Friday, December 14, 2018

Leper, Yerevan, Sabena, The Grand Palace, Toulouse and one from Belarus

Blog Post # 885

Hello again, it's been over a week since I showed up here, cards have been really scarce - that usually happens though in the run up to Christmas. Plus Canada Post is not really helping, they don't seem to have their shit together since the Canadian government forced the postal workers back to work.

Enough politics, and on to the good stuff.

Leper -  Located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, Ypres , during the First World War, was the centre of the Battle of Ypres between German and Allied troops. Of particular interest, at Christmas time, Ypres was one of the sites that hosted an unofficial Christmas truce in 1914 between German and British soldiers.
Finally, since the card and stamp features poppies among other things, the country side around Ypres is front and centre in the famous poem by John McCrae, In Flanders Fields.

On Johan's card we can see The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing. It contains the names of more than 54,000 who died in the Great War and have no known grave. Also , on the bottom, 3rd from the right is the In Flanders Fields Museum.

 

Johan used a rather large stamp from October of this year. It received a special First Day Cancellation on Oct 22nd. It is 1 of 2 stamps commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the End of World War I.




Yerevan - Here's a card from Yerevan, Armenia. I have been collecting cards for over 12 years now and have received well over 5,200 cards. This card is just my second one from that country,  though. David's card gives us a look at Republic Square. The square is the central town square in the capital. It consists of two sections - an oval roundabout and a trapezoid shaped section which contains a pool with musical fountains.



David used a 2018 Europa Bridges stamp.



Sabena - Well all my regular readers will know that I like a great Aviation / Airline postcard, so here's a fine one to add to my collection. This one is a little blast from the past. It's a SABENA Douglas DC-6B. The DC-6 was produced from 1947-1958, with a total of 704 built. There are still a number of DC-6 aircraft in service as cargo planes, waterbombers , etc, maybe somewhere around 17 . There is still one DC-6 in service commercially. The last DC-6 off the assembly line, V5-NCG is still in service with Namibia Commercial Aviation. It is the last DC-6 in the world in passenger configuration still flying commercially. Incidentally it is for sale, so there's your chance to own a piece of history.



Johan once again secured a First Day cancellation on a 2018 Christmas stamp. The cancellation is very much like the stamp.




The Grand Palace - This next card is a great view of the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand. It was built in 1782.





Jobbo used stamps from the 1990s. They show Phanom Rung and Philai Historical Parks and Dusit Palace.




Toulouse - Dominique's card gives us a look at the Basilica of Saint - Sernin. It was built between 1080 and 1120 and is the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.




A great stamp arrived on this card. It honors Kayserberg, a small cobblestoned village in the northeastern part of France. It was voted, by the French people, as the Most Favorite Town in France, in 2017. The annual vote has been held since 2012.



One From Belarus - A day at the beach.



Irina used a nice selection of stamps on her card. The 4 smaller stamps on the left are from a set of 12 issued in 2016, celebrating the National Emblem of the Republic of Belarus. On the right is a stamp from 2017, commemorating the 125th Anniversary of the Minsk Horse Railway.



There you have it, another blog update completed. Thanks for cards this time go out to Johan, David, Jobbo, Dominique and Irina. Hope you found something of interest today and that you'll drop by again. Take care.

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