USA - Illinois

The Berghoff

During the 2016 holiday season I had lunch at Berghoff and the server gave us a free postcard.  Apparently they were cleaning out things upstairs and found boxes of Berghoff Postcards. 

For those who aren't from the Chicago area, The Berghoff Restaurant is one of the iconic and famous Chicago institutions.  Began in 1898 by German immigrant and brewer Herman Joseph Berghoff.  Located at 17 West Adams Street, and known for the iconic sign, the restaurant was issued the city's first liquor license at the end of Prohibition in 1933, an honor that is renewed each year. 

The restaurant closed supposedly permanently on February 28, 2006.  The announcement had been made two months earlier and for those months there were lines around the block in the frozen Chicago winter for people to get in again.  The turning off of the iconic sign was even featured on the evening news that night.   

Berghoff thankfully reopened later that year and still remains open to this day.

USA - Illinois

Pierre- Auguste Renoir, 1867 - Frederic Bazille (French, 1841-1870)

This painting of the famous artist Renoir was on loan from the Musee d' Orsay in Paris for the 2013 Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago.

USA - South Dakota

US-4424865

Redlin Art Center

This card comes from Redlin Art Center in Watertown, South Dakota.  It is home to over 150 of Terry Redlin's (July 11, 1937 – April 24, 2016) original oil paintings.

USA - Washington

This cards, one of the last she sent in 2016, comes from my friend Chanele.  The image of a book massive bookshelf reaching up towards a golden sun is just beautiful.  Considering I'm a fairly active reader (enough so that I at one point had a book blog with some publishers sending me the occasional book to read and review), this is a pretty awesome card.

Now, if only there were postcard companies that sent you free postcards to blog about.  Or, even better, companies that would send you on trips to far off, exotic places to blog about the postcards you got there and the interesting things you saw.  This really is something that people should look into, right?  Asking...for a friend....

Poland

Torun

Old Town Market Square

Hungary

Budapest

This card features various images of Budapest, capital of Hungary.  It comes from both my friends Chanele and Val who met up in Budapest in October 2016 to see the band The Cure preform live!

USA - Washington

Camille Claudel, 1864-1943

This card comes from my friend Val in Seattle is of the sculpture Perseus and the Gorgon in Paris.

USA - Washington

Central Washington University

This card comes from my friend Chanele of McConnell Auditorium in Ellensburg, Washington.  She said she got this card while at a truck stop in the town of George, Washington.  (haha!)

Belarus

BY-1890054

Minsk

The user quotes Lao Tzu, "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not meant an arriving."

USA - Colorado

Colorado

This postcard of Marcelina Mt. and Keebler Pass, Colorado comes from my young cousin Evy from a trip out to Colorado in August 2016.  Followers of the blog may recognize her as having sent a number of cards to me from "Troll Capital" Mount Horeb, Wisconsin.

USA - Indiana

This card originally was printed in Poland but was purchased in Indiana.  It shows two swans in a lake or other similar body of water mirroring each other.  The head and necks of the swans look like they're making a heart symbol. 

A perfect card for Saint Valentine's Day!

Switzerland

La Palma

This card of Canary Islands off of Spain comes from my friend Kate who lives in "Switzerfrance."

USA - Tennessee

Knoxville

East Tennessee Historical Center

Knoxville's historic Custom House, built in 1874, is home today to the East Tennessee Historical Society, the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection, and the Knox County Archives.  The ETHS Museum, located on the first floor, chronicles more than two centuries of the region's history.

This card comes from my friend Springheel-jack on livejournal.

USA - Washington State

Pioneer Hall - Central Washington State Fairgrounds

This card from Yakima, Washington comes from my friend Chanele.

USA - Indiana

James Dean

The late actor James Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955)'s grave in Fairmount, Indiana, coved in flowers from admirers. 

Poland

PL-1216817

Birkenau

A fragment of the camp where the barracks were built of brick.  In the forefront, the camp fence through which ran an electrical current and the guard towers for the SS guards.  The camps Auschwitz-Birkenau were named as UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1979. 

The camps were built and used by Germany during World War II to murder millions of Poles, Jews, Slavs, and Roma.

Australia

AU-491513

HRH Queen Elizabeth II

This Maxicard features Queen Elizabeth II in a photo dated in 1952.  A Maxicard is a postcard featuring a stamp of the same image (or complimentary image) usually on the front of the postcard and, in my experience with this blog, it seems Australia does this the most.  The card was canceled on the first day of issue of the stamp, September 9, 2015. 

Today marks the 65th anniversary since Queen Elizabeth II began her reign!

USA - New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Germany

Munchen

This card comes from my friend Val on a trip in 2016 to Europe.  The card features a number of sites of the city including the National Theater, Olympic park, Oktoberfest, and palaces. 

Canada

CA-627157

A cat with a wig and a cowboy hat.