Foxes

Vera sent me this postcard to inaugurate my new address and leave an important message.

Every year, more than 50 million animals (foxes, chinchillas, ferrets, rabbits, seals, dogs and cats, among others) are killed for their fur, exclusively to satisfy human vanity. We can contribute to the end of this barbaric industry by choosing skinless items whenever we buy clothing, fashion accessories or footwear.

Associação Pelos Animais

The fox is the most widely distributed carnivore in the world. Alongside this, it is also the most bred species in captivity worldwide for fur production, along with the American vision. However, in 1992-93 the fox, caught in the wild, was still the third most commercially important type of fur in North America.

Fort Lauderdale - USA

From Montana to Florida with cards from Fort Lauderdale.

US-599152, sent by Ashley.
The city is a popular tourist destination, with 10.35 million visitors in 2006. Fort Lauderdale is sometimes known as the "Venice of America" because of its expansive and intricate canal system. The city is a major yachting center, with 42,000 resident yachts and 100 marinas and boatyards. The city sits 23 miles north of Miami, Florida. Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding area host over 4100 restaurants and 120 nightclubs.

© Scenic Florida Distributors

Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale, who was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend, in what is now known as the Sailboat Bend neighborhood, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina." - in: wikipedia
This card, send by Katelin, shows Port Everglades, is the gateway for international trade and cruise vacations. Already one of the three busiest cruise ports worldwide, Port Everglades is also one of Florida's leading container ports.

Glacier National Park - USA

The places that attracts me the most in USA are the national parks, I think I'd like to visit them all. To visit Glacier National Park, I'd have to go to Montana.
Both these cards were sent by Carol 10 years ago.

"Glacier National Park is located in the U.S. state of Montana, bordering the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Glacier National Park contains two mountain ranges, sometimes referred to as the southern extension of the Canadian Rockies mountain ranges, with over 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants and hundreds of species of animals.
Glacier National Park borders Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada—the two parks are known as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and were designated as the world's first International Peace Park in 1932. Both parks were designated by the United Nations as Biosphere Reserves in 1976, and in 1995 as World Heritage sites." - in: wikipedia

"St. Mary Lake is the second largest lake in Glacier National Park, Montana, created by a widening of the St. Mary River.

Located on the east side of the park, the Going-to-the-Sun Road parallels the lake along its north shore. At an altitude of 4,484 feet (1,367 m), St. Mary Lake's waters are colder and lie almost 1,500 feet (460 m) higher in altitude than Lake McDonald, the largest lake in the park, which is located on the west side of the Continental Divide. Here, the great plains end and the Rocky Mountains begin in an abrupt five thousand foot (1,500 m) altitude change, with Little Chief Mountain posing a formidable southern flank above the west end of the lake. St. Mary lake has a surface area of 3,923 acres (15.88 km²).

The lake is 9.9 miles (15.9 km) long and three hundred feet (100 m) deep. The waters of the lake rarely rise above 50 °F (10 °C) and is home to various species of trout. During the winter, the lake often is frozen completely over with ice up to four feet (1 m) thick."

Rabsztyn Castle - Poland

I'm ok, don't worry!! It has been more than a month since my last post and that was mainly because I was too busy with work, moving to a new house and lack of cards. Due to the corona virus I had a different schedule at work and when I got home was already too late and I was too tired to make any updates. Almost 2 weeks ago I moved to a new house, which kept me busy packing, unpacking and only got internet again yesterday. 

I can only make updates if i've any cards to show and in the last weeks I didn't get many. Mail distribution is slow and weird all over the world. All of my cards now travel for more than a month, even to Europe!! I definitely miss the old days. 

Cards, I'm here to write about cards. One of the last, if not the last, official that I got in my old address, was the multiview of Rabsztyn castle in Poland, one of the Eagle Nest Castles. 

 Photo by Krysztof Kaminski

 Originally built by King Kazimierz to protect the money-making mining centre of nearby Olkusz, Rabsztyn actually consists of two separate castles – the original 14th century upper castle and the much-larger lower castle added at its foot in the 17th century in the Renaissance style. The Swedes saw to it that neither was inhabitable shortly thereafter during their 17th century invasion. Today there is almost nothing to see of the upper castle, in fact most won’t even be able to discern the remnants of its walls from the rock surrounding it. 

PL-1677448, sent by Zaneta.

The upper castle’s main feature was a cylindrical tower which irreverent fortuneseekers dynamited in the late 1800s. The walls of the lower castle still stand giving some indication of the size of this former strong-(but not strong enough)-hold, and recently the castle gate, several bridges and one of the towers was restored. Today it houses a small historical museum. - in: http://www.inyourpocket.com/poland

Třebíč - Czech Republic

It took me awhile to get a 1st card from Třebíč and now i've a few and I've actually visited the town a couple of years ago.

Třebíč is one of the oldest and most important centers of Jewish settlements. The pictoresque Jewish quarter was anaturally-evolving urban structure, complete with every element typical of a Jewish ghetto .

Photo by Ivan Rillich

Squeezed in between the Christian town and the lord´s estate , maximum use of the available space made further evolution of its buildings impossible. You find here both the dark passages and melancholy streets.
There were built two synagogues the Front one and the Rear one, a town hall, rabbinate, school, hospital, poorhouse and a large cemetery outside of town.

The Jewish community reached its maximum population in 1835 , when the Jews made up a quarter of the town´s population . During the Nazi genocide in 1939-1945 280 people were send to the concentration camps and only 10 persons survived.

In the former Jewish quarter today there are 123 numbered houses aside from the synagogues, from the old original hostoric district only five houses have been lost . It is the best preserved original Jewish quarter in Europa. - in: http://jewish.tourstoprague.com/main/trebic-polna/

Photo by Ivan Rillich

St. Procopius Basilica is a Romanesque-Gothic Christian church in Třebíč, Czech Republic. It was built on the site of the original Virgin Mary's Chapel of the Benedictine monastery in 1240-1280.

Photo by Libor Teplý

The basilica together with the Jewish Quarter in Třebíč were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
The basilica is the parish church of Třebíč castle, by which it is owned. The basilica is preserved in its original style to this day. - in: wikipedia

Landungsbrücken - Hamburg

"The St. Pauli Landungsbrücken (St. Pauli Landing Bridges), part of the Hamburg Harbour, are in the quarter St. Pauli of Hamburg, between the lower harbor and the Fischmarkt (Fish Market) directly on the Elbe River. 

DE-435832, sent by Lea. 

The Landungsbrücken today are a major tourist attraction and a central transportation hub, with S-Bahn, U-Bahn and boat stations. The eastern end of the building complex is marked by the Pegelturm (water level tower). Halfway up the tower, there is a water level indicator built into the wall, which gives the current condition of the tides.

 © Karten von Künstler René Menges

DE-7308233, sent by Wiebke.

The terminal building, built from volcanic tuff, and the piers were constructed between 1907 and 1909 in the same location as the old Landungsbrücken. It was designed as a representative shipping station by the architectural company of Raabe & Wöhlecke for the department of river and harbor construction of the construction deputation. With its length of 205 m, its numerous gateways to the ships' piers, its domes and towers, it sets a clear structural accent. The architectural sculptures were created by Arthur Bock.

The complex was classified as a historical monument on September 15, 2003." - in: wikipedia

Speicherstadt - Hamburg

Both these cards arrived in 2011. Five years later, Speicherstadt (along with Kontorhausviertel and Chilehaus) was classified as UNESCO WHS.
The 1st is a meeting card sent by Claus and the 2nd is was sent by Guilherme.

Speicherstadt (lit. 'warehouse city') is the world's largest complex of warehouses, spanning an area of 260,000 square metres. It was built into the Elbe river between 1883 and the late 1920s on thousands of oak poles as a free economic zone in Hamburg's port. Speicherstadt's beautiful neo-gothic brick architecture makes for an exciting contrast to the modern steel-and-glass constructions of neighbouring HafenCity. 
As of 2015, Speicherstadt (along with Kontorhausviertel and Chilehaus) proudly bears the honour of being Germany’s 40th UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the Committee, Speicherstadt — with its unique buildings and winding network of streets, canals and bridges — is an 'extraordinary example of representing one or more eras of human history'.

In 1871, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg became part of the German Empire, yet was able to maintain its own tax and customs regulations for a time. This privilege remained in place until 1881, when a new customs union was installed. From this point on, only the free port area along the Elbe river was exempt from import sales taxes and customs. The final annexation of Hamburg by the German Empire was scheduled for 1888, giving the city seven years to create new storage capacities inside the free port area. Before the construction of the warehouses could begin in 1883, around 24,000 people had to be evicted and around 1,100 houses torn down.          
In 1888, Emperor Wilhelm II inaugurated Speicherstadt on Emperor’s Day, 29 October, although only the first building phase had been completed. Interrupted by World War I, Speicherstadt construction was finished only in 1927. During World War II, Operation Gomorrha destroyed the western part of Speicherstadt. Reconstructions were finalized in 1967. And on 1 January 2013, an era came to a close when the free economic zone of Speicherstadt, which covered almost a fifth of Hamburg’s entire port area, was dissolved.
Today, Speicherstadt is host to an array of leisure activities. - in: https://www.hamburg.com