Switzerland

This came as a private swap with Daniela. For the trade she offered to send me either something from Switzerland or Liechtenstein, and since my collection of cards of Liechtenstein is equal to zero, i immediately jumped for that, until i actually took a look at her cards for trade....and my eyes remained glued on this....so i just said, hell with Liechtenstein, i LOVE this card!!! In general i dont go for animated cards or such....but this is one of those exceptions...when i fall for something at first glance, means that, that something is something I REALLY like and want to have it....same was with this card and Daniela was kind to reserve a copy for me...thank you :)


And why i love this card? I dont know if you had read the book about "Heidi" by Johanna Spiri (1827 - 1901)?!
Well, that was one of my favourite books when i was little and very sad indeed. So when i saw this card, on one hand it brought childhood memories and livened up the child in me...second, i like it coz its somewhat unique...it doesnt portray a city/country view or so, yet it is very related to the country where it comes from, in this case Switzerland.

Heidi is by far the most popular work of Swiss literature and has been translated from German into 50 languages, been filmed more than a dozen times, and more than 50 million copies of Heidi books have been sold world-wide.
It is about an orphan girl from the Alps, who first lives with her aunt Dete, but Dete would like to concentrate on her career. So she brings Heidi to her grandfather, a queer old man living in an alpine cottage far from the next village (he is therefore called Alm-Uncle. Alm-Uncle is good-hearted but mistrusts anybody and wants to keep the child from all evils of the world. So he refuses to send Heidi to school; instead she goes to the pastures, together with Peter, a shepherd boy looking after the goats (Geissenpeter = goat-Peter in German). This (all too harmonious) alpine idyll finds a sudden end when aunt Dete comes in again and brings Heidi to Frankfurt (Germany) where she shall stay with Clara, the paralyzed daughter of a rich family, and learn something.

Thanks to the grandmother of Clara, Heidi learns to read but she can't get acquainted to the strict discipline in a bourgeois upper class house (personified by governess Fraulein Rottenmeier). She is very lonesome and gets depressed by the gray anonymous city. Heidi becomes ill of homesickness, she starts to walk in her sleep. Miss Rottenmeier is alarmed, not because of the fate of the poor child, but rather because she thinks that there are ghosts in the old house. Finally Clara's father Herr Stresemann and the sympathetic doctor of the family decide to stay up till midnight and find out about the ghosts. When the doctor sees Heidi walking around in her sleep, he finds the right diagnosis and sends her back to the alps.

Next summer, Clara visits Heidi there. They go to the pastures and Heidi shows Clara all the beauty of her world. Peter gets terribly jealous, and in a moment when he feels unobserved, he pushes the empty wheelchair down to the valley so it gets smashed. Clara wants to see the flowers and is forced to walk - and her desire is strong enough that she overcomes her handicap. Clara's Grandmother and Father are amazed and overcome with joy to see Clara walking. Clara's wealthy family promises to provide for Heidi, in case her grandfather will no longer be able to do so.

Even though its a children's book, i think ill read it again these days, right after i finish what Im currently reading (Juda's Tree)