July's First Update

Hello July , and hello readers. I have a nice assortment of cards for today - three cards from Belgium, two from Turkey and singles from Japan, Germany, and Russia.

All 3 cards from Belgium are compliments of Johan. He has a great postcard blog called johan postcards and you can check it out right here .
Johan's first card shows Het Steen or Steen Castle, a medieval fortress in the old city centre of Antwerp. It is the city's oldest building and has been used at times as a maritime museum, a prison, a fish warehouse and even a sawmill.

Johan's card arrived with a First Day Date of June 12th. It is a Europa stamp in the Palaces & Castles theme.

Johan's second card gives us a look at Eddy Merckx, a Belgian former road and track bicycle racer who won the Tour de France five times. I do believe he's the guy in yellow on the card. Please feel free to tell me if I'm wrong on that one.

It's another First Day Cancellation , again June 12th on this one. The stamp is from a set of 10 Belgian Bike Tour Winners. Shown on the stamp is Marrice De Waele, who placed 2nd in the 1929 Tour de France.

One more from Johan. This card shows The Sweert, a corner house , located on Grote Markt 3, in Hasselt. It is one of  Hasselt's most famous houses. This house was mentioned as far back as 1462 as an inn, then it was rebuilt in 1659 and in 1713  became a pharmacy.

It's another First Day of Issue stamp on this card. The stamp is 1 of 5 in a Medical Breakthroughs set .

My next card is from Japan. It's a look at the flight deck of a Boeing 747-400  - somewhere I haven't been. This is a JAL - Japan Airlines card so I guess it's a JAL 747.

Yasushi used 2 Animal Definitives from the 2015 set of 12.

Here's my card from Germany for this time. The card may be from Germany, but it's theme is from the
Netherlands. It's the Zeeland Bridge, the longest bridge in the Netherlands at 5022 m . It was built between 1963 and 1965.

Gunther used a Flower definitive and a 2017 Treasures of German Museums - Paintings stamp. It is 1 of 2 in the set.

Now it's my first of two cards from Turkey. This one shows Hagia Sophia, a museum in Istanbul. It was built between 532 and 537. It was originally a Christian Cathedral and then later a Greek Orthodox Cathedral, A Roman Catholic Cathedral, and an Imperial Mosque.

The card was sent by Cansu and she used 2 fine stamps. On the left is 1 of 5 in a 2013 Calligraphy set. Then on the right is 1 of 3 in an Ozone Layer set.

Here's a second card from Turkey, this time showing Hadrian's Gate, an arch located in the city of Antalya, built in the name of Roman emperor Hadrian.

Nuri who lives in Antalya sent this card. He used a 2017 definitive stamp celebrating " Discover the Potential " .

And now to end this update , I have a little pin-up from Russia. I thing she's trying to work up her courage to jump off the diving board. Or maybe not - maybe she's just sunning herself.  Who knows ?

Olga used a bunch of those Kremlin definitives from 2009. I'll show them but after all this time they don't need any comment.

There you have it. My first July update has come to an end. Thanks for the cards today go out to Johan, Yasushi, Gunther, Cansu, Nuri and Olga. Eight cards today - a little longer than my usual . Hope you all stayed until the end. Thanks for dropping in. Take care.