Palaces

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Architecture - Palaces

The monumental Winter Palace in St Petersburg, the former main residence of the Russian royal family on the south bank of the Neva River. Today of course it is part of the Hermitage Museum complex.

 

The Royal Palace of Aranjuez one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It looks a wonderful entrance into the square for high stepping horses. There is a museum on the ground floor and the rooms and gardens are open to the public.

P for Penguins

 

1978: Antarctic Fauna

Emperor Penguin are the heaviest and  largest of the penguins

1991: Endangered Species - King Penguin

The King Penguin is smaller but unlike the Emperor Penguin it lives in the sub-arctic islands and rocky coastlines.

1999: Definitive - Birds (Design - Una Hurst)

It  is the largest and most colourful penguin on South Georgia. The artist Una Hurst specialises in the wildlife of the South Atlantic and has designed and painted nearly 50 postage stamps. Born on the Falkland Islands she now lives in Scotland with her family on a sheep farm in Orkney. 

1956: Penguins and Seals

The Rockhopper Penguin, one of the many species of crested penguins.

2002: Comic Strips and Movies

Rasmus Klump is a bear that always wears polka dot dungarees and goes on many adventures with his friends, Pingo the Penguin, Pelle (a pelican), Pildskadden (a turtle) and Skaeg (a seal) on his boat the Mary.

Sunday Stamps A-Z - here for Penguins and a Pelican - See It On A Postcard 

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.

Fine Food

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt - Food (or plants)

A visit to the delicatessen

Russian Cuisine - Margarita Tkachenko  

Something for the cooler months. The postcard was sent from Tomsk, Siberia whose 'weather changes very quickly". The writer said she regularly cooks borsch which "combines perfectly with fresh onions, garlic and sour cream", as the card confirms.

 The highly sought after cloudberry, sometimes referred to as Arctic Gold.

 

Strawberries - Wijnand Warendorf (2012)

 

Another delicious summer berry by the realist painter Wijnand Warendorf. 

Not Here

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is asking what place you would not like to visit

I have been to Russia and enjoyed it but a country I would avoid today, I would not wish to support a war criminal. The card is of Uljanousk located on the Volga River. The birthplace of Lenin

Mortar Platoon

The Middle East is off my list too, not only for their treatment of women but who knows when one might be bombed by Israel. The card shows the British 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Border Regiment in Jordan, October 2001. The Middle East is also in the mess it is with the meddling of too many countries in the past from outside the region. Jordan from the outside seems to be one of the more progressive and stable countries and I would like to see the rose red city of Petra so might make an exception for visiting.

I have never felt the urge to visit the seaside resort of  Hunstanton on the Norfolk coast in summer.  Looks like standing room only.

Golden Hour

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at Colourful Skies

Dog Walk on a Wet Beach (2014) - Mark A Pearce

Printmaker and landscape artist Mark Pearce lives in Ravenglass so this will be the estuary on his doorstep where three rivers, the Esk, Irt and Mite, reach the sea.

St Petersburg. View at the Kunstkammer

The Neva reflecting the sky by the Kunstkammer (Museum of Anthropology and Enthnography)

Tree time

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for colourful trees or flowers

The Memorial and Square, Broughton by Martin Collie (1945-2007)

The artist's paint has magically disappeared all the cars that usually park here. The sky is clearing after rain and the chestnut tree is changing into its autumn colours. (Happily we are in May and the chestnut trees are in full flower at the moment). This 18th Century square was built by the Lord of the manor, Gilpin Sawrey influenced by the fashion for squares at the time.  The obelisk was erected in 1810 for the Jubilee of George III.  The yellow building is the popular Manor Arms. A warm log fire in the winter and drinks outside in summer and also today with its pleasant 18℃

The start of autumn by Coniston Water in the Lake District

The Summer Garden, St Petersburg

Golden autumn in Russia

A magical Christmas forest in Finland imagined by Sanna Annukka

Mail Transport

1987: History of Russian Post (Design - Yury Artsimenev)

 The post is on its way with a 14th-16th Century Messenger and a 17th-19th Century horse drawn sledge and 17th Century postman.  I think I may have shown these two before but time has moved on and now I have the full set, yay, so next

to the high seas and a 16th and 18th Century sailing packets. The small boat is a strug which was a flat bottom boat sometimes used to protect Russian river trade from robbers and equipped with canons. Not all plain sailing for the mail.

Hitting the rails is a 19th Century steam loco with railway mail vans and the Moskovsky Railway station in St Petersburg. The Lessner Post car (1905) can't have been too comfortable in a Russian winter much better to be in a Post Bus (1926)

Now all I have to do to complete this issue is to track down the souvenir sheet of mail vans in front of Moscow's head post office.

For Sunday Stamps theme of  black and white - See It On A Postcard

Snow

The Thursday Postcard Hunt  Christmas theme ends with the prompt of Snowy or Manger scenes

The Family by Sergey Vsilyevich Ivanov (1864-1910)

I have no holy family postcards but did find a family in the snow.  Sergey Ivanov worked on this painting for many years and eventually completed it in 1907.  One could weave many stories from this scene

Settle-Carlisle Line (Photograph - Peter Shaw)

Steam and snow always a winning combination.  To keep to the Christmas theme a steam Santa Express ran this year from Carlisle to the Christmas Market in York via this line however the photo shows the  train running towards the city through a snowy Dentdale, home of the highest station in England.  The scenic Settle-Carlisle line sees many special trains throughout the year and the one shown is the 'Cumbrian Mountain Express' being pulled by Loco number 777 'Sir Lamiel' built in 1925 (one of the King Arthur Class) and preserved as part of the UK National Collection but currently being overhauled for mainline running.

Endangered

 

1995: Endangered Species

Sadly the United Nations are not going to run out of threatened species to feature on their regular issues of endangered fauna. Here we have Black Rhino, Golden Parakeet, Red-shanked douc and Arabian Oryx which in the 1970s became extinct in the wild. They were saved because there were large numbers  in zoos and private reserves and from these they were reintroduced into the wild in the 1980s.

1984: Endangered Antelopes

A young bongo, vulnerable to predators like pythons, leopards and hyenas.  As adults their predator is human.

1993: The Caspian Seal (Design - V Khartvig)

The threat to the Caspian Seal is environmental. A unique species that it is thought became 'landlocked' in the Caspian Sea when the ice of the last ice age retreated about 11 thousand years ago.

2007: Rare Animals (Design - A Moskovets)

The Oriental Stork has the advantage of wings although habitat loss and, in the rice growing regions, the use of pesticides, means it is on the IUCN Red List

1986: Europa - Nature Conservation (Design Ken Lilly)

Well that was all a bit gloomy so here is a Barn Owl whose numbers have increased and is now moved on to the more optimistic Green List.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Endangered or Vulnerable Species - See It On A Postcard

Mountains and Lakes

 

1986: USSR Sport's Committee Int Mountaineering Camps (Design - I Kozlov)

Head into the wilds on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to climb a popular mountain, Lenin Peak (7,134m/23,406ft).

1936-48: Views (Design and Engraving - Karl Bickel)

Here in Switzerland there is a choice between strolling by lakes or climbing peaks such as Mt Pilatus (2073m). Good news there is a quicker route up the mountain on the world's steepest cog railway or even quicker the Dragon Ride, an aerial cable car. Next is Chillon Castle by Lake Geneva with the Dents du Midi mountain range in the distance. The stamp comes in brown and

purple. Then we have Lake Lugano and Mt San Salvatore

1938: National Fete. Fund for Swiss Subjects Abroad

The Tell Chapel was built where, in legend, William Tell leapt from the boat of his captors in a storm and escaped.

1992: Edible Berries (Design - Dennis Noble: Engraving Ashton Potter)

Well after all that travelling maybe nibble on some berries.  I read that the Inuit dried or froze Black Crowberries and also brewed the twigs for tea. This scene is certainly the perfect place for a brew.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Mountains and Hills - reach the heights on See It On A Postcard 

Churches

 

1994: Cathedrals (Design - Yu Artsimenev)

The glory of St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow

1990: Village Churches from Jutland

to the humble village church, but as every church-crawler knows however humble there is always something to admire. L-R (3.5) Gjellerup Church, above the door is the :Latin  inscription "In 1150 the church was founded in the honour of God", this makes it the oldest dated building in Denmark. 4.75 Veng, the oldest monastery church in Denmark, built by the Benedictines around 1100; 8.25- Bredsten church was constructed in the 1100s  and redesigned in the baroque style in the 18th Century. 

2003: The Church of Kumlinge (Design - Pirkko Nahtero)

Travel to Aland and the isolated  St Anne's church located in the middle of the island of Kumlinge. One of the big draws for visitors are the 15th Century wall and ceiling paintings and the oldest alter piece in Finland (1250).

1991 Discount Stamps: Skansen 100 Years (Design - A Oldenburg)

The old wooden church in the village of Seglora was due for demolition when a stone church was built to replace it however it was saved and moved to Skansen in 1916.  Today it is a popular place for weddings.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Places of Worship - pray visit See It On A Postcard

Hirsute

 

1930: Emir Abdullah bin A-Hussain

I suppose the Middle East is beard central so here is is King Abdullah, founder of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and mentor to his grandson, the late King Hussein.

1982: Maritime Heritage

Kings are a rich resource for all kinds of beards so here is someone you wouldn't want to marry if wanting a long life, Henry VIII.

1967: French Art

Not a dissimilar beard vibe going on here with Francis I, a great patron of the arts. Not only can one see this portrait by Jean Clouet in the Louvre but also one of the King's purchases which was brought to France by Leonardo da Vinci always attracts the crowds.

2011: History of the Russian Cossacks

The cossack army of Amur has arrived, I always think of them with mustaches but this one has a full beard.

1992: 100th Anniversary of Death of Werner von Siemens

At last I found a mustache, I was hoping for Frederich Nietzsche and his luxuriant mustache in my German stamps but instead of a philosopher I found the electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist,Werner Siemens 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Mustaches and Beards - its hairy at See It On A Postcard

Out of this World

 

1985: Expo 85 World's Fair Tsukuba, Japan (Design Yury Artsimenev)

For the World Fair in Japan Russia decided to go into space with cosmonauts and

the Molniya 1 (Lighting) communication satellite. ( It is  a mystery to me how I read the Sunday Stamps prompt as a W, I blame my new glasses and worsening eye sight, but at least there is an M on this stamp)

Russia went futurist with 'Energy Sources of the Future' and

a city of the future which doesn't look like anywhere one would like to live without a jet pack. It it is in the shape of a leaf. I wonder what that means? Is it organic?

1992: Expo 92 in Seville

For Expo 92 in Spain the theme was 'The Age of Discovery' which celebrated the 500th Anniversary of Christopher Columbus reaching the Americas from the port of Seville. Here we are setting sail from our blue planet to Mars.  Yay another M. 

Sunday Stamps II theme this week turns out to be - the Letter M-  more at See It On A Postcard