First Post of Year 2009

Happy New Year! How to start off this year? I guess to show the last few postcards from 2008. I have 5 to show from Finland, Poland, Togo and 2 from Germany. First up is Germany. The first card is from a new reader of my blog, Volker Kachele of Stadland , Germany. Volker has a wonderful photography website at vauka.com . It's worth a visit. The card shows a summer beach scene . It is called Sehestedt and is located at Jadebusen. It is on a bay of the North Sea in the north of Germany. The card has 2 stamps , both of which I have detailed before. Thanks Volker for this and keep reading my blog.
The other card from Germany was sent by Nika, who is a Postcrosser. The card shows Laveshaus, built by G.L.F.Laves in Hanover, Germany. Nika used 2 stamps from 2008. The larger yellow one commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ernst Christoffel. The other commemorates the 125th anniversary of the start of Drachenfelsbahn, the railway line in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. Thanks Nika.
Now for a card from Togo. It is my second card from this African nation. It is a city view of Lome, Togo. The card is from 2 U.S. Peace Corps workers there, Kara & Drew. Thanks guys for this great card. Two stamps were used . The stamp on the left is from 1999 and shows a portrait of Bella Bellow. Bella was one of Togo's greatest and most famous singers. Her career was cut short when she died in a car crash in 1973 at the age of 27. The other stamp is from 2007 and commemorates 20 years of the world wide fight against aids. It is 1 of a set of 3.
The card from Poland shows a number of views of Wigry. Wigry is a National Park in the North East part of Poland. Thanks to Joanna, another Postcrosser for this card. Joanna used 2 stamps , including a 2005 stamp showing a church in Sieradz. Sieradz is a town on the Warta River in central Poland. The larger stamp on the right is a 2008 Christmas stamp.
The final card , from Finland shows Helsinki's southern harbour with The Helsinki Lutheran Church on the left. Pino used one of the 2008 , what I like to call , live action stamps , in this case down hill skiing.
Thanks to all for these postcards. As always , your comments are welcome.
Regards