Wild Postcards

Anneli was kind enough to send this reproduction of a turn of the (20th) century divided-back card from Finland; it is the first card of this type I’ve seen that’s not in the English language.

She translates the poem as: “I would love to make a band of beautiful flowers for you, my friend, friend whose picture is in my heart.”

Anneli was kind enough to send this reproduction of a turn of the (20th) century divided-back card from Finland; it is the first card of this type I’ve seen that’s not in the English language. She translates the poem as: “I would love to make a band of beautiful flowers for you, my friend, friend [...]

The description on this postcard (in Finnish) says that it is a reprint of a 1920 photo by Lauri Marjanen of Puijontie (“street of Puijo”) in Kuopio, Finland. Today, Puijo Hill is a major tourist attraction. In addition to one of Finland’s first nature preserves, an area of about two square kilometers (which doesn’t sound like much, but that works out to nearly 500 acres), Puijo is home to a winter sports center and frequently hosts Nordic Ski Jumping World Cup events.

At the peak of the 150-meter (~500 foot) hill is a 75-meter tall observation tower, complete with souvenir shop and rotating restaurant. Jenni, who sent this card along from Kuopio, says that, in 1920, there was a 24-meter observation tower at the top of the hill, presumably not as fancy. The old tower was demolished in 1963 to make way for the new one.

Tampere, Finland has a similar observation tower, called Näsinneula (see a postcard of Näsinneula here); they borrowed the idea of a rotating restaurant from Puijo Hill.

The description on this postcard (in Finnish) says that it is a reprint of a 1920 photo by Lauri Marjanen of Puijontie (“street of Puijo”) in Kuopio, Finland. Today, Puijo Hill is a major tourist attraction. In addition to one of Finland’s first nature preserves, an area of about two square kilometers (which doesn’t sound [...]

I had sent Jenna, my favorite Finnish Postcrosser, a postcard showing the observation tower atop Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, and received this in return, in yesterday’s mail.  After seeing the mountaintop tower (which needs no pillar to stand on in order to be above everything else), Jenna observed, “Your observation tower is a little bit different (from ours).”  Actually, even at first glance, I would say that it bears a striking resemblance to another American tower.  Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Näsinneula is an observation tower in Tampere, Finland, overseeing Lake Näsijärvi. It was built in 1970–1971 and was designed by Pekka Ilveskoski. It is the tallest free-standing structure in Finland and the tallest observation tower in the Nordic countries at a height of 168 metres. The tower opened in 1971 and is located in the Särkänniemi leisure centre. There is a revolving restaurant in the tower 124 metres above the ground. One revolution takes 45 minutes. The design of Näsinneula was inspired by the Space Needle in Seattle (emphasis added). The idea of a rotating restaurant was taken from the Puijo tower in Kuopio.

So Näsinneula was ours first.  Sorry, Jenna!

Also in yesterday’s mail was an actual greeting card, apparently sent in lieu of a postcard, from 12-year-old Arttu in Hämeenlinna:

I had sent Jenna, my favorite Finnish Postcrosser, a postcard showing the observation tower atop Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, and received this in return, in yesterday’s mail.  After seeing the mountaintop tower (which needs no pillar to stand on in order to be above everything else), Jenna observed, “Your observation tower is [...]

Since I still haven’t reimbursed myself for my sleep deficit that’s been going on since the 4th of July, and I have nothing especially brilliant on tap for Two for Tuesday, I’m going to cheat and just post yesterday’s mail: two “official” Postcrossing postcards.  The first postcard came from a sender right here in the USA, postmarked 1 July:

It’s a reproduction of Marc Chagall’s “Over the Town” which he apparently worked on for four years, from 1914-1918, and currently hangs in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.  This card contained no message except for a return address label (a label!).  In fairness, there is a smiley face drawn next to the Postcrossing postcard ID — but would it kill you to say hi?

By contrast, the second card is from a ten-year-old girl named Sanna, in Finland, postmarked 30 June:

Unfortunately, the card yields no useful information about the scene or its location.  Sanna, however, seems especially chatty.  The message, as well as my address, were apparently (and laboriously) hand-written first in pencil, then traced over in ink: “Hi! My name is Sanna. I’m 10 y.o. I’m from Finland. I like dogs. I have got two dogs. I play the piano. I like bakeing. Bye-bye.”  Not too shabby, considering that she’s ten and English is not her native language — but my point is that she’s only ten, and she gets the point of sharing postcards with others.

Since I still haven’t reimbursed myself for my sleep deficit that’s been going on since the 4th of July, and I have nothing especially brilliant on tap for Two for Tuesday, I’m going to cheat and just post yesterday’s mail: two “official” Postcrossing postcards.  The first postcard came from a sender right here in the [...]