Ladispoli

Castello di Palo

My friend went to Ladispoli to do her internship. This town is at the Tyrrhenian Sea shore, next to Rome. 

She said all the time that there was nothing but the sea and the hotel where she worked.
The Palo Castle was built in 1500 to replace an older fort in the site. The name Palo comes from the word 'Palus' which is swamps in Latin. There were big swamps around the area, that's where the name comes from. According to records, many important men from Italan history had spent time in the castle: popes and the members of the Orsini family. The castle today is a property of the Odescalchi family, as it was for a long time during history.
Even if this small town has no more sight to see, this castle is pretty interesting :)
Love the colours of this photo.

From: K. L.

Date: May 2011

Macchu Picchu

This postcard is absolutely one of the crown pieces of my collection.
The background story is that my friend spent a month in Peru and of course she took the chance to climb the Macchu Picchu.

 Fun fact is that the name means in Quechua languge: 'Old Peak.' This old peak rises 2430 meter high above sea level. The ruins of the ancient Inca Empire were declared as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.

My image of Peru comes from my childhood, namely from the Disney movie, The Emperor's New Groove.
These ancient ruins are my real Cuzcotopia.

From: M. H.

Date: April 2011

Funny Easter in Germany

Oh you stupid egg!

It was Easter time during our trip in Munich and I found some cute rabbits :)

Date: April 2011

Neuschwanstein Castle

This place is fabolous, literally.
The Neuschwanstein Castle is about 2 hours away by train from Munich. From Schwangau, a bus takes visitors to a certain point of the mountain, from where you have to climb.
I studied about the castle at the uni, that it was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria, as an honour to the composer Richard Wagner, the construction lasted until 1886. Its style follows the taste of the era, it revives different classical styles, including Romanesque and Gothic.
We took part in a guided tour inside the castle: I remember so well the artificial grotto 'cause it was so surprising! Many beautiful adorned halls and corridors, I loved it, and from the terrace you have a breathtaking panorama to the neighbouring Alpsee lake and the surrounding mountains.
Next to the castle there is a waterfall and a little narrow bridge over it.
Fun fact is that the castle influenced Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle and therefore the Disney logo itself. Fabolous, I told you ;)

Date: April 2011

The Munich Trip

And finally... it was the time when we went to Munich! :)
It was in my final semester of the Bachelor degree, the semester at the uni where the protagonist is the 30 pages long thesis which had to be completed by the 15 April. I remember I was totally fed up, I finally handed it in and the day after we took the train to Munich to visit my friend :)
My first impression of the city was: 'Oh my, it's so tidy!' Our friends took us everywhere in the city: the Frauenkirche, the Olympiapark, the English Garden, we saw the BMW headquarters, the Maximilianeum, the Glyptotek, the Leopold Triumphal Arch. To my favor, my dear friends came also to the Alte Pinakothek with me to take a look around :) We also spent one day at the Neuschwanstein Castle.
My favourite was the English Garden and the Olympiapark where there was a beautiful pink cherry blossom tree, blooming :)
These four days were spent pleasantly.

Date: April 2011

Destination: München

My friend finally moved to Munich with her boyfriend for a longer period. This is the first Munich postcard which she sent to me from her new place :)
Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of the city.

From: H. Á.

Date: March 2011

It's ski time!

A lovely postcard depicting a ski resort in the Tatra Mountains in Poland, where my friend went on skiing. Even though I've never been to skiing, I can feel the its atmosphere from this photo and the warmth of the cabins :)

From: K. L.

Date: March 2011

Hundertwasserhaus

This postcard is one of my favourites :) It's big!
The Hundertwasserhaus is absolutely my favourite landscape of Vienna.
The building is a realization of one of the magnificent ideas of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The Austrian artist was primarily a painter but he was also interested in architecture. He designed the building with the help of architect Josef Krawina, and the planner was Peter Pelikan and it was built between 1983-85.
It's a fairytale all in all, the colourful blocks and the forested rooftop terrace are amazing.
Background story: We travelled to Vienna to watch the Frida Kahlo exhibition and during our excursion we visited the Hundertwasserhaus too.

Date: December 2010

Un gatto di Roma & Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

A cat in the Colosseum

My friend was so nice she brought me two postcards from her Rome trip. The first one is an iconic scene from the Colosseum which has many of the feline inhabitants.

We also had a calendar of the topic: Gatti di Roma which translates: Cats of Rome - cats captured at all important monuments of the city.

The Ganges from the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi with the Sant' Agnese in Agone in the background

The fountain was designed by the artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The figures of the fountain bear symbolic meaning that is really interesting: the figures are river-gods representing the longest rivers known at the time when the fountain was built in 1651. Those rivers are the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile and the Río de la Plata. Each river, at the same time, represents a continent.
The Danube touches the pope's coat of arms, since it's the river closest to the Vatican. It has flowers at the base reflecting the fertility of the Danubian plains. The Ganges carries a long oar referring the river's navigability. The Nile, accompanied by a palm tree, can be seen with his head covered, a metaphor that at that time, no one knew exactly where its source was. The Río de la Plata has a pile of coins at the base, referring the sources of precious metal of South America, therefore the richness that it can offer to Europe ('Plata' in Spanish means silver). The Río de la Plata is scared by a snake, an allegory of rich people's fear that their money can be stolen. An Egyptian obelisk is placed in the center, it was reused from the ancient Roman Circus of Maxentius.

From: K. L.

Date: November 2010