Matthias Church - Budapest

This hungarian card sent from Finland by Pirjo-Liisa "pikkis", was one of my favorites and it was the last card i've received in 2010.

A few months ago i've got another card of the Matthias Church in Budapest but with a different view.

In front of the church there's the Trinity Statue built in 1713.

TW-235854

Today i've only received this official from Taiwan.

TW-235854, sent by Jennifer.
Chung-Shan Park in Taipei.

RU-271327

And the 1st official of 2011 came from Russia. The card shows the Lion Cascade in the Lower Park at the Peterhof Palace.

RU-271327, sent by Larisa.

The Peterhof Palace is actually a series of palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, laid out on the orders of Peter the Great.

"The palace and park at Peterhof are often referred to as "the Russian Versaille".

Versailles was, however, the inspiration for Peter the Great's desire to build an imperial palace in the suburbs of his new city and, after an aborted attempt at Strelna, Peterhof - which means "Peter's Court" in German - became the site for the Tsar's Monplaisir Palace, and then of the original Grand Palace. The estate was equally popular with Peter's granddaughter, Empress Elizabeth, who ordered the expansion of the Grand Palace and greatly extended the park and the famous system of fountains, including the truly spectacular Grand Cascade.

Improvements to the park continued throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Catherine the Great, after leaving her own mark on the park, moved the court to Pushkin, but Peterhof once again became the official Imperial Residence in the reign of Nicholas I, who ordered the building of the modest Cottage Palace in 1826.

Like almost all St. Petersburg's suburban estates, Peterhof was ravaged by German troops during the Second World War. It was, however, one of the first to be resurrected and, thanks to the work of military engineers and over 1,000 volunteers, most of the estate's major structures had been fully restored by 1947. The name was also de-Germanicized after the war, becoming Petrodvorets, the name under which the surrounding town is still known. The palace and park are once again known as Peterhof." - in: http://www.saint-petersburg.com/peterhof/

US-944750 & US-951770

These are american official cards. The 1st one with some Michigan lighthouses was the last official of 2010 and the 2nd one was the 2nd of 2011.

US-944750, sent by Michelle.

Michigan lighthouses. Top row: Whitefish Point, Point Betsie, Grand Traverse and White Shoal.

Bottom row: Presque Isle, Tawas Point and Round Island.

US-951770, sent by Laura.
On this image of the Washington coast we can see Laura's son playing in their front yard. The picture was taken by Laura.

Canada's Natural Beauty

These mountains of ice are really beautiful.

This card was in my favorites album and it was sent by Marie "renegade_cavalcade". Thanks a lot Marie.

Tubbataha Reef - Philippines

The Tubbataha Reef was the last unesco card of 2010 and with this card sent by Jan "janbonivic", i've all the unesco sites from the Philippines.

Tubbataha Reef is an atoll coral reef located in the Sulu Sea of the Philippines. It is a marine sanctuary protected as Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park. It was declared as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1993.

"The Tubbataha Reef Marine Park covers 130,028 ha, including the North and South Reefs. It is a unique example of an atoll reef with a very high density of marine species; the North Islet serving as a nesting site for birds and marine turtles. The site is an excellent example of a pristine coral reef with a spectacular 100-m perpendicular wall, extensive lagoons and two coral islands." - in: www.whc.unesco.org/en/list/653

KL Meet-Up

So, this the 1st post of 2011. The 1st cards of the year arrived today but i still have a few from 2010 to post. One of them is this one from a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sent by Lyan "imajica" in December 19th. The postcrossers at this meeting were "imajica", "Lim8", "lalander", "Verlustangst", "Tjclassic8482", "vin_ann" and "newrule".

The postcard and stamp shows Konda-Kondi, a malay traditional game.

"Konda kondi is also known as Perik Mata, and it requires a player to be sharp minded and physically strong, because the game requires the player to preplan a safe direction to flip a piece of wood, and chase the flipped wood to strike out the opponent. This game requires a wide playing field.

The required equipment needed is made of two pieces of stick measuring 15cm and 30cm in length. The sticks are cylindrical and measure 2cm in radius. The shorter stick is called ‘anak’ and the longer stick is called ‘ibu’. A hole 15cm deep is made in the ground to place the longer stick.

To begin the team selection and to determine which team begins first, each team captain adopts the ‘rock-paper-scissors’ duel, and winner begins.

First Round : The first player begins the game by placing the shorter stick across the hole. The longer stick is used to flip the shorter stick into the air, upon which the longer stick will be placed across the hole to replace the flipped shorter stick. Whilst the shorter stick is flipped into the air, the opposing team will attempt to grab the shorter stick before the stick touches the ground (similar to a home run concept in baseball). If the opposing team succeeds, the entire starting team is considered struck out, and the opposing team gets its turn. However if the opposing team fails to catch the flipped stick before it touches the ground, the opposing team member must quickly retrieve the stick and throw the stick with the aim to get the stick into the hole or to touch the longer stick that is now across the hole.

If the thrown stick manages to get into the hole or touch the longer stick, the starting player who originally flipped the stick is consider struck out. But if the thrown stick did not manage to get into the hole or touch the longer stick, the starting player gets points by measuring the distance between the thrown stick’s landed position and the hole, using the longer stick as a measure. For every length of the longer stick, the starting player gets 1 point.

Second Round: From the restart, the starting player will retrieve his shorter stick and gently lobs it in the air, with the aim to hit the shorter stick as far away as possible with the longer stick. He is given three chances, if his first two attempts fall short.

Again, the opposing team will attempt to catch the stick and repeat the earlier process. If unsuccessful, the starting player will again accumulate points, measured as before. The points received in this round are added to previous round.

Third Round: Next, the players will move on to what is called ‘patuk ular’. The player will place the shorter stick against the sides of the hole, and then hit the top portion of the shorter stick with the longer stick so that it flips. If done correctly, the shorter stick will flip in mid air, and the player will attempt to hit the shorter stick as far away as possible with the longer stick. The distance will determine additional points to be scored, measured using the same methodology as before. The team with the most points at the end wins." - in: http://www.johordt.gov.my/bi/pelancongan/page/permainan_tradisional/