Thursday, January 20, 2011

And The Winner Is ?

Hello again. I'm back with a few cards and the winner of the contest . Now without further ado, and as they say at the Academy Awards, " and the winner is " Johan of Johan Postcards. He was the first person who emailed with all 5 correct answers to my contest.
Here are his answers :1 The Building : The Cabot Tower.
2 Where : St.John's,Newfoundland and Labrador / Signal Hill National Historic Site.
3 When : 1897
4 why : To Commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee and the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's explorations of North America.
5 1901 : Reception point of the first transatlantic wireless signal by Guglielmo Marconi.
For his efforts he will soon receive the Cabot Tower postcard. Thanks to all entries.

Now for a few postcards. Cards today come from the Falkland Islands, Botswana, Canada, India and Romania.

The Falkland Islands- One doesn't see or receive many cards from this out of the way place down in the South Atlantic Ocean. Well here's one more. This one shows us a number of scenes outside the capital of Stanley. It is from my brother Dale, who visited Stanley on Boxing Day, Dec 26th, 2010. The card is postmarked Jan 05, 2011, and that seems to be a pretty good service from down there, today is only the 20th. Dale used a 2003 Airmail Postcard rate stamp showing penguins. And, yes a lot of Falkland stamps show penguins.

Botswana- This card came as somewhat of a surprise. Bruce who lives in South Africa had emailed that he was travelling to Zimbabwe and Zambia and that I should expect cards . He didn't mention Botswana, hence my surprise on finding it in the mailbox. The card shows a number of babies ( animals ) from Botswana. From left, clockwise : Hippo calf; Elephant calf; Giraffe calf; Chacma baboon baby and a Lion cub. According to the postmark the card was posted at the Maun Airport ( MUB) . The town of Maun is in northern Botswana and is the main touristic gateway to the Okavango Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve. Bruce used 2 copies of a 2007 stamp issued for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Canada- This card comes to me from my Lovely Teena. She likes to drop me a card every now and then. This one has the World's Largest Dinosaur on the front. T-Rex is located in the town of Drumheller, Alberta. Visitors can walk into and up to a viewing platform in its mouth. Let me tell you, it is a long way up and I speak from experience. Teena used a wonderful new souvenir sheet of 4 stamps and had it postmarked on the stamp's First Day of Issue, Jan 17, 2011. These new definitives feature the Arctic Hare ( Permanent Domestic Rate ), a Red Fox (Oversize Mail Rate), Baby Geese ( Transborder U.S.A Rate ), and a Polar Bear Cub ( International Rate ). So my postcard friends, don't be surprised to find this cheeky Poplar bear on a postcard from Canada sometime.

India- Now a card from a guy in Bangalore, India who has found this blog to be interesting enough to follow. His card shows a statue of Thirthankara, in Halebid, Karnataka, India. I tried to contact the card's sender, but couldn't make out the writing on the card. If you read this and want , please contact me at gemsworldpostcards@shaw.ca with your name and address. The stamps include a 2005 stamp issued for International Year of Physics and a C.V. Raman definitive.

Romania- The final card shows the mayor's former office building in the city of Brasov, Romania. Located in the central part of the country, 166 km north of Bucharest, the city has a population of about 285,000. Alin used 2 stamps, including a 2007 definitive (on the left ) and a 2009 European Police Conference stamp from a set of 2. A nice set with nice tabs .

That's the update for this time. Thanks to Dale, Bruce, My Lovely Teena, Alin and the gentleman from India, I believe his name is Akhil.
Take care and see you back here soon.

1 comment:

Ana said...

congrats to Johan! I did try to figure the answers out but couldnt possibly identify the building in the first place....more luck next time :)