Germany: Münster Meet-up

Today I got six postcards from Germany.

One of them is my second card from the Postcrossing Meet-up in Münster. This time it is the official card showing the Prinzipalmarkt. The card was sent by its designer "KlausK". He designed the card together with Ana and Paulo.

Stamp:
Janosch (from set of two) (issued 01-03-2013)

Thank You very much Klaus!

Germany: Bad Oeynhausen

Today I got six postcards from Germany.

One of them comes from Bad Oeynhausen. Bad Oeynhausen is a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Stamp:
Lighthouse (from set of two) (issued 06-06-2013)

Thank You very much Ralf!

Germany: Brandenburg Gate

Today I got six postcards from Germany.

One of the cards shows the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was built between 1788 and 1791 at the behest of Prussia's king Frederick William II by Carl Gotthard Langhans. The Brandenburg Gate was from 1949 to 1990 the border between East and West Germany. Today it is a national symbol of Germany and shown on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins of Germany. The men on the card is not a real Soviet soldier but an actor.

Stamp:
Salmon (02-01-2014)

Thank You very much Ralf!

Germany: Berlin's Osthafen

Today I got six postcards from Germany.

One of them shows the Osthafen of Berlin. The Osthafen was activated in 1913 as industrial harbour. Today some media companies are located in the Osthafen.

Stamp:
Molli (issued 09-06-2011)

Thank You very much Ralf!

Germany: Löhne

Today I got six postcards from Germany.

One of them comes from Löhne in North Rhine-Westphalia. Löhne is an important location of the furniture industry.

Stamp:
Dresden (from set of two) (issued 03-04-2014)

Thank You very much Ralf!

Germany: Wittekindsland

 Today I got six postcards from Germany.

One of them comes from the Wittekindsland. The Wittekindsland is a vacation land in North Rhine-Westphalia and was named after Weking. Weking was a duke in Saxony and resisted against Charlemagne.

Stamp:

Dresden (from set of two) (issued 03-04-2014)

Thank You very much Ralf!

Germany: KiKa statues in Erfurt

Today I got two postcards: one from Germany and one from Singapore.

The card from Germany comes from Thuringia's capital Erfurt. In Erfurt is the headquarters of the children's TV broadcaster KiKa. In Erfurt there are statues of famous series of KiKa. The card shows the mouse and the elephant from the Sendung mit der Maus, the Sandmännchen, Captain Bluebear and Hein Blöd and Bernd das Brot but there are also the Tigerente, the Kikaninchen, Tabaluga and Rudi der Rabe.

Stamp:
Salmon (issued 02-01-2014)

Thank You very much Claudia!

Singapore: Public Housing

Today I got two postcards: one from Singapore and one from Germany.

The card from Singapore shows public housing. Public housing in Singapore is managed by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). 85% of Singapore's population lives in public housing but not like in other countries just a few of them are below the poverty line.

With nice stamps:
Giant Pandas (issued 06-09-2012)

Thank You very much Jeremy!

cover from France

 Today I got a cover from France.

Stamps:
label
Older Marianne (issued until 2013) 0,01€
New Marianne (issued since 2013) 0,05€
Year of the Horse (issued 31-01-2014)

Inside were two stamps from New Caledonia.

One of them is this:

Year of the Horse (issued 04-02-2014)

The other you can find here.

Thank You very much Phan!

Japan: Nôgaku theatre

Today I got three postcards: one from Japan and two from Lithuania.

The card from Japan shows a Nôgaku play performed at the Heian Shrine in Kyoto. The Nôgaku theatre originated in the eighth century when the Sangaku was transmitted from China to Japan but had its heyday in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Nôgaku plays are often based on tales from traditional literature and integrates masks, costumes and various props in a dance-based performance. The Nôgaku comprises the Noh and Kyôgen theatre. In 1983 the National Noh Theatre was founded in Japan. Since 1957 is the Nôgaku an Important Intangible Cultural Property of Japan and in 2008 it was added to the Intangible Heritage list of the UNESCO. It is my first card of an Intangible Heritage.

With a matching stamp:
Traditional Theatre-Nôgaku (from set of three) (issued 20-09-1972)
Year of the Snake (from set of two) (issued 12-11-2012)
with a special postmark from Osaka

Thank You very much Ai!

Lithuania: Ninth Fort

Today I got three postcards: two from Lithuania and one from Japan.

One of the cards from Lithuania shows the Memorial to the victims of Nazism at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas. The Memorial was erected in 1984. The Ninth Fort was used by the Soviet Union as prison and way-station for prisoners being transported to labour camps before and after the World War II. During the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany it was used as a place of execution for Jews. Since 1958 a museum is in the Ninth Fort.

Stamp:
EUROPA (from set of two) (issued 03-05-2014)
with First Day Special Postmark

Thank You very much Agneta!

Lithuania: Gediminas

Today I got three postcards: two from Lithuania and one from Japan.

One of the cards from Lithuania shows a illustration of Lithuania's Grand Duke Gediminas. Gediminas was born circa 1275 and was of Grand Duke from 1313/16 until his death in 1341. He is considered as one of the most important people in early Lithuanian history. The illustration thematised the founding of Vilnius. According to the legend Gediminas dreamt after a hunting trip of a iron wolf standing on a hill and howling loud. After consulting with his priests he decided to build a fortification at the place of his vision. Today there is Lithuania's capital.

Stamp:
EUROPA (from set of two) (issued 03-05-2014)
with First Day Special Postmark

Thank You very much Agneta!

Germany: Neuschwanstein Castle

Today I got a great postcard from Germany.

The card shows the Neuschwanstein Castle near Füssen in Bavaria. Neuschwanstein Castle was built from 1869 onwards at the behest of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He wanted to build it as homage to Richard Wagner but Wagner never entered the castle. Ludwig II paid for the castle out of his personal fortune and through extensive borrowing, but he died before the finishing. Actually Ludwig II never wanted that visitors enter the castle but only six weeks after his death the first people visited it. Now more than 1300000 people visit the castle every year. The castle was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. 

Stamp:
Centenary of the Möhne Reservoir (issued 04-04-2013)

On the back of the card is also a picture of a bedroom and of Ludwig II.

Thank You very much Henk!

Germany: Münster

Today I got a postcard from Germany.

The card comes from Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia. Münster is one of Germany's largest university cities. The university is shown on the second picture from the right of the topmost line. On the Aasee in Münster (upper left corner) lived from 2006 to 2009 a black swan called Petra fallen in love with a paddle boat in the form of a big swan. The card shows also the natural history museum (bottom right corner). 

The card was sent from Postcrossing Meet-up in Münster.
Stamp:
Glücksburg Castle (from set of two) (issued 02-01-2013)

Thank You very much Christine!

China: Forbidden City

Today I got a postcard from China.

The card shows the Forbidden City in China's capital Beijing. The Forbidden City was the seat of the supreme power from 1416 to 1911. Since 1987 is the Forbidden City together with the Imperial Palace in Shenyang as Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Stamps:
Year of the Horse (issued 05-01-2014)

Thank You very much Kun!