Venice, Big Pit, Ho Ho Ho, and Victor

Today's update deals with the cards that arrived on Friday. They are from Italy, Wales, Netherlands and Calgary, Canada. The latter arrived without stamp- in my email. More about that later.
The Italy card, from Venice is up first. It shows us Piazza San Marcos, the main square of Venice. The Piazza San Marcos is the lowest point in Venice, and as such, it is the first to flood. Known locally as "the Piazza" it is one of the few great urban spaces in Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic. The card is from my brother Dale and is the first of many that I hope to receive as he travels around a great portion of the world. He may have started his travels in Venice, but he is definitely traveling on to a bunch of other great postcard destinations. Included in his stops are Rome, Pisa, Casablanca, Alexandria, Athens, Barcelona, Cannes,Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Stanley- Falkland Islands, Ushuaia in Argentina, Punta Arenas Chile, and Buenos Aires. He will also fly to one of the Chilean Research Stations on the frozen continent of Antarctica. So I hope to receive a few choice cards. Sounds like a great trip. On his Venice card, Dale used a stamp issued in 2009. It is from a set of 3 featuring Pavarotti, Reitano and Rota. This one honors Mino Reitano, an Italian singer and actor.

The second card today is from Wales, United Kingdom. On the card we see Big Pit, The National Museum of Wales. Located in Blaenavon, the museum is dedicated to the Welsh heritage of coal mining. The mine closed in 1980 and the museum opened in 1983. This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1983. David used 4 stamps including 2 Machin definitives. The other 2 include a Wales definitive from either 2003 or 2006, I couldn't really determine and a 2010 Christmas stamp featuring Wallace and Gromit.

The next card , the Ho Ho Ho card, is from the Netherlands. It has a picture of Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, or Sinterklaas or Father Christmas, or Kris Kringle. I guess he answers to many names. Esther , who sent this card translated the words under the Ho Ho Ho as " Is it all ready this time of the year again " . I guess it is or at least it's getting close. The stamp on the left is a definitive, the middle stamp is a semi-postal issued in 1983, 1 of 4 issued for child welfare. The stamp on the right is a 1983 stamp honoring Martin Luther. Esther said on the card that she used older non-euro stamps and that many people in the Netherlands don't really know that they can still be used.

My final card this time is one that I can't really hold in my hand. I received it in my email. It is from my little grandson Evan and he had his Dad 's help sending it. Evan loves the Thomas and friends characters who are all train engines. The card he sent me is of Victor. He is the manager of Sodor Steamworks and he keeps the Island of Sodor steaming along.

Thanks for cards today go to Dale, David, Esther and Evan. That ends this week's blogging and it has certainly been a successful one in number of cards received .
Hopefully I'll have something new tomorrow. See you then.