When Home is a Resort

Timberline Lodge is at the top of Mount Hood in Oregon. It is a lovely lodge, very mid-20th century looking. There is skiing on Mount Hood pretty much year round. We were there in late June a few years ago and watched skiers and snowboarders from the lodge.

Julie worked at nearby Mount Hood Meadows, which also has a lodge, but not nearly as nice as Timberline. She writes that Mount Hood is a beautiful mountain to have in your backyard.

There was an article on CNN just recently about a man who grew up in Timberline Lodge. Jeff Kohnstamm's family has operated the lodge for half a century. He and other's who work to keep the place operating have a book due out this fall called Timberline Lodge: A Love Story -- Diamond Jubilee Edition.

A Tiger in New York

Cathy adopted this card and she writes that as a photographer this is one of her favorite places to create images. The open air markets, music and games played in the park make for a wonderful palette.

Cathy added the tiger stickers to the commemorative Year of the Rooster postage because 2010 is the Year of the Tiger. The postage stamp is from 2005. The USPS did a series of postage stamps with the woodcut design, but that series ended three years ago. The new series features the art of Kam Mak, an artist who grew up in New York City's Chinatown and now lives in Brooklyn. This year's stamp is a beautiful bouquet of narcissus.

Castle on the Mall

The "Mall" in Washington, D.C., is not a shopping destination, although you could spend a lot of money in the many museums that line this wide-open stretch of green and monuments. The Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) is more an administration building than a museum. It is a good starting point for visiting the many museums and galleries around the Mall, and beyond.

All these are under the amazing Smithsonian, an organization with a history that boggles the imagination. The funding for the initial construction came from the estate of a 19th century British scientist who had never visited the United States, but wanted this institution to "increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." No one knows why James Smithson left his fortune to a country he had never visited and had no known connection to, but we are forever grateful to him for this national treasure.

Juli adopted this card and also notes that one of her favorite Smithsonian museums is not actually on the Mall. It is a few blocks away and I'm sure it would be a favorite of all this blog's readers, too. The National Postal Museum is a must see for all of us.

Of Towers and Torture

This beautiful place in Siena, Italy, is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. There are fourteen towers in San Gimignano that have defied the destruction other old towers in Italy have endured as a result of war and natural disaster. Those towers (only some are featured in this view) have become the city's international symbol. This picture also features the vineyards, which are famous for the white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

And while this place is indeed a treasure, it is also the home to a popular torture museum where all variety of devices meant to cause human suffering. Marie writes that it first seems like a joke but soon into the tour you are forced to realize that this is real, and it exists side-be-side with the beauty outside.

Moon Walk on Earth

Glenn says walking on Table Mountain in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada, is a bit like walking on the moon. The geology is quite out-of-this-world. The geological history of this region is quite amazing, and is why it is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The ultramafic rock, forced up from the earth's mantle during a period of continental drift more than a billion years ago.

Glenn also writes that the area is "a very quiet place and you will certainly feel you are a very tiny part of the whole scheme of things when standing there." It does seem that among all the hustle and noise of everyday life, it can feel like the world is too small and there is no place to escape.

Train Musing

This is the train station in Hameenlinnan, Finland. The drawing features the building from the 1890s.

Jade writes a lot about train travel on this card. She passes by Hameenlinnan quite often because it is between Tampere, where she currently lives, and Riihimaki, where she has also lived. And, you have to go to Riihimaki, if you want to get to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Jade does not have a driver's license, something that is pretty much an oddity in the US, but quite common in other parts of the world, so she relies on trains for her travels.

Jade has been to this train station many times, but has no photographs. She describes a rather nondescript building with benches painted a "tacky turquoise." It is "one of those places most train travellers just pass by on their way to some other place." That may be, but this postcard of that "unseen" building now has a personality and is certainly descript  thanks to Jade.

The postage is an unusual teardrop shape, and very glittery. It is one of a set of Valentine themed postage stamps. The birds are swans, Finland's national bird, and they are entwined in a lover's embrace. The rest of the stamps can be viewed at the Finnish postal service site, which is in English! It is also available in Finnish, but I am super impressed that there is English translation for everything.

Double Aachen

These cards so complement each other, that I can't resist putting them in the same post. Marie in Germany adopted both and she managed to fit an amazing amount of information on the backs.

The first view is stunningly romantic. Those lit windows on the left ... they must be in a café because what else would be so lit up at night ... so warm and cozy. It looks like the street is slick with recent rain, too, adding to the romance.

Marie writes that the city is home to a famous university with 30,000 students, some of whom must be studying in that lit café, don't you think? And the town hall, next to the cathedral (but not visible in postcard), reminds Marie of Hogwarts, the Harry Potter castle. Oh, Marie is doing her best to convince me a trip to Aachen should be in my near future.

The vintage card shows the cathedral with a bit more detail. It is the oldest cathedral in Northern Europe. It is also the first German site to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. Over the years chapels were built around the original cathedral, which you can see in this photo. Lots of different architectural styles!

Marie moved to Aachen five years ago for university, and likes it so much she calls it home. I can well understand why. It is indeed a lovely city.