Postcrossing - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is a city and the administrative centre of Kamchatka Krai, Russia. It is located in the far east of the country and lies along the coast of Avacha Bay by the Pacific Ocean. The city is situated at sea level and surrounded by volcanoes. The surrounding terrain is mountainous enough that the horizon cannot be seen clearly from any point in town. Across Avacha Bay from the city of Vilyuchinsk is Russia's largest submarine base, the Rybachiy Nuclear Submarine Base, established during the Soviet period and still used by the Russian Navy.

 

#65 FOTW - Casablanca, Morocco

The flag of Morocco is the flag used by the government of Morocco and has served as the national flag of Morocco since 17 November 1915. It has a red field with a green pentagram in the centre. The green star represents the five pillars of Islam, and the red represents the ancestors' blood and unity.

 

Sandolltium illustration - Seoul, South Korea

Seoul proper is noted for its population density, which is almost twice that of New York City and eight times greater than Rome. Its metropolitan area was the most densely populated among OECD countries in Asia in 2012, and second worldwide after that of Paris.

 

Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site - Baddeck, Canada

Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site is a 10-hectare property in Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, overlooking the Bras d'Or Lakes. The site is a unit of Parks Canada, the national park system, and includes the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, which contains the largest repository of artefacts and documents from Bell's years of experimental work in Baddeck. This site was designated a National Historic Site in 1952.

 

Rilakkuma - Esashi, Japan

Esashi was a city located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is currently part of the city of Ōshū. A village was created within Esashi District on April 1, 1899, with the establishment of the municipalities system. On February 10, 1955, it annexed the neighbouring town of Iwayado and the villages of Inase, Atago, Tahara, Hirose, Sunagawa, Tamasato, Fujisato, Yonesato and Ide to form Esashi town. Esashi was raised to city status on November 3, 1958.

 

Souk Fakharine in Marrakech - Berlin, Germany

Pass Souk el Styleyah on the left and continue to Souk el Fakharine, the next opening on the right.  Turn and walk through an exquisite display of pottery, then to the left a few steps down to a metal workers section.  Around you are brass shops with artisans chiselling out plates that glimmer in the sun.  Between them are stores that exhibit eye-catching traditional silver jewellery and other metal products.  If you wish to purchase Berber ornaments or shining brass articles, bargain.

 

#64 GF - Bratislava, Slovakia

Bratislava is located in southwestern Slovakia at the foot of the Little Carpathians, occupying both banks of the Danube and the left bank of the Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only capital of the country that borders two sovereign states.

 

Union Station in Saint Louis - Johnstown, Pennsylvania

St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark and former train station in St. Louis, Missouri. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day in the 1940s. The last Amtrak passenger train left the station in 1978.

 

#64 FOTW - Bangkok, Thailand

The flag of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colours red, white, blue, white and red, with the central blue stripe being twice as wide as each of the other four. The design was adopted on 28 September 1917, according to the royal decree issued by Rama VI. Since 2016, that day has been a national day of importance in Thailand celebrating the flag. The colours are said to stand for nation-religion-king, an unofficial motto of Thailand, red for the land and people, white for religions and blue for the monarchy, the last having been the auspicious colour of Rama VI.

 

Struve Geodetic Arc - Kuopio, Finland

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulation measurements stretching from the Arctic Sea to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. 

This helped establish the exact size and shape of our planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists from different countries and of collaboration between monarchs for a scientific cause. The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed Unesco World Heritage site includes 34 of the original station points, with different markings, i.e. a drilled hole in a rock, iron cross, cairns, or built obelisks.

 

Large Letter Reprint - Charleston, West Virginia

Nickname: Mountain State

Mottos: Montani semper liberi - Mountaineers Are Always Free

The beginning of outdoor advertising is considered to be 1908, when the Block Brothers Tobacco Company in Wheeling, placed on all the bridges and barns in the area the sign: "Treat yourself the best, chew Mail Pouch" (Mail Pouch was the type of tobacco produced by this company).

 

Year of the Dog - Singapore

The Dog is the eleventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Dog is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 戌. The character, also refers to the actual animal while, also referring to the zodiac animal.

 

Postcrossing Meeting in Shanghai - Shanghai, China

Shanghai Disneyland is a theme park located in Chuansha New Town, Pudong, Shanghai, China, that is part of the Shanghai Disney Resort. Construction began on April 8, 2011. The park opened on June 16, 2016. The park operated in its first half-year with a visitor attendance of 5.60 million guests.

 

#63 GF - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north central Mongolia at an elevation of about 1,300 meters in a valley on the Tuul River. The city was originally founded in 1639 as a nomadic Buddhist monastic centre, changing location 28 times, and was permanently settled at its current location in 1778.

 

Postcrossing Meeting in Mariehamn - Mariehamn, Aland Islands

Mariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. The theme of the coat of arms of Mariehamn refers to the city's main livelihood, maritime transport, and the city's parks, which are typically lined with linden trees.

 

#63 FOTW - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The national flag of Malaysia, also known as the Stripes of Glory is composed of a field of 14 alternating red and white stripes along the fly and a blue canton bearing a crescent and a 14-point star known as the Bintang Persekutuan (Federal Star). 

The 14 stripes, of equal width, represent the equal status in the federation of the 13 member states and the federal territories, while the 14 points of the star represent the unity among these entities. 

The crescent represents Islam, the country's state religion; the blue canton symbolises the unity of the Malaysian people; the yellow of the star and crescent is the royal colour of the Malay rulers.

 

Mount Hood - San Diego, California

Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. In addition to being Oregon's highest mountain, it is one of the loftiest mountains in the nation based on its prominence, and it offers the only year-round lift-served skiing in North America.

 

Loupaper Breads - Milan, Italy

Focaccia is a flat-leavened oven-baked Italian bread. In some contemporary places, such as Rome, it is a style of pizza, also called pizza bianca ("white pizza"). Focaccia may be served as a side dish or as sandwich bread and may be round, rectangular, or square.