Rio, Mt. Rushmore, Riga and Ukraine

Here I am again. I promised an update each day of the weekend, so this is Saturday's. What do those four places in the title have in common? I'm not really sure other than I received a postcard from each and in postcard collecting, that's what counts.

Card # 1 comes from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. This is another card from Dale, my brother, who has been on the go since 05 Nov 2010. He has just about completed his trip, he is now spending a week or so in Buenos Aires. The card shows us an aerial view of the statue of Christ the Redeemer and Guanabara Bay. Dale said it was hot but the beaches were fantastic. The four face same stamps are from a 2007 set of 4 definitives.

Ria sent the next card and it comes from North Dakota. The card though is of South Dakota and shows us Mt. Rushmore National Memorial. Also on the top portion of the card we see Iron Mountain Tunnel, the Needles Highway and a few of the beggars in Custer State Park. Ria also says there is a cave in the mountains behind the heads of Mt. Rushmore. I did not know that. This is the second card I have received from Ria. I hope we can continue swapping. She has a great postcard blog called Ria's postcards and Stamp Collecting . Ria used a 2003 American Clock definitive and two copies of the 2010 Angel with Lute stamp. I like this stamp and I am glad to add it to my U.S. collection. I kinda have a thing for U.S. definitives.

My third card this time is from Riga, Latvia. It shows two very old buildings. On the right is Blackhead's House. This building was first mentioned in 1334. A beautiful Gothic structure, it was destroyed in 1941, during World War II. It was recently rebuilt in honor of the city's 800th anniversary in 2001. On the left is St. Peter's Church. This Lutheran church, named after Saint Peter was first mentioned in 1209. One of the oldest Lutheran churches in the Baltic States, it has been an impressive feature of the Riga skyline since the dark Ages. It was added as a UNESCO WHS in 1997. The two copies of the stamp on the left are from a Coat of Arms set issued in 2010. The train stamp on the right , also issued in 2010 celebrates Railway History. It is a very nice stamp , I really like the color green. Unusual on a stamp.

The final stamp from Ukraine is a Christmas wishes postcard. It is actual a prestamped postcard with a preprinted Christmas stamp , top right, similar to the picture on the front of the card. The other stamps are as follows : top left- 1 of a set of 12 , issued 2008 , featuring the Zodiac.
top right stamp- issued 2009, 1 of a set of 4 , celebrating The national Song and the stamp in the 2nd row was issued 1997 and is a Christmas stamp. I have nothing on the small stamp on the bottom.

This concludes today's update. As always, leave your comments at the door.
Regards, see you all tomorrow, for South Africa day and Aviation day.