Avignon, Niedermorschwihr, Nauru , Aircrafts and others

                                                                   BLOG # 1691            

     Day 1618 ( That's One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighteen Days ) Since the Start of the  Current ( Second )   Russian Invasion of UKRAINE .   

                                                            GLORY TO UKRAINE   

Well I have been pretty lax in blogging here as any regular reader will know. It's been a while, make that a long while. What's the problem one might ask. The weather has been good, maybe too good to stay inside and blog. Then again I am having a little problem with this computer, and it seems more troublesome when writing a blog. My Lovely Teena wanted to give me a new computer for my birthday, but I told her, I can get by . I guess I should have listened to her , she sure knows best.  Christmas is coming if I don't end up on the naughty list. Of course postcards continue to arrive. I guess I own my regular contributors some sort of apology for my slackness. I have 46 cards on hand from Dominique that have not yet made an appearance on my blog, 38 from Jean Pierre, 20 from David, 11 from Ravindra, 5 from Josep and Assumpta, 5 from Meelis, 2 from Alena, 4 from Jobbo, 1 from Barbara, 1 from Deb and Bill, 9 from my cruises, and 91 from various Postcrossers. That's pretty sad if you ask me. 

So here goes, it's catch up time. 

Let's start with a couple of cards sent by Dominique. First up is a view of The Chateau d'If, a prison in Marseille, France.    The Château d'If is a fortress located on the Île d'If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago, situated about 1.5 kilometres off Marseille in southeastern France. Built in the 16th century, it later served as a prison until the end of the 19th century. It opened in 1527. 

Dominique used a stamp from 2008. It celebrates Le Havre, a major port city in Seine Maritime department. 

My second card for today was also sent by Dominique. It's a cozy view of Niedermorschwihr , a commune in the northeastern French department of Haut-Rhin. The town boasts one of the only crooked spires in Europe ! It's slightly visible on the spire in the center of the picture. 

Dominique used 2 stamps from 2009 , both commemorated The Navy.

Dominique's 3rd card shows us the Port of Avignon . The port is a major river cruise and boating stop on the Rhone River in southeastern France. Avignon is often called 'The  City of Popes' .  Between 1309 and 1378, Avignon as a hub of Roman Catholicism and hope to seven successive popes.  Also seen in the photo is the medieval Saint-Benezet bridge with four remaining arches. Built between 1177 and 1185 , it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1995.

This card arrived with a 2024 stamp celebrating French novelist Francois Sagan.

Next is a couple of cards sent by Jean Pierre. First up is this beautiful Air Seychelles Airbus A330, landing at Mahe in November of 2012. It is registered as A6-EYY.

Before service with Air Seychelles this airframe flew with Etihad Airways, Jet Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air. It was with Air Seychelles from July 2012 to April 2018. Then After that is was on to Carlyle Aviation and Air Mauritius. It is now out of service and stored at TEV - Teruel , Spain

 Jean Pierre used 4 lovely stamps on this card. The two on the left are from a set of 4 issued in 1988. They all stowed Turtles. The middle stamp, also from 1988 is 1 of a set of 4 showcasing the Tercentenary of Lloyd's of London. The stamp on the right was issued in 1997 on the Occasion of the Golden Wedding of Queen Elizabeth II. 

Here's a 2nd card from Jean Pierre. It's from the Republic of Nauru - the only independent republic in the world without an official Capital city. A Flags of the World card , it has a few interesting facts about Nauru, a few I accept and a couple I might dispute. I do think though that their Flag is a nice one with clear design and good , bold colours.

For a really small country Nauru issues great stamps , as evidenced by the ones on this card. Frim left to right on top - a Royal Visit stamp of 1982, 1 of 3 in a set. Next is a label attached to the right stamp. It was issued in 1981 to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Nauru Legislative Council. The bottom stamp was issued in 1993 to mark Constitution Day 1993. 

The 6th card today is another sent by Jean Pierre, this time from Yogyakarta, Java,  Indonesia. And it's another Aviation themed card, of which I have many , but there's always more that are welcome in my collection. 

Here we see a Batik Air A320 Airbus, registered as F-WWBO. It is shown landing at Toulouse in September 2014. That was a temporary registration used by Airbus until the aircraft was delivered to Batik Air in November 2014 , as PK-LAF. It is still in service with Batik Air. 

 

Jean Pierre used a 2023 stamp showing an Indonesian Banknote. It is 1 of 2 in a set. 

 I think that all for this time. Thanks to Dominique and Jean Pierre for these cards.  Next time it will be cards from David and Ravindra. 

 Take care all.