Switzerland

Ok, one more quick post for today, showing an idyllic view of a house somewhere in the countryside of Switzerland.

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The sender of the card says this is a photo he had taken - and I must say, WOW! Really WOW! Not just for the lovely vibrant image, but also the quality of the card...it is all just perfect. He says that this is somewhere near Bern...but where exactly, have no idea....and it doesn't really matter...it is simply a great postcard.

The stamp is from the set of 3 Flora stamps issued in 2012. Yeah, what you can spot are coffee stains. Yeah, my fault....you know I am clumsy....

Well, have a good rest of the weekend! Till next time...

Zürich Railway Station, Switzerland

ok, one more for today...a lovely surprise from Andy!

you may wonder, what the hell is this...yeah, it seems a bit bizarre...but this is The Guardian Angel sculpture inside the Railway Station in Zürich.  Giant and really colourful!
Weighing 1.2 tonnes and more than 11 metres high, this guardian angel protects passengers day and night...I hope it is well fixed...otherwise...

both stamps were issued in 2008...and I think you are rather familiar with both the grain and the bird stamp...

well, that would be all for today...hope you liked one or maybe more of today's posts....until next time, stay well!

Lugano, Switzerland

while in Milan, we took a one day trip to Lugano....which could have been better if they stopped in Como first as we wanted to...but oh well...

and Lugano...oh Lugano is just soo splendid! even in winter you can just enjoy it, while either sitting at the lake...or strolling around..or enjoying coffee somewhere....everything else was just way too expensive...and that's what I have written on the back of the card: "the ultra-expensive Switzerland".

We went to this market you know, coz I wanted to buy some original Swiss chocolate...I always buy a lot of chocolate for my dad (ok, of course, I contribute in the eating process as well, however, it mainly goes for my dad), and I really wanted to surprise him with lots and lots of Swiss stuff...but the prices made me change my mind...dear Lord, that was just too much! There were sooo many great stuff to choose from, but just way way way too expensive...so that was just a huge disappointment...how much should you earn in order to feel comfortable paying so much for a box of Lindt chocolates...

well of course, during trips I don't manage to get some variety of stamps, so here I have one from a set of 3 Vegerable Blossoms' stamps issued in 2012...and this one here says to be showing a tomato...hmm, o_O, ok, if you say so...

Switzerland

you know how Switzerland always has this association to green mountains, grazing cows, fresh milk and delicious chocolate :) Well, here is one not so far away from that...

Can't you just simply feel the breeze and the fresh mountain air?
The card says to show the long tradition of 'blowing horns and flag spinning' .
And this wooden horn is called...well, an Alphorh, of course :)
It consists of a natural wooden horn of conical bore, having a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece, used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and elsewhere. Similar wooden horns were used for communication in most mountainous regions of Europe, from French Switzerland to the Carpathians.
The well-known "Ranz des Vaches" is a traditional Swiss melody often heard on the alphorn. The song describes the time of bringing the cows to the high country at cheese making time..sounds hillarious :P

and here it is, so you know what it is about...doesnt sound bad actually :) (ignore the children running around...)

again, a combination of a common and not such a common stamp...the rye stamps from 2008 are more well known..but this other larger stamp was issued in 2011 and is from a set of 3 UNESCO whs stamps, with this one showing Lavaux (or particularly the Lavaux Vineyard Terraces...)

Graubünden, Switzerland

A card which came as a great surprise from dear Caroline, since it is an official card!! Always so excited to receive officials from people I know :)

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And she has chosen such a beautiful and perfect card for me! Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland and this is Matterhorn-Gothard-Bahn which is said to be an Alpine adventure railway par excellence. The line is 144 km long and leads from Zermatt to Disentis and from Andermatt to Göschenen, covering a difference in altitude of 3300 m, passing through 33 tunnels and galleries and crossing 126 bridges and viaducts en route. The lowest point of the journey is Visp, at 625 m above sea level, and the highest the Oberalppass at 2033 m above sea level. 

I think it is pretty obvious that id love to go on this one too....

you are quite familiar with the cereals' stamps....the third one, at the top right corner is from 2009, from a set of 3 'wedding' stamps.

Thanks a lot again Caroline!!!

Lake Maggiore, Switzerland

Believe it or not, while I was writing the Aruba post, rain started pouring....so I guess I just had to evoke the spirits and ta-da-da!!! Well, at least now I dont feels so bummed for not going out today...I surely would have been soaked to the bone :)

the second card for today comes from Switzerland showing Lake Maggiore, the largest in southern Switzerland. It also takes part of Italy, being the second largest lake there.
In particular this view is in the Switzerland's municipality of Gambarogno. Im just not sure about the exact building/church shown here...
The lake is 68 km long, with a breadth which varies from 3 to 5 km. . Its mean height above the sea level is 193 metres; but as its depth greatly exceeds that measurement, the bed is almost everywhere considerably below the sea-level, and reaches no less than 179 metres below the sea. Its form is very sinuous, so that there are few points from which any considerable part of its surface can be seen at a single glance. The lake basin has tectonic-glacial origins and its volume is 37 km³. The lake has a surface area of about 213 km², a maximum length of 54 km and, at its widest, is 12 km.

the two yellow stamps are from the famous Swiss issue of Cereals, issued in 2008, where this stamp represents the barley. The other stamp was issued in 2009 in a set of 3 Trees-Life support systems stamps. This stamp shows an Oak. 

Aletsch, Switzerland

A new UNESCO card for my collection sent by dear Caroline.

Yeah, i still havent updated my UNESCO received list. I tried the other day and got totally lost and gave up. I really need to put away a few hours so I could go thoroughly thru all my received cards and see what I have. But there are so many other things i need to do as well *sigh*

The Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps, with a length of about 23 km and covers more than 120 square kilometres in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais. The whole area, including other glaciers is part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch Protected Area, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001

On August 18th, 2007, photographer Spencer Tunick used hundreds of naked people in a "living sculpture" on the Aletsch Glacier in a photo shoot intended to draw attention to global warming and the shrinking of the world's glaciers. The temperature was about 10 °C at the time of the photo shoot.

Here are a few pictures of the event in case someone's interested....not recommended for people younger than 18...lots of nudity displayed :)

Tunick's session at the Aletsch Glacier

Caroline used four stamps on this card....it includes 3 of the 4 cereals' stamps issued in 2008 (wheat, barley and rye) and a stamp issued in 2010, as a set of 4 Children and money stamps..these are special stamps with surcharge....

Glacier Express, Switzerland

Well, after some whining, here comes my ultimately favourite kind of cards....and this time we will 'meet' the Glacier Express...which is called "The train to fall in love with"...hmmm, obviously, every train has something to fall in love with it....they are just so charming :P

The one on the card has an 'en route' from Zermatt to St. Moritz (the alternative is to Davos)...covering 290km...over 291 bridges and through 91 tunnels! Wow...tunnels...i love tunnels...a fascination ive been having since very very little...esp. those long long ones...coz once you enter them, it feels like you enter some other, mysterious world, veiled in the unknown...
Hey, have you heard the latest news?? that finally the longest tunnel in the world has been drilled through? Yup! After 14 years, the 57 kilometers have finally been completed...though the tunnel is not likely to open until 2017....
It goes under the Swiss Alps....and many geologists have claimed that it would be impossible to bore a tunnel through here, saying the rock was too unpredictable and warning of dangers to anyone working underground...but today they have been proven wrong!

The maximum capacity of the tunnel is 300 trains per day (?!) going 250km an hour.
With this tunnel it is expected that the journey between Zurich and Milan will be cut down by an hour and a half...

Really cool...and can you imagine...almost 60 km of going through a tunnel?? Boy, if i was a child, that would have been one of the greatest and most exciting experiences in my life...

the stamp is from a set of two Fauna stamps issued in 2009....this one shows a Rock Partridge...

Switzerland

A FANTASTIC Maxi Card I got from Sara!

I am not exactly sure which railway line is shown here, but however, it was Manfred Luckmann who had kindly provided this lithography to be used for the Maxi Card. As for the stamp on it, it was issued this year in a set of two railway stamps. Cancelled with a special cancellation in Bern, on 6th May 2010.
In case you understand German, here is the link provided on the back, where you can get lots of additional information, enjoy the pictures and whatever not...of course, that is in the case you love trains :)

www.schmalspurbahn.ch

Here are the two stamps which helped this Maxi Card arrive to me.
The one on the left was issued in 2008 in a set of 4 Cereals' stamps, this one representing Wheat, while the other one is from a set of 4 special stamps issued this year regarding the Centenary of Aviation in Switzerland. This particular stamp represents Geo Chavez who was a Franco-Peruvian aviator. At a young age, he achieved fame for his aeronautical feats. He died in 1910 while attempting the first air crossing of the Alps.

Switzerland

Lovely lovely lovely card!

Not only coz its a train card but also coz of the wonderful sceneries...I dont know exactly where in Switzerland these sceneries are, but they surely are beautiful. As for the emblems around the pictures...they are the flags of the 26 Swiss cantons.
Since right now the tennis tournament in Doha is in progress, Switzerland reminds me of Federer...in all other occasions it would most probably remind me of cheese and chocolate :)

the first two stamps come from a set of 4, from the Cereals issue, and here you have the wheat and the rye.
the other stamp is from 2009, regarding the 2009 World Ice Hockey Championship.

Switzerland

A really cool Swiss card!

here through the "Schweiz" letters (which is the name for Switzerland in Germany) are presented some of the most typical Swiss things, like the cheese, the cows, mountains, snow, mountain climbing....and should i add Toblerone as well?? for everyone who has tried it, you know what im talking about :)
I would also add the watches among a typical sign...not so much due to manufacturers, but more due to the fact that we have a saying here which goes "He is punctual like a Swiss watch"....when you want to refer to someone who ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS comes on time and is never, neither a second late...
personally, i used to be extremely punctual, or come before time...in the past few years i started being late more than needed, coz i always end up looking for my keys or my phone or something else i need before i go out...or i just lose track of time...i should work on it

Switzerland

Here is one of the many lovely maps in mu collection, waiting to see the light of the blog :) I hope you map-card lovers arent too jealous...;)

Have i ever told you that my mum used to work as an au-pair in Switzerland when she was young...somewhere in her twenties.
She had been taking care of this small boy, i dont recall his name, but i know he was blond and adorable. And of course, my mum had loved it there...and said how you can just leave your shoes or bike in front of your door and they will be there next time you need to pick them up...compared to here, they'll find a way to steal your bike from a chain-locked basement.
My mum knows French, so that really helped her to get around in Switzerland (im not really sure in which city she stayed though) and in general, it was much easier back then to find a job like that abroad...nowadays, bureaucracy is gonna rip your head off.
And one day when she went to the post office, since she wanted to make a call home of course...she was waiting and waiting and waiting for the operator to get her the connection...and eventually she asked what was taking so long...the operator replied 'well be patient Miss...you cant get Africa so easily....'??????
Hmmm...back then it wasnt even Macedonia..it was Yugoslavia...and Yugoslavia was much widely known than Macedonia is today...and Switzerland wasnt so far from the border with Yugoslavia...how could she possibly think that Yugoslavia is in Africa...and i complain about the ignorance people have today...

Matterhorn, Switzerland

Here is something really nice coming from Switzerland. I really love such idyllic mountain views. The Alpines  simply remind me of chocolate production for some reason.

This mountain here is called Matterhorn and according to Caroline, its Swiss' most popular one. With its 4,478 metres, it is one of the highest peaks in the Alps, and its 1,200 metres  north face is one of the Great North faces of the Alps also one of the deadliest peaks in the Alps. 
Although not the highest mountain in Switzerland, the Matterhorn is considered to be an iconic emblem of the Swiss Alps and the Alps in general. It lies on the border between Switzerland and Italy. 
The mountain derives its name from the "Matte", which means 'meadow'  and "Horn" which means 'peak'. 

there are two stamps on the card. The one on the left is from 2008, from a set of 4 definitive stamps called cereals, and the one here, represents the rye. The other one is a Special Stamp from 2009, called, Preserve the Glaciers.

Glarner Land, Switzerland

What a lovely view! And no no no...im not posting this card coz it coincides with the weather outside...actually, the weather is tooo hot that it feels hard to get used to it...

Heeeey, did i tell you??!! I got tickets for a Richard Clayderman concert today!!! Yay! Im sooo happy, i cant tell you! I totally accidentally found out he is going to have a concert here (this is what happens when you dont watch TV, and you miss out all those annoucments). I was going to the post and to buy some stuff for my mum, when all of a sudden i notice a huge billboard saying that Richard Clayderman is gonna have a concert. I just couldnt believe it! Ive been listening to him ever since i was a kid and i really think he is great and all, and now he is coming here!! Well...after i finished with all that, i came home, took a break, found out which places are selling tickets and got two immedately...i still cant believe it! and they were unbelivably cheap for this kind of an event! 20 euros per ticket!
The concert is next Friday, and i realized i need to get some decent clothers to wear...i mean, i cant go to Clayderman dressed in jeans and trainers...there was this pair of black pants i thought were really nice and elegant, yet, something i would wear...and rather cheap...so if they dont get sold in the meantime, i would probably buy those...wohoho...Richard Clayderman! I know some of you would be surprised that I actually listen to Clayderman if you know what my overall taste in music is like...but yeah, i love such music as well....except that its not something i can listen to on daily basis...to me, each kind of music/band has its own proper times to be listened...i mean, i cant even listen to Depeche Mode 24/7.....each of my moods has its most appropriate music....I listen to Clayderman and classical music in general, when i just want to relax or calm down, or when i want some easy music in the background, which wont disturb my focus on its lyrics or anything...or something while i sleep...its soothing....
And the card...hmm. Clayderman is French, so he totally has nothing to do with the card....oh well...maybe he has been here on a skiing holiday...who knows :) Sorry, but i just had to tell you....its not something i have a chance to attend to every day...

St. Gallen, Switzerland

Good i didnt make an update yesterday as i intended to...not coz there was something bad about doing it, but i would have probably complained again how the postman is ignoring me and how im craving for mail and all....well, today was a GREAT mail day and i feel all cheerful and delighted...i even got two new officials US/FI...well, this wouldnt have meant anything unless now my ratio is 35:39....sometimes i feel like people hate me coz of that :) But i have 6 travelling, so soon it will be evened out...for a while...:) But right now i just feel content...and the sun is shining even though its cold....its just a nice day...

Ok, of course, i have none of the today's cards scanned so dont expect to see any of them, but i somehow feel more eager to post now that my mailbox is content :)
This wonderful card comes from St. Gallen in Switzerland which shows a UNESCO site.
The Abbey of Saint Gall was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. The Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13^th Century. It was founded by St. Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had erected his Hermitage. The library at the abbey is one of the richest medieval libraries in the world. Since 1983, it has been an UNESCO whs.

this is how Simona ends her card:  Best wishes from the country with the world's best cheese and chocolate.
Mmmmmm.....for a person like me who loves both cheese and chocolate, this feels very appealing. I dont know if you had watched the Tom and Jerry cartoons, but there was one of them, where Jerry had lived in one of those cheeses with holes (which are very tasty, btw). I think that i love that cartoon mainly coz of the cheese...i mean, i can simply feel the taste of that cheese by just watching the cartoon....it was soo well made with a perfect yellow-cheese-colour! :)

Switzerland

Here is one of the several flag cards i had received just recently, all in the time span of like 1 week! What a treat! I thought of posting them all at once, like having a flag-card-day....but in order that you dont get bored, esp. if you arent fond of flag cards, i decided to split them and post them over several updates.

On a red field, a white equilateral cross whose arms are one sixth longer than their width. The relationship between the span of the cross and the width of the flag has not been established, but in practice the ratio is about 2:3 or 7:10.
The Swiss cross on a red field ultimately derives from a similar banner of the Holy Roman Empire, and thus has strong Christian connotations. The Swiss flag traditionally stands for freedom, honour and fidelity. (The motto "Honor et Fidelitas" was inscribed on the cross of several Swiss mercenary flags of the 18th century.) In modern times, through association with consistent Swiss policy, the flag has also come to denote neutrality, democracy, peace and refuge.

While Swiss independence and democracy traditionally dates from 1291, people are often surprised to learn that the national flag in its current form dates only from 1889. Modern variations of the flag can be said to go back to 1815, and the original Confederate white cross on a red field dates from the 15th century. Its inspiration perhaps goes back to the 4th century.
It is evident from its history that the Swiss national flag evolved from war flags, which is why it is square. (on the card though, its rectangular, and takes the shape of the postcard :)

Zürich, Switzerland

By posting these cards, i came to realize that I actually have a big number of rather oldish cards...by oldish i mean cards from the time before I was born...and this is one of them, dating from exactly 40 years ago....and its really well preserved...I hope that my cards will be in great condition as well 40 years from now and longer

The first thing that crosses my mind when it comes to Switzerland is chocolate...ok, i dont know whats wrong with me tonight, since things either remind me of coffee or chocolate
One thing i hate is that here we dont actually get to taste the REAL Swiss chocalte...but we eat things produced at some other countries who have the liscence to produce certain products BUT it aint the actual production...coz its known that the Toblerone we eat here tastes somewhat different than the Toblerone originally manufactured in Switzerland....I definitely know Nestlé does...and another thing I hate is the limited kinds of Nestlé chocolates we have here or Milka...or Ritter Sport...or any other (ok, they are not all Swiss, but still)
Ive seen some kinds of the above mentioned chocolates with such fillings and tastes that we had absolutely never seen in stores here...to make it even worse, they seem soo damn tasty and delicious..or at least my kind of chocoalte...and the ones i can get at the store seem soo poor compared to those...yeah well, im a spoilt brat sometimes....

Lugano, Switzerland

Another card from a friend, but unfortunately, someone i had lost touch with...and i think its my fault mainly, or at least it was me who was supposed to write back and all....its amazing how lazy i get when i need to reply to a letter or an email, even though i have a lot to say...hence why im always late with my writing to people :((

Kate sent me this card when she went to Lugano for a month or so, due to some traineeship as far as i can recall correctly
To be honest...i have no idea where she is now...she moved to Milano back then and according to logics, she should still be there...but i really dont know....life's the most unpredictable thing ive ever seen....
If it wasnt for her, i wouldnt have had all those Milano cards...and what you've actually seen so far, is just like a small percentage of all my Milano cards...and all the Milano cards I owe are from her actually... I wonder what else my collection would have had if i was still in touch with her...well, i do hope ill get back in touch with her one day...not coz of the cards, but the friendship....we have really had our moments :)

Lake Zürich, Switzerland

A private swap with Jutta from Switzerland. Chose the card myself coz i really liked it....I like maps :)


This map here shows the Lake of Zürich and its surroundings.

Lake of Zürich (Ger. Zürichsee), narrow, elongated lake, 34 sq mi (88 sq km), 25 mi (40 km) long, N Switzerland. It has a maximum depth of c.470 ft (140 m). The lake is connected to the Lake of Wallenstadt (Walensee) by the Linth Canal and also receives water from the Linth River. It is drained by the Limmat River. The gently sloping shores of the lake are covered with vineyards, orchards, and woods; houses and villas dot the slopes. A causeway crosses the lake between Rapperswil and Hurden. The city of Zürich is located at the northern end of the lake.
Both shores are well cultivated and fertile. There are many villas, particularly near Zurich, and elsewhere numerous factories in the various flourishing villages. Zurich, is the principal place on it. On the west shore (which gradually becomes the south shore) are Thalwil, Horgen, Wadenswil, Richterswil, Pfaffikon, and Lachen. On the opposite shore are Meilen (near which the first lake dwellings were discovered in 1853-54), Stafa and the quaint town of Rapperswil, the castle of which shelters a Polish museum, wherein is the heart of Kosciuszko. Schmerikon is close to the east end of the lake, and a little beyond is the more important town of Uznach.

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)