AU-100909

From the same corner of the world, an official from Australia.

AU-100909, sent by Kevin.

Don't test your eyes, i'll copy the text on the card: "Found 350 km south-west of Alice Springs, the world's largest monotlith lies in stark contrast to its flat desert surrounds. Uluru is 343 metres high, 3.6 kms long, 2.4 kms wide, 8 kms in circumference and contrary to popular belief is not a single stone, but one of three surviving peaks of an ancient mountain range.

Steeped in ancient aboriginal mythology, Uluru means Meeting Place, sacred home to the many Dreamtime legends which are decipted in paintings and carvings around the rock.

The colour of the rock appears to change continuously, with sunrise and sunset, the best time to capture the most powerful reads and golds. Thought to be 600 million years old, visitors see just a small fraction of what must be under the surface. Some geologists believe that the roots actually go down more than 600 metres."

NZ-42815

Today is a national holiday and that means no mail but yesterday my mailbox was full. I've received 15 cards and 3 of them were officials. This one is from New Zealand.

NZ-42815, sent by Fran.

"Mt John Observatory is a high-tech research observatory, founded in 1965 as a joint project between the universities of Pennsylvania and Canterbury. It is at Lake Tekapo, in the centre of New Zealand’s South Island – where there is the greatest chance of dark, clear skies.
A large 1-metre Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain telescope was installed at Mt John in 1986. Known as the McLellan telescope, it is used mainly for high-resolution spectroscopy of stars with a Hercules vacuum echelle spectrograph (spectroscopy is the study of the way atoms absorb and emit electromagnetic radiation). The data can be used to measure star velocities, temperatures, pressures, chemical composition, rotation rates and other parameters." - in: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/astronomy-overview/4

CH-61998

Not so long ago i've sent an official card to a postcrosser i met at the Postcrossing Meeting in Zurich, and last week i've received this official sent by another postcrosser i also met there :) Coincidence!! Switzerland is not even a common country for my sent or received official cards.

CH-61998, sent by "giorgis".

Dominik "giorgis" sent me this beautiful card with the Triebtenseewli Lake, in the Canton of Berne, with the Vorder Zinggenstock and Lauteraarhorn peaks.

US-836941

This week arrived cards from 2 US national parks, both unesco sites. I already had an Everglades card showing 3 ugly woodstorks. This one also has birds: upper left - american egret; lower left - anhinga and lower right - egret and also a woodstork.

US-836941, sent by Sarah.

"Everglades National Park is the largest designated sub-tropical wilderness reserve on the North American continent. Its juncture at the interface of temperate and sub-tropical America, fresh and brackish water, shallow bays and deeper coastal waters creates a complex of habitats supporting a high diversity of flora and fauna. It contains the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere, the largest continuous stand of sawgrass prairie and the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America.
The Everglades contains vast subtropical wetlands and coastal/marine ecosystems including freshwater marshes, tropical hardwood hammocks, pine rocklands, extensive mangrove forests, saltwater marshes, and seagrass ecosystems important to commercial and recreational fisheries. Complex biological processes range from basic algal associations through progressively higher species and ultimately to primary predators such as the alligator, crocodile, and Florida panther; the food chain is superbly evident and unbroken. The mixture of subtropical and temperate wildlife species is found nowhere else in the United States.

Everglades National Park is a noteworthy example of viable biological processes. The exceptional variety of its water habitats has made it a sanctuary for a large number of birds and reptiles and it provides refuge for over 20 rare, endangered, and threatened species. These include the Florida panther, snail kite, alligator, crocodile, and manatee. It provides important foraging and breeding habitat for more than 400 species of birds, includes the most significant breeding grounds for wading birds in North America and is a major corridor for migration." - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/76

IT-104662

Today i've received 3 cards, 1 of them was this official from Italy. I really like to receive cards from Italy. After Portugal, Italy, together with Croatia, is my favorite country.

IT-104662, sent by Flavio.
The card shows the Cly Castle in Saint-Denis, Aosta Valley in north-western Italy.

"The imposing Cly Castle is one in a series of grand fortresses built along the high mountainous frontier of the Italian Valle d'Aosta. Cly Castle occupies a beautiful strategic location overlooking the village of Chambave. The castle was built in the 13th century by Boniface of Challant and abandoned some four centuries later. Subsequently, some of the materials of the castle were later transported down the mounain where they were used to construct a residence in Chambave." - in: http://wikimapia.org/5662270/Cly-Castle-Castello-di-Cly-Schlo%C3%9F-Cly

AT-63008

I don't receive many cards from Austria and if i'm not mistaken, this is only my second official from there.

I would love to visit Vienna.

AT-63008, sent by Thomas.

"Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.
UNESCO catalogued Schönbrunn Palace on the World Heritage List in 1996, together with its gardens, as a remarkable Baroque ensemble and example of synthesis of the arts." - in: wikipedia

RU-219658

This week i've received 7 official cards but i didn't liked 2 of them. I still need to register 2 of them and send 4 next week.

RU-219658, sent by Aline.

"The State Historical Museum of Russia is a museum of Russiam history wedged between Red Square and Manege Square in Moscow. Its exhibitions range from relics of the prehistoric tribes inhabiting present-day Russia, through priceless artworks acquired by members of the Romanov Dinasty. The total number of objects in the museum's collection numbers in the millions.
The museum was founded in 1872 by Ivan Zabelin, Aleksey Uvarov and several other Slavophiles interested in promotion of Russian history and national self-awareness.

The present structure was built to Sherwood's neo-Russian design between 1875 and 1881. The first eleven exhibit halls officially opened in 1883 during a visit from the Tsar and his wife. Then in 1894 Tsar Alexander III became the honorary president of the museum and the following year, 1895, the museum was renamed the Tsar Alexander III Imperial Russian History Museum." - in: wikipedia