Metz, Luxembourg, Air Saint Pierre, a Japanese Castle and Torre del Oro

   BLOG # 1680

- Day 1433 ( That's One Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Three Days ) Since the Start of the  Current ( Second ) Russian Invasion of UKRAINE .   

                                                                              GLORY TO UKRAINE 

Here we go again , with a few cards to showcase. 

My first card shows the Place de la Republique in Metz, a city in the northeast of France at the  confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is pretty old with a 3,000 year history. This card , sent by Dominique , shows a paved square with fountains , a place for a Christmas market and a winter ice skating rink -- all making up the Place de la Republique.  

 

The stamp on the right was issued in 1970 to mark the European Athletic Games. 

This next card shows an Air Saint Pierre ATR-42 landing at Toulouse in Dec of 2020. The aircraft registration is  F-WWLZ. It was delivered to the airline in 2020 and is still operating there. Air Saint-Pierre is based at Saint-Pierre Airport in the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. It flies up to four round trips a day to the other airport in the collectivity, Miquelon. It makes scheduled services to five airports in Canada, typically operating one to two weekly services to Montreal, three weekly services to St. John's, three to four weekly services to Halifax and two weekly summer services to the Magdalen Islands.

Jean Pierre used 3 stamps on this card. The left stamp was issued in 2025 to mark an overflight of the St Pierre & Miquelon islands by Concorde on 14 July 1975. The middle stamp is 1 of 6 definitives issued in 2016. The right stamp , from 2024, shows Art by Olivier Desvaux. 

Card # 3 is from Nikko, Japan, a 2 hour drive from Tokyo.  It provides a great look at Himeji Castle. Himeji Castle dates to 1333 , and is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country.

Alena sent this card along and wrote that Japan was amazing. She used a number of stamps. As I have mentioned before, I never have much luck with Japan stamps , so I just show them without comment. But of course I do have a little comment to add here. The large item on the right , I think might be a label and not a stamp. It shows The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The Great Wave off Kanagawa is a woodblock print by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, created in late 1831 during the Edo period of Japanese history. The Great Wave off Kanagawa has been described as "possibly the most reproduced image in the history of all art" and  a contender for the "most famous artwork in Japanese history".  Final comment , if it is not yet a stamp , it would make a great one.

Now a card from Seville, Spain. Here we see Torre del Oro, a dodecagonal Military watchtower in Seville, southern Spain. It was erected in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river. It was constructed during the first third of the 13th century.

Josep and Assumpta used a 2025 stamp showing Domingo del Bonechea, a Spanish Navy officer and explorer. He is known for having tried to incorporate Tahiti into the Spanish Empire.

It has come to that time now, time for the last card of the day. It is one from Luxembourg and the card shows a number of sights and buildings. At center stage is the Monument of Remembrance on Place de la Constitution. It is known as Gelle Fra or the Golden Lady. It is a war memorial in Luxembourg City. It is dedicated to the thousands of Luxembourgers who volunteered for service in the armed forces of the Allied Powers during both World Wars and the Korean War as well as the Luxembourgers who volunteered in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.

David used 2 stamps from 2025. They commemorated the 25 year reign of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. Also shown on the stamp is Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. Henri abdicated his throne in October 2025. 

  Well that is a wrap for this time. Thanks for cards go to Dominique, Jean Pierre, Alena, Josep and Assumpta and lastly David. 

Be sure to drop in again soon. Take care.