A Lumberjack's Candle, The Old Bushmill's Distillery, Minori, Mata Hari, Les Calanques and a Royal Brunei A319

      Blog # 1608 --- Day 704 of the Current  ( Second ) Russian Invasion of Ukraine 

                                                                      GLORY TO UKRAINE      

Here we go again -- some cards to look at and some great stamps, too. My first card today arrived from Finland. It's a look at Lumberjack's Candle Bridge in Rouvaniemi, Finland. The bridge , built in 1989 and spanning 320 meters, crosses the Ounasvaara River between Ounasvaara Hill and the city centre of Rovaniemi. 

Alisa used a number of stamps on her card. The blue stamp on the left was issued in 2002 and is 1 of 2 in a set . It is a self-adhesive Coat of Arms stamp. The other two stamps were issued in 2003. They are the 2 stamps in a minisheet with the theme --- Nordic Stamps.

 

Now we go from Finland to Northern Ireland. David's card shows us the Old Bushmill's Distillery, the world's oldest licensed whiskey distillery. It is located at Busmills in County Antrim close to the Giant's Causeway. The original license to distill was granted by James 1 in 1608. Whiskey has been made there now for over 400 years.

  

David used a 2023 stamp, 1 of 8 issued under under the theme Terry Pratchetts Discworld.

Now it's off to Minori, Italy. Located in the province of Salerno in the south-western part of the country. As part of the Amalfi coast, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Apparently Minori is quite beautiful and a little less busy than Amalfi itself, so a good place to explore the area from. 

David used a recent A Zone stamp showing a Leonardo Da Vinci drawing.

It's on to France now. My next card shows one of the many calanques or inlets found around Marseille. Many of these are found between Marseille and Cassis. These unique geological limestone formations are really big rocky coves forming a steep and narrow valley inland. Have a look.

Dominique used an older stamp from 1964 on this one. It is 1 of 2 issued that year to promote Tourism.

Here's a card that arrived from Nuremberg, Germany. It shows Margaretha Geertuida Macleod, better known as Mati Hari. The lady was a Dutch exotic dancer who performed on stage under the name Mati Hari. Sadly her fame grew from her conviction of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by firing squad in France in 1917 at the age of 41. Mati Hari's story of a beautiful exotic dancer using her powers of seduction as a spy made her name synonymous with the femme fatale. Some aspects of this reminds me of the Munsinger Affair here in Canada. An East German prostitute and alleged Soviet spy , Gerda Munsinger immigrated to Canada and was dubbed the Mata Hari of the Cold War. She had dalliances with two cabinet ministers  and that led to the first national political sex scandal in Canada. Also, let's not forget the John Profumo and Christine Keeler Affair in the U.K.

 Julia used a Small Animals stamp from 2021.

Here now is the last card for today. It's been quite a while since I showed one of these I thought it good to end with an aircraft/airline card. Here is a Royal Brunei Airbus A319. It was registered as V8-RBP and was pictured at Hong Kong in Oct of 2003. V8-RBP was in service with Royal Brunei Airlines from Aug 2003 until Dec 2015 Then with R Airlines from Apr 2016 until Oct 2016. It is now stored.

 Jean Pierre used two stamps on this card. The one on the right was issued in 2012 and marks the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces in 2011.

The other stamp  - I didn't come up with any info for it. 

Well that's all for this time. Big thanks to Alisa, David, Dominique, Julia  and Jean Pierre for all the cards .