When the card was written, Fernanda noted that it was 28 C and sunny. Well that sounds really good as it's -27 C here as I write this. With the wind chill it feels like -37 C. That's a huge difference in temperatures. 55 degrees ! Sao Paulo looks like a big city and I guess it is. Fernanda used a 2009 stamp , 1 of 2 in a set .
Today's 2nd card comes from a Postcrosser in Duisburg, Germany. The city is located in the north west of the country and has the biggest inland harbour in the world. Unfortunately , I don't have any info on the bridge shown on the card. But it looks like a neat place for a picnic and some picture taking.
Here you see the stamp used on this one.
This next card is a Lufthansa card with a Lufthansa Airbus A380 parked on the ramp. It is by far the world's largest passenger airliner.
Lufthansa is one of seven airlines flying the A380. I guess I should add flying on one to my bucket list.The stamp on the right is from a 2011 set of 5 stamps featuring postboxes.
A rather neat set to own. Any takers out there ?The final card for this time comes from St.Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, according to the postmark. Now , I think I'm going to need a little help on this one. Any of my French readers or anyone else for that matter, can leave a comment and enlighten me here. My understanding is that St. Barths is an overseas collectivity of France. It is one of four territories that comprise the French West Indies, along with Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin.
I also understood Guadeloupe to be an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. Its departmental code is 971, as shown in the postmark on this card.
I see on maps of the area that St Barths is well north of Guadeloupe. So I guess the part that I have difficulty with is , why does the postmark read both places ?
Now on to the card . It shows Gustaf III Airport in Saint Jean .
It is named after King Gustav III of Sweden. It is said to be one of the most dangerous airports in the world due to its short runway. I like the French stamps on this one. The one on the left was issued in 2009 and commemorates the abolishment of slavery. The right stamp was issued in 2009 and honours Aime Cesaire.
Of course these are French stamps as neither St Barths or Guadeloupe issues their own.
This is my first card from St. Barthelemy and also my first card with a Guadeloupe postmark. I actually thought that I had earlier received a card from Guadeloupe but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, I am glad to have this card in my collection.
I think that's it for now. See you soon. Thanks to those that sent these cards.
Cheers !
1 comment:
France is divided into 27 régions, similar to provinces in Canada but with less power. Each région is divided into a number of départements, similar to counties, but with considerably more status than in Canada.
The overseas régions of Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and, since last year, Mayotte are small enough to only be made up of a single département each.
Until 2007, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin were administratively a part of the Guadeloupe région/département, when they voted to split away from Guadeloupe and become separate .
At the time, they were granted distinct postal codes (977xx and 978xx respectively), but for some reason La Poste doesn't want to play along and continues to apply Guadaloupe's 971xx postcode to these islands.
So, in summary, your "Saint Barthélemy - Guadaloupe" postmark should have stopped being used in 2007, but wasn't. :-)
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