Postcards from England

this one is one of my favorites, showing the St.Paul’s Cathedral, in London.

and this one is the beautiful Manchester town hall.

the interesting buses of Manchester. the artist of this panting is Ralph Bennett.

29 April 2011, HRH Prince William of Wales, second grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, eldest son of HRH The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and second in line to the throne, was married to Miss Catherine Elizabeth Middleton.

Thanks to dear Gilly.

beautiful Scotland

One of my favorite cards, of one of my favorite countries. thanks to Gilly.

1. Glenfinnan Viaduct is a railway viaduct on the West Highland Line in Glenfinnan, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. It was built between July 1897 and October 1898 at the cost of £18,904. Located at the top of Loch Shiel in the West Highlands of Scotland, the viaduct overlooks the Glenfinnan Monument and the waters of Loch Shiel. Read more.
2. Eilean Donan (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Donnain) is a small island in Loch Duich in the western Highlands of Scotland. It lies about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the village of Dornie, and is dominated by a picturesque castle which is familiar from many photographs and appearances in film and television. Eilean Donan is part of the Kintail National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland. In 2001, the island had a recorded population of just one person.

   Eilean Donan (which means simply “island of Donnán“) is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint martyred in 617. Donnán is said to have established a church on the island, though no trace of this remains. The castle was founded in the thirteenth century, and became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan Macrae. In the early eighteenth century the Mackenzies were involved in the Jacobite rebellions, which led to the castle’s destruction by government ships in 1719. The present buildings are the result of twentieth-century reconstruction of the ruins by Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap.
   Read more.

3. Blair Castle stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, though the current (12th) Duke, Bruce Murray, lives in South Africa. The castle stands in Glen Garry, and commands a strategic position on the main route (now the A9 road) through the central Scottish Highlands.
   The castle is a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.
   Read more.
4. St Kilda (Scottish Gaelic: Hiort) is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands (Dùn, Soay and Boreray), were also used for grazing and seabird hunting. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area.
   St Kilda may have been permanently inhabited for at least two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180 (and certainly no more than 100 after 1851). The entire population was evacuated from Hirta (the only inhabited island) in 1930. Currently, the only year-round residents are defence personnel although a variety of conservation workers, volunteers and scientists spend time there in the summer months.
   Read more.

Pisa, Italy

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) or simply the Tower of Pisa (Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended tilt to one side. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. The tower’s tilt began during construction, caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure’s weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed, and gradually increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected) by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the low side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is displaced horizontally 3.9 metres (12 ft 10 in) from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.

Read more, here.

thanks to dear Gilly for the beautiful card :)

Taipei 101

Thanks to my dearest friend, Chi :x
For this beautiful card of Taipei 101 :)

Taipei 101 (Chinese: 台北101 / 臺北101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building ranked officially as the world’s tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest and largest green building in the world. Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. In 2001, TFCC handed over the entire construction authority to Samsung C&T Corporation to expedite the process and to save KTRT Joint Venture’s loss. The construction was finished in 2004. The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year’s Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature and international media.

Read more.

Moscow

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Russian: Храм Христа Спасителя, Khram Khrista Spasitelya) is a cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few blocks south-west of the Kremlin. With an overall height of 105 metres (344 ft), it is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world. The cathedral is not owned by the church, which rents out space on the premises.

read more.

The multi-view card of Moscow, showing:

1. the St.Basil’s Cathedral; The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat (Russian: Собор Покрова пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву) or Pokrovsky Cathedral (Russian: Покровский собор) are official names for a Russian Orthodox church in Red Square in Moscow. The church is also called the Cathedral of St. Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собор Василия Блаженного), anglicized as Saint Basil’s Cathedral. It was built from 1555–61 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. Read more.

2. The Russian exhibition center, Central Pavilion.
read about All-Russia Exhibition Centre, here.

3. Moscow zoo.
The Moscow Zoo (Russian: Московский зоопарк) is a 21.5-hectare (53-acre) zoo founded in 1864 by professor-biologists, K.F. Rulje, S.A. Usov and A.P. Bogdanov, from the Moscow State University. In 1919, the zoo was nationalized. In 1922, the ownership was transferred to the city of Moscow and has remained under Moscow’s control ever since.
Read more.

4. Novodevichy Convent, also known as Bogoroditse-Smolensky Monastery (Russian: Новоде́вичий монасты́рь, Богоро́дице-Смоле́нский монасты́рь), is probably the best-known cloister of Moscow. Its name, sometimes translated as the New Maidens’ Monastery, was devised to differ from an ancient maidens’ convent within the Moscow Kremlin. Unlike other Moscow cloisters, it has remained virtually intact since the 17th century. In 2004, it was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

5. The monument to the Peter the first.
See more, here.

thanks to my dear friend Christy for this beautiful cards :)

China

these two cards are from China. the first one shows Taie Palace / the palace museum, and the other is a cute panda :D

Hungary

 

these were my first cards from Hungary… thanks to my dear old friend Szilvia.

here you can read more about Hungary.

Shanghai, China

 

My first card from China…showing Shanghai.

you can read about Shanghai here.

Sweden

Thanks to my friend Martin for the beautiful postcard :)

Read about Sweden, here.

Argentina

The Iguazú National Park is a national park of Argentina, located in the Iguazú Department, in the north of the province of Misiones, Argentine Mesopotamia. It has an area of 550 km2 (212 sq mi).

The park was created in 1934 and it contains one of the greatest natural beauties of Argentina, the Iguazu Falls, surrounded by the subtropical jungle. Across the Iguazu River lies its Brazilian counterpart (Iguaçu National Park). Both sites were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, in 1984.

Obelisco de Buenos Aires (English: The Obelisk of Buenos Aires) is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza de la República, in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio, it was built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of the city.

read more about it.

 

thanks to my friend Julio for this beautiful cards :)