Postcards for the Weekend: Aerial views

This weekend the theme of Postcards for the Weekend is 'Aerial views'.

I'd like to share postcards of three cities in the Netherlands. Haarlem, Amersfoort and Utrecht are rather unknown to tourists and other visitors from abroad, but I think them pretty cities, worth a visit.



The postcard above shows part of the city center of Haarlem, in the province Noord-Holland in the west of the Netherlands. Did you know that Harlem (New York) was named after this city?
In Haarlem there's (besides the Frans Hals Museum) the Netherlands' oldest museum, the Teylers Museum. This museum is located at the river Spaarne, which you can see clearly on this aerial view.



Amersfoort is a city more eastwards, in the central province of Utrecht. The inner city of Amersfoort has been preserved well since the Middle Ages: among others, part of the old city wall and gates still are there. This aerial view offers an impression of the medieval city-architecture. However, Amersfoort meanwhile has grown, outside the city wall, to a city of 155,000 inhabitants in the municipality (and 287,110 in the metropole).



More or less inbetween Haarlem and Amersfoort there is the capital of the province Utrecht: the city of the same name. Utrecht has a pretty city center, too. You can wander, shop, and take a coffee or tea (and lunch and dine) at terraces located besides the canals. A landmark is the Dom Tower. You can see the tower on this postcard. It is the tallest belfry in the Netherlands, but an even more special thing about this tower is, that it has been separated from the rest of the Dom Church. You can read the story here, and do you notice this fact, when looking close at the postcard?


Sometimes I wonder if birds - for whom aerial views might be normal - would see the same things as we see, I guess they will focus on other details when flying above our cities :-)


I hope you've enjoyed watching my contribution for this weekend. Be sure to check Connections to the World and the links mentioned there, to see what more beautiful things postcards lovers are showing for this week's Postcards for the Weekend!

Out: to Sri Lanka

I had sent a small picture of the Amersfoort railway station on a multiview card to Ravindra already. Recently I found an other postcard. With indeed exactly the same photo, but a larger, easier visible one, so now it is on its way to Sri Lanka.

As Ravindra loves lighthouses, too, I added this recently issued stamp on the back.



(I've reserved one of this stamp to send to you, too, Eva! :-) )

Sunday Stamps: scenery

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Scenery'.
When I think of 'scenery' I think of beautiful natural panoramic views. Ay... my first thought was that I wouldn't find any Dutch scenery stamp at all... Because in our country there's hardly 'real' nature left. Everywhere you can see some signs of urbanization, highways, industry, etcetera. And the agricultural land is cultivated, so I didn't consider it original nature either.

However, triggered by Eva's post for Sunday Stamps, showing Dutch stamps, I realized that meadows cause a 'scenery' which is said to be typically Dutch.
Searching my stamps, there appeared to be even more stamps which might be suitable for this Sunday's theme. Mainly in a stamp sheet serie, which started in 2005, named 'Mooi Nederland' ('Beautiful Netherlands').

The first to show has been issued in 2005 and shows the surroundings of Nederland, a village in the east of our country:



The place name sign 'Nederland' has been stolen several times, which you can see on the pictures of the 'postzegelblog' ('stamps blog') post.
The missing stamps in this blog post haven't been stolen, I simply have used them for my outgoing mail. Just in time scanned the rest of the stamp sheet!..

Other 'Mooi Nederland' stamp sheets showing some scenery are, among others, the following ones:

This one has been issued in 2008 for the city of Amersfoort. This city is located in the center of the Netherlands, and is surrounded by beautiful woods on the south part, and meadows (and highways and industry) on the other parts:



The scenery, in this stamp defined by a profile portrait of the Dutch painter Piet Mondriaan, shows part of the 'Heiligenbergbeek', by whose creek the water of the canals of Amersfoort keeps on being freshened.

These - issued in 2007 - stamp sheets proof there's a lot of water in many Dutch sceneries.
The stamps themselves show urban views, but the rest of the stamp sheets show some more Dutch scenery, surrounding Edam (in the north west province Noord-Holland):



And surrounding Leerdam (in the south west province Zuid-Holland):



Well, when thinking of these cities, almost no Dutch person will think of nature or scenery, they will think of the products these cities are famous for: Edam for its cheese, and Leerdam for its glass industry...

Going back in time, the 'gulden' era, scenic stamps have been issued, too. I gathered them in one scan (please click picture to enlarge).
The four stamps on the left show parks. One of them is a protected nature area called Weerribben, and happens to be close to the village named Nederland.
The two stamps on the right show two other, totally different types of Dutch scenery: heather, which turns purple so beautifully in August, and dunes, famous for not only protecting our country from the sea but also for their typical dune flora and fauna.



And in the middle there's a scenic view painted by the famous painter Vincent van Gogh, accompanied by one of his quotes. Food for thought, considering my search for natural scenery: 'want men ziet de natuur door zijn eigen temperament', which means: 'because one sees nature through his own temper'.

See more - beautiful! - sceneries on stamps at, and via, Violet's Sunday Stamps!