Monthly Favorite Surprise RR * October '15

This week started with 5 cards, one of them from this very same RR and it is an amazing card. 

These four are nice too and are October's cards. They came from Germany, Netherlands, New Caledonia and Taiwan. 

© Photography & Design - Hans Fine Art Photography

Sabine sent me a card from one of the german cities on my must visit list, Dresden.

The Hofkirche stands as one of Dresden's foremost landmarks. It was designed by architect Gaetano Chiaveri from 1738 to 1751. The church was commissioned by Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland while the Protestant city of Dresden built the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) between 1726 and 1743. The Catholic Elector decided that a Catholic church was needed in order to counterbalance the Protestant Frauenkirche.

In the crypt the heart of King Augustus the Strong is buried along with the last King of Saxony and the remains of 49 other members of the Wettin family, as well as the remains of people who married into the family, such as Princess Maria Carolina of Savoy, wife of Anthony of Saxony.

The church was badly damaged during the bombing of Dresden of the Second World War and was restored during the mid-1980s by the East German government. Today it is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dresden-Meissen. - in: wikipedia

Kinderdijk was also on my must visit list but I've already been there, exactly one year ago. I'd love to go there again on a snowy day, it must be so beautiful. 

The card was sent by Mendy.

© 2007 Photo - Mike Hosken

Azzi went on holidays with her nieces to Amédée Island, New Caledonia, lucky girls!!

The Amédée lighthouse is an iron lighthouse located on Amédée Island.

The metal components were made by Rigolet in North-East Paris in 1862 and the tower was constructed in Paris as a demonstration. It was then disassembled into pieces weighing a total of 387,953 kilos and transported along the River Seine to the port of Le Havre for its voyage to New Caledonia. 

At 56 metres tall (247 steps), it is one of the tallest lighthouses in the world and it was the first metallic lighthouse constructed in France. The foundation stone was laid on 18 January 1865 and it was first lit on 15 November 1865, the saint day of the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. 

Its light signals the entrance to the passage of Boulari, one of only three natural passages in the reef surrounding New Caledonia. 

On the other side of the world, the Roches-Douvres Light in the English Channel is the twin brother of the Amédée lighthouse. It is now a very popular tourist attraction. - in: wikipedia

Photo by Yuyen

Reuen also sent me a lighthouse card. This is is Eluanbi light located on Cape Eluanbi, the southernmost point of Taiwan, to the south of Hengchun in Pingtung County, Taiwan. 

 The lighthouse is built between the Pacific Ocean and the Taiwan Strait, facing toward the Luzon Strait. Thus, the lighthouse has a splendid panorama. The lighthouse is open to the public all year around. Today, Eluanbi Lighthouse is called "The Light of East Asia", because its intensity is the most powerful among Taiwan lighthouses. - in: wikipedia

Blue River Provincial Park - New Caledonia

The Blue River Provincial Park was created in 1980 and covers a surface area of  9,045 hectares.

Lumber and mining operations at the turn of the century have left marks that are still visible.

Learn more about New Caledonian history in this unique natural environment, alternating between observing the scrub that has grown back in the mining zones and the rain forest.

Both of these environments are exceptional for the abundance and diversity of the flora, and there is an especially high rate of endemic plants.

Most of New Caledonia's birds are found in the Park, which contains the largest population of Cagous in New Caledonia thanks to the Southern Province's repopulation program. - in: http://www.office-tourisme.nc/en/parc-provincial-de-la-rivi%C3%A8re-bleue

Poé Beach - New Caledonia

My very st card from New Caledonia, a dependent overseas territory of France lying in the western Pacific Ocean. Marie "vykorsfantast" is trying to get wolf card for her husband and i asked her if she would like to trade this card for a wolf card. I wanted this card because it's from one of my french missing Unesco sites, Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems.

This serial site comprises six marine clusters that represent the main diversity of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the French Pacific Ocean archipelago of New Caledonia and one of the three most extensive reef systems in the world. These Lagoons are of exceptional natural beauty. They feature an exceptional diversity of coral and fish species and a continuum of habitats from mangroves to seagrasses with the world’s most diverse concentration of reef structures. The Lagoons of New Caledonia display intact ecosystems, with healthy populations of large predators, and a great number and diversity of big fish. They provide habitat to a number of emblematic or threatened marine species such as turtles, whales or dugongs whose population here is the third largest in the world. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1115

Photo by Pierre Alain Pantz

The card shows the Poé Beach at Bourail, a small town on the island of Grande Terre.

Its Lagoon is considered the most beautiful on the Grande Terre island. It is a 17 km of white sand beach. Despite the presence of algae at the edge, the variety of fish and beautiful color of the lagoon makes it registered since 2008 in the world heritage of the UNESCO. Glass bottom boats can taken visitors on the lagoon. The tides are important, sometimes so the water level is low, we can see the flats of coral. Many shells (including of giant clam) are reduced on the beach by the sea.