More April Here

Here's another April postcard update. I think I have 6 or so cards for today. They come from the Netherlands, Taiwan, Germany, and Hungary. I know that's only 4 countries, but there's a couple from Germany and a couple from the Netherlands.

This first card from the Netherlands is actually a scene from Paris, France. It's Place Charles De Gaulle.
The Place Charles de Gaulle, historically known as the Place de l'Étoile, is a large road junction in Paris, France, the meeting point of twelve straight avenues including the Champs-Élysées. Standing at the centre of course is the Arc de Triomphe.

Niels sent this card from Nijmegen, a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is considered to be the oldest city in the Netherlands and celebrated its 2000th year of existence in 2005. He used a 2013 self adhesive definitive featuring Ling Willem-Alexander. It is the international rate in a set of 3.

Card 2 is a wonderful Airline / Aircraft card. It's a China Airlines A330-300. The Airbus A330 is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner made by Airbus, a division of Airbus Group. Versions of the A330 have a range of 7,400 to 13,430 kilometres and can accommodate up to 335 passengers. Air Inter  became the first operator of the A330, putting the aircraft into service on 17 January 1994 between Orly Airport, Paris, and Marseille. On 19 July 2013, Airbus delivered the 1000th A330 to Cathay Pacific. It is the first Airbus wide-body airliner to reach 1,000 deliveries, and the fourth wide-body to achieve the milestone after the Boeing 747, 777 and 767. I have yet to experience the A330, although I have been on the B747, 777 and 767 a number of times.

Iris used a nice lighthouse stamp along with a berries stamp. The Lighthouse stamp is 1 of 4 in a 2014 set while the Berries stamp is 1 of 4 fruit definitives issued last year, 2013.

We just had a lighthouse stamp, now we have a lighthouse card. This one is from the Netherlands but is of a lighthouse in Germany. The lighthouse is located in Lower Saxony, Germany . It is built in the village of Voslapp,  8 km from Wilhelmshaven. With a height of 61 m, it is the twenty-second tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world . The cylindrical concrete tower is 4.5 m in diameter supports a lamp 250 W.

The directional light is was built in 1962, replacing an old lighthouse dating from 1907.

 




Maud used a self adhesive from a 2014 set of 5 stamps featuring Dutch Symbols, all at the International rate.

This next card  came from Germany , with a black and white  picture of a young blond lady. There is nothing on the card, back or front, to identify her, but I'm sure it is Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. Anyone think otherwise ?

 

Tabea used a Flower definitive along with a larger stamp from 2012. This larger stamp celebrates 200 years of Grimm's Fairy Tales. 

I haven't received many cards from Hungary, only 4 before this one. Marti's card gives us a look at a number of the building in Szeged. Located in Central Europe, Szeged is the third biggest city in Hungary, it lies on Hungary's south-eastern border, just south of the mouth of the Maros river on both banks of the river Tisza. It is about 171 km South of Budapest on the M5 highway. It is the lowest elevation city in the country and is known as the "City of Sunshine", because it has the highest number of sunny days throughout the year.

Marti used a nice selection of stamps. The stamp on the left was issued in 2005 and features a Police Helicopter. The large stamp in the center celebrates 1000 years of the Pupokseg Basilica and was issued in 2009. The stamp on the right , from 2012 highlights Solidarity Between Generations. The smaller brown stamp from 2004 celebrates Chess. It is from a sheet of 64 stamps that resembles a game of chess. Lastly, this card has clear , circular cancellations , not something I see all that often , especially here in Canada.

 

Here we are with the last card for today. Again from Germany, it is a look at Interflug and Berlin Schonefeld Airport, which is located near the town of Schonefeld. The airport is at the southern border of Berlin  and 18 km southeast of the city centre. SXF was the major civil airport of East Germany and the only one serving East Berlin.On the card we can see an Interflug IL-62 and an Aeroflot TU-154.  Interflug  was the national airline of East Germany from 1963 to 1990. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to European and intercontinental destinations . Following the German reunification , the company was liquidated. We can also see a flight attendant and a flight deck crew. Apparently, applicants for the job of a flight attendant needed to be approved of by the Stasi, in order to assess their so-called political reliability, minimizing espionage and escape attempts in Western countries. On warning of suspension, Interflug crews were not allowed to associate with employees of airlines from non-socialist countries.

Back in the day when I worked at Goose Bay and Stephenville I saw many Interflug aircraft make  fuel stops at those airports. Most of them were on their way to or from Cuba. 

This card is a fine addition to my Airlines / Aircraft on Postcards collection , as is the China Airlines card from earlier. 

 

Manuela used 2 Flower definitives along with a 2014 Country Views stamp. It is 1 of 2 in the set.

That's a wrap on this update. Thanks go out to Niels, Marti, Maud, Iris, Manuela and Tabea for their cards. I should be back in a day or two with another selection of cards. Take care.