th birthday for 120 young women with herself as prioress; I don't know if she was going to install her lovers here as well.  It did not look possible that she would ever rule Russia but after a coup by the royal guards, carried out with her involvement, she quickly decided that the religious life was not for her and accepted the offer of the Russian throne.  The rest, as they say, is history.

The architect is the famous Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli who created many of the iconic buildings in St Petersburg including the Winter Palace in the same baroque confection.  Thousands of people were involved in the construction but Elizabeth died in 1761 with the cathedral still unfinished, it was finally completed in 1835 but closed in 1923 after the Russian revolution and used as a storage facility when much of the original interior was destroyed . In 1990 it was made into a concert hall although I read it is presently undergoing refurbishment. 

Postcard for the Weekend theme - Places of Worship - pray visit Connections to the World

Aerial Views

2008: Gorgeous Australia

The spectacular Grose River Gorge in the Blue Mountains of Australia, a labyrinths of gorges and and canyons which the Grose River has carved out over the millennia leaving these sheer sandstone cliffs.

2013: National Parks

A different terrain on one of Finland's attractive series of National Parks stamps, in this case a beautiful aerial view of Nuuksion National Park whose green forests and rocky crags are within easy access of those wanting to walk through nature from Helsinki.

1935/6- George V Definitives - Landscapes

I love a port so would enjoy sailing into this one because Colombo is one of the busiest ports in the world.

1963: 40th Anniversary of Sabina Airline

An aerial view requires an aircraft (or a drone) so here is an aeroplane  from what was Belgium's national airline flying over Brussels in a stamp celebrating its 40th anniversary.   Sabena went into liquidation in 2001 so didn't reach its centenary. 

1962|: Space Research (2nd Series)

For an even better aerial view lets take a rocket into space

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Aerial Views - for the overview See It On A Postcard