FINLAND - The Old Church of Petajavesi

"The Petäjävesi Old Church (Finnish: Petäjäveden vanha kirkko) is a wooden church located in Petäjävesi, Finland. It was built between 1763 and 1765, when Tavastia was still a part of Sweden. The bell tower was built in 1821. It was inscribed in 1994 on the UNESCO World Heritage List."

JAPAN

ENGLAND - Braithwaite

Braithwaite , a village in the Lake District in Cumbria, northern England.This is a very nice place to go for a holiday especially if you like walking or climbing mountains. Another great card from Gordon. Thank you!

MOROCCO - Mosques

Casablanca (Grand Mosque HASSAN II) - Marrkesh (Place Djemaa El Fna) - Rabat (Mausolee MOHAMMED V) -  Meknes (Bab Mansour ) - FES (Mosque KARAOUIYINE)

Thank you Sophia for the nice card.

CANADA - Ontario Parliament Buildings

Ontario Parliament Buildings:

Completed in 1880, the red sandstone building was reportedly haunted by ghosts of three woman and a soldier from an asylum formerly on the site.  Now it is politicians, tourists and students who haunt the richly decorated and glossy wood-paneled rooms.

Thank you Mary Ann for the wonderful Toronto card.

"The Ontario Legislative Building is a structure in central Toronto, Ontario, that houses the viceregal suite of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and offices for members of the provincial parliament. The building is surrounded by Queen's Park, sitting on that part south of Wellesley Street, which is the former site of King's College."

HAWAII - Sea Turtle

From Hawaii, Chloe sent this sea turtle card.  I just love the nice color on this card.  The card reads; Endangered sea turtles are making a dramatic comeback in Pacific water.  It is now a more familiar sight to diving enthusiasts.

RUSSIA - Russian Famous Rulers

ENGLAND - CARRS of Carlisle

"Carr's is the name of foodstuff and agricultural brands historically derived from founder Jonathan Dodgson Carr, but now owned and marketed by more than one separate company.

In 1831, Carr formed a small bakery and biscuit factory in the English city of Carlisle; he received a royal warrant in 1841. Within fifteen years of being founded, it was the largest baking business in Britain. His business was both a mill and a bakery, an early example of vertical integration, and he produced bread by night and biscuits by day. The biscuits were loosely based on dry biscuits used on long voyages by sailors. They could be kept crisp and fresh in tins, and despite their fragility could easily be transported to other parts of the country by canal and railway."

GREECE - Meteora: Monasteries of Varlaam and Metamorfoseos

Vlad of Romania, my postcard pals sent me this card of Meteora, Greece. Thank you for the nice card, Vlad.

"Varlaam Monastery (or Barlaam Monastery) in the Meteora is named for the monk who first built a tiny chapel on this rocky promontory in the 14th century. It has an elegant church with 16th-century frescoes by a well-known iconographer and other notable buildings."

GUERNSEY - Christmas Card 2014

Thank you Denise of Guernsey for the nice Christmas Card.

ETHIOPIA - Simen Mountain National Park

"Simien Mountains National Park is one of the national parks of Ethiopia. Located in the Semien (North) Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, its territory covers the Simien Mountains and includes Ras Dashan, the highest point in Ethiopia. It is home to a number of endangered species, including the Ethiopian wolf and the walia ibex, a wild goat found nowhere else in the world.

It was one of the first sites to be made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1978). However, due to serious population declines of some of its characteristic native species, in 1996 it was also added to the List of World Heritage in Danger."

The stamps was issued in 2003 and is 1 of 25 in definitive set.

NEW JERSEY - New Jersey Map Card

New Jersey map card from Papa Plus. Thank you!

"New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York State, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, and on the southwest by Delaware. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state, but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States."

UTAH - Box Death Hollow

"Box-Death Hollow Wilderness is a 25,751 acres (104 km2) wilderness area located in south-central Utah, United States, on the Dixie National Forest. Vertical gray-orange walls of Navajo sandstone stand above two canyon tributaries of the Escalante River in Box-Death Hollow. The name Death Hollow gives reference to a number of livestock that plunged to their death trying to cross the steep canyon."

INDONESIA - Borobudur

Thank you Herlina my postcard penpals for the Borobudur card.

"Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument consists of six square platforms topped by three circular platforms and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues each of which is seated inside a perforated stupa. It is the world’s largest Buddhist temple, as well as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world." WIKI

TATARSTAN - Kazan. V I Ulyanov-Lenin University

This card shows an old picture of Kazan, V I Ulyanov-Lenin University. Thanking Tatiana from Ukraine for the great swap.

"Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (Russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет; Tatar Cyrillic: Казан (Идел Буе) федераль университеты, Latin: Qazan federal universitetı) is located in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. It was established in 2010 on the basis of the former Kazan State University, originally founded in 1804 as Kazan Imperial University. Kazan University is the second oldest of the current Russian universities. The famous mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky was its rector from 1827 until 1846. In 1925, the university was renamed in honour of its most famous alumnus, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin)."

CHINA - Sun Yat-Sen

"Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China, and medical practitioner. As the foremost pioneer of Republic of China, Sun is referred to as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China (ROC), and the "forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China. Sun played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the years leading up to the Double Ten Revolution.

He was appointed to serve as Provisional President of the Republic of China, when it was founded in 1912. He later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT), serving as its first leader. Sun was a uniting figure in post-Imperial China, and remains unique among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered amongst the people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Although Sun is considered one of the greatest leaders of modern China, his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile."

PALESTINE - Panoramic view of Palestine Jerusalam

This is my first card from Palestinian Authority sent by Hazim.  Thank you very much Hazim.

"Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is sometimes considered to include adjoining territories. The name was used by Ancient Greek writers, and was later used for the Roman province Syria Palaestina, the Byzantine Palaestina Prima and the Umayyad and Abbasid province of Jund Filastin. The region is also known as the Land of Israel, the Holy Land or Promised Land,  Situated at a strategic location between Egypt, Syria and Arabia, and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, the region has a long and tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. 

The region has been controlled by numerous peoples, including Ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, the Sunni Arab Caliphates, the Shia Fatimid Caliphate, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mameluks, Mongols, Ottomans, the British and modern Israelis and Palestinians. The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history. The modern definition of the region was fixed in the North and East by the 1920–23 Paulet–Newcombe Agreement and British Mandate for Palestine, and on the South by the 1906 Turco-Egyptian boundary agreement. Today, the region comprises the State of Israel and Palestinian territories in which the State of Palestine was declared. - Wiki-"

USA - Michelle Obama

"Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American lawyer and writer. She is the wife of the 44th and current President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, she is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and spent the early part of her legal career working at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met Obama. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical Center."

GERMANY - Munchen

"Munich is the capital and largest city of the German state of Bavaria, on the banks of River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg."

INDONESIA - Raja Ampat Islands in Papua

Thank you Yanita for the wonderful card of Raja Ampat Islands in Papua. I earn a nickname from her!

"Located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's West Papua province, Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau."