Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Flag Day 2011, Billund and Antalya

First , before I get to any postcards, I want to mention Flag Day 2011. Today Feb 15th is Flag Day in Canada. It commemorates the inauguration of the Flag of Canada, The Maple Leaf, on Feburary 15th , 1965. It is not a public holiday, but any Government of Canada that wants to declare it one, will get my vote. So without further ado, I just want to fly our flag for a bit here.

Now moving right along, let's get to the postcards. I have two for sure to have a look at, maybe a couple more, we'll see as we go along. What I hope to do is every update , show a card or two from a bunch of wonderful cards , from wonderful places, that I received before the advent of this blog. That is my hope anyway.
The two new cards for this time are from Denmark and Turkey. Picturesd on the Denmark card are three members of The Danish Royal Family. On the left is HRH The Crown Prince Frederik Andre Henrik Christian. On the right is HRH Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth, while in the center is little HRH Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, who was born 15 October 2005. Quite a good looking family. This card, which was written on Feb 7th and postmarked Feb 08th is from David, who just recently returned from Africa. David sent this card from the town of Billund, which is located in the southern part of Denmark, with a population of just over 6000. It is a company town , the home of the Lego Group head office. Located in or near Billund is a Lego factory and a Legoland theme park. Speaking of a company town, I grew up in one. Grand Falls, Newfoundland, Canada is a former company town, owned and operated by The Anglo Newfoundland Development Company Limited. A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings (both residential and commercial, utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company. The term is used to refer to a town or city where loyalty to the company that is perceived to be responsible for its success is expected and that company is, or was, a major employer in the area. Sorry, I got a little off track there. David used a 2010 self adhesive definitive, one of a set of four.

The card from Turkey shows us Koprulu Canyon. Koprulr is a canyon and a National Park in the Province of Antalya, Turkey. The canyon stretches for 14 km along the Kopru River and is 400 metres deep in some places. The cliff valley formed by Kopru River between Bolasan Village and Beskonak is one of the longest canyons in Turkey at 14 kilometres , and its walls exceed 100 metres in height. There is a bridge with eight pointed arches over the Kopru River. The foundations of the bridge were laid in Roman times, and it was rebuilt from the remains of its foundations by the Seljuks. The 2 same stamps are from a set of 4 issued in 2010 honouring Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

I guess now it's time for the first of the older cards. I have two for this time and they come from Mongolia and Oman. Up first is Mongolia, a landlocked country in East and Central Asia, sharing borders with Russia and the People's Republic of China. Its capital is Ulaanbaatar with about 2,800,000 people. On the card we can see a yurt, a portable, felt covered , wood lattice framed dwelling structure. I really like what the sender of the card wrote, "May your collection
expand ". That would make perfect sense . The stamp on the right , issued in 2004 celebrates 130 years of The Universal Postal Union.The smaller stamp on the left , even thought dated 1993, was actually issued 1994 , as part of a set of 4 at the time.

The last card is from Oman. The Sultanate of Oman is an Arab country on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It shares borders with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Oman is one of the most developed countries in the region. This card is entitled Faces of Oman and that's exactly what you can see on it. My niece Sue, who lives in Oman , sent this card to me. Both stamps are definitives, from a set of 4 issued in 2001.

That is the update for this time. I hope you enjoyed yourself and that you will return again.
Cheers.