7th June 2023: Little Prince, Switzerland

19th May 2023: Odesa, Ukraine

Odesa is the third largest city in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located on the Black Sea. In 1794 a decree of the Russian empress Catherine II was issued to establish a navy harbor and trading place in Odesa. During the 19th century, Odesa was the fourth largest city of the Russian Empire, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture is more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist. Since 2023 is the Historic Centre of Odesa on the UNESCO World Heritage List and it was immediately added to the List of World Heritage in Danger. The declaration was made in response to the bombing of Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has damaged or destroyed buildings across the city.

A wonderful stamp was used on the card. It celebrates Kalush Orchestra, who have won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with their song Stefania. The stamp was issued on 10th April 2023.

Thank You very much Hanna!

3rd April 2023: Legislative Palace in Montevideo, Uruguay (my first postcard!)

Uruguay is a country in South America bordering on Argentina and Brazil. Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a four-way struggle between Portugal and Spain, and later Argentina and Brazil. It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the first half of the 19th century. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, numerous pioneering economic, labor, and social reforms were implemented, which led to the creation of a highly developed welfare state. Despite some setbacks in the 20th century, Uruguay is described as a "full democracy" and is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, economic freedom, social progress, income equality, per capita income, innovation, and infrastructure. It is a United Nations, OAS, and Mercosur founding member.

Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. It is the seat of the administrative headquarters of Mercosur and ALADI, Latin America's leading trade blocs, a position that entailed comparisons to the role of Brussels in Europe. The 2019 Mercer's report on quality of life, rated Montevideo first in Latin America, a rank the city has consistently held since 2005. The Legislative Palace was built between 1904 and 1925. It is the meeting place of the General Assembly of Uruguay and the seat of the legislative branch of the Uruguayan government.

While this s my first postcard from Uruguay, I had already got a cover from there in 2020. Surprisingly the same stamp about the Year of the Rat was used on both of them. 

Thank You very much Jorge for sending the card and Marcel for arranging it for me!

23rd March 2023: Casinò di Sanremo, Italy

Sanremo is a city on the Mediterranean coast near the French border. It is a popular tourist destination and many famous people already spent their holidays there. Since 1951 it hosts the Sanremo Music Festival, a very popular song contest and the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest. From 1951 until 1976, the Casinò di Sanremo (shown on the card) had been home of the Sanremo Music Festival.

A special postmark of the 73rd Sanremo Music Festival was used on the card.

Thank You very much William!

8th March 2023: Pope Benedict XVI, Austria

Thank You very much Anita!

2nd February 2023: Hall of the Federal Assembly, Austria

Thank You very much Anita!

27th October 2022: World Postcard Day, Portugal

German Postcrossing Stamp with different Special Postmarks

22nd September 2022: Smurfs, Germany

Smurfs are small, blue, human-like creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. They were created by Peyo in 1958 and first appeared in the Belgian comic Johan and Peewit published in the Spirou magazine. Already in 1959 the first independent Smurf story was published. Until today more than 100 Smurf characters were created, which appeared in the 31 Smurf comics, video games, movies and TV series. Mainly due to the TV series from the 1980s, which was still shown here in Germany in the early 2000s, Smurfs were among the biggest heroes of my childhood. Together with Pumuckl they chosen for the 2022issue in the German stamp series Heroes of the Childhood. I bought some matching cards online and got two of them cancelled with the matching stamp and special postmark. The rest I kept blank.

22nd September 2022: First Images from the James Webb Telescope, USA

The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy. Its high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope. This enables investigations across many fields of astronomy and cosmology, such as observation of the first stars and the formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets. It was launched on 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana and arrived at its destination in January 2022. The telescope's first image was released to the public on 11 July 2022. NASA led Webb's design and development and partnered with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope is named after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

A wonderful matching stamp with special postmark was used on the card. Truely a treasure in every collection.

Thank You very much Jessica!

22nd September 2022: Lego, Austria

Lego is a Danish construction toy production company based in Billund. It manufactures toys consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen and the name is derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well". In the first half of 2015, The LEGO Group became the World's largest toy company by revenue, although nowadays a big part of the sales are done by adult fans of the brand instead of children. 

For the company's 90th anniversary this wonderful stamp was issued in Austria showing a Lego model of the ferris wheel in Vienna.

Thank You very much Anita!

26th/27th July 2022: Spider-Man, Germany

Spider-Man is a character in the comics of the US publisher Marvel. Although there were to this date many character using the alias Spider-Man, the most famous and original one is Peter Parker, a young man bitten by a radioactive spider which grants him super powers. He was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and had his first appearance in 1962. To this date he is one of the most popular comic characters of all time. Aside from comics Spider-Man appeared in multiple other forms of media including movies, TV shows, video games and even a musical. In live action movies Peter Parker was played by Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and most recently Tom Holland, the latter version being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently on 7th spot in the list of highest-grossing movies. To celebrate Spider-Man's 60th anniversary a stamp was issued in Germany on 7th July 2022. I used it on these three matching cards and got the First Day Special Postmarks. The stamp marked the beginning of a stamp series about Super Heroes.

9th July 2022: Tirana, Albania (my first card!)

Albania is a country in Southeast Europa bordering on Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Greece. First becoming independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1912, Albania has undergone a diverse political evolution transitioning from a monarchy to a communist regime before becoming a sovereign parliamentary constitutional republic.

Tirana is the capital and largest city of Albania as well as the country's most important economic, financial, political and trade centre. It is home to a mixture of architectural styles reflecting the influential periods in its history. The current appearance was considerably shaped by two totalitarian regimes, once by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini during the Second World War and the regime of Enver Hoxha in the aftermath.

The stamp is from a set of four about Early Locomotives and Their Inventors issued on 27th September 2015 in commemoration of the 190th anniversary of the first Locomotive. This stamp shows Robert Stephenson and the Rocket of 1829.

Thank You very much Marcel!

5th July 2022: Edo period Writing Box from the Tokyo National Museum, Japan

The Tokyo National Museum was founded in 1872 and is the oldest and largest museum in Japan as well as one of the largest and most visited museums in the World. The museum collects, preserves and displays a comprehensive collection of artwork and cultural objects from Asia with a focus on ancient and medieval Japanese art and Asian art along the Silk Road. It holds about 10% of the works of art and crafts designated as National Treasures.

One of the wonderful Pokemon stamps were used on the card. The Butterfree on the stamp, the postmark and the design on the writing box form a nice combination. 

 Thank You very much Simon!

Germany: Herzog August Library

On 27th April I got nine postcards: four from Germany, two from Austria and three from Turkey.

One of the cards from Germany shows the Augusteerhalle of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. The Herzog August Library was founded by Duke Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1572. It houses a large collection of manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period and is one of the oldest libraries in the World which have never suffered loss to its collection. Its most famous librarians were Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Today it is a major international research centre for Medieval and Early Modern culture. Some of its rooms are used as museum.

For the 450th anniversary of the Herzog August Library a nice special stamp was issued on 7th April 2022. I used it on the postcard above, which I had bought during a visit to the library in early April. 

Among the most important and famous manuscripts of the library are the Gospels of Henry the Lion, a copy of the Sachsenspiegel, a printed edition of the Latin Psalter with annotations by Martin Luther, Luther's German translation of the New Testament and parts of the Bibliotheca Corviniana Collection. The latter three are even part of the Memory of the World Programme of the UNESCO. Another card which arrived on 27th April shows a book by Bartolomeo della Fonte of the Bibliotheca Corviniana Collection from the library's collection.

On this card I used the same stamp and got the second First Day Special Postmark.

A third card from my trip to the library arrived on 13th May. It shows Duke Augustus the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, one of the most literate princes of his time who extensively enlarged the library's collection in the 17th century and who is now its namesake. Its portrait is even shown on the stamp.

Here I used the stamp for the third time and got a special postmark from Wolfenbüttel.