A Postcard a Day - Tuesday 21 March 2023 - T for

 Hello lovely ladies,

I'm still in the Netherlands as I am writing this on Monday evening. I'm having a lovely time with my mother. She will be 99 years old soon so I take every chance I get to visit her. We get on very well and I am enjoying my stay with her. More about what i have been up to a bit later, but first my postcard:

It is a lovely black and white photo of the Grossmünster door in Zürich.

Wikipedia writes this:

The Grossmünster  "great minster" is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city  Its congregation forms part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich. The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220.

The Grossmünster was a monastery church, vying for precedence with the Fraumünster across the Limmat throughout the Middle Ages. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix, Regula and Exuperantius, Zürich's patron saints. The legend helps support a claim of seniority over the Fraumünster, which was founded by Louis the German, Charlemagne's grandson. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site.

Huldrych Zwingli initiated the Swiss-German Reformation in Switzerland from his pastoral office at the Grossmünster, starting in 1520. 

Zwingli won a series of debates presided over by the magistrate in 1523 which ultimately led local civil authorities to sanction the severance of the church from the papacy. The reforms initiated by Zwingli and continued by his successor, Heinrich Bullinger, account for the plain interior of the church. 

Below: Zwingli preaching.

The iconoclastic reformers removed the organ and religious statuary in 1524. These changes, accompanied by abandonment of Lent, replacement of the Mass, disavowal of celibacy, eating meat on fast days, replacement of the lectionary with a seven-year New Testament cycle, a ban on church music, and other significant reforms make this church one of the most important sites in the history of the reformation and the birthplace of the Swiss-German reformation.

The postcard shows one of the beautiful doors of the minster.There are two bronze doors with 42 panels showing Biblical scenes and texts. The door on the postcard was added in 1950.

There is an explanation of each square on this website if you want to know more. It would be too much to write it all here. 

But I will show you the bottom row in more detail as it features four women from the Bible:

1. Text: und das | wort ward | fleisch und | wohnte | unter uns - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1,14)
2. RAHAB - Rahab the harlot, who believed and was saved (Joshua 2)
3. RUTH - The pious Ruth, who was born a pagan (Ruth)

1. BATHSEBA - Bathsheba the adulteress (2 Samuel 11)
2. MARIA - Mary, the Mother of the Lord (Matthew 1,18-25)
3. Text: Ja Ich kom | me bald | amen | komm Herr Jesus - Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22,20)

The sculptor is Otto Münch (Meißen 1885 - Zürich 1985) Otto Munch added the bronze doors in the north and south portals in 1935 and 1950.

The stamp is a digital stamp from France as that is where the card comes from. The sender lives 30 km from Lyon but has grandparents near Zürich.

So what have I been up to? I am in Rotterdam as mentioned before. 

I had spent a few days with my sister in Marbella before flying to Rotterdam airport.

I always cook nice things for my mum because she is blind and cannot cook for herself. Here is a cottage pie I made (Her favorite):

Not a very flattering photo of my mum, but hey...

I try to go for a walk every day so I'm not indoors all day. Spring is arriving in Holland too and there were bulbs everywhere along the walking paths:

Daffodils just starting to show their little faces.

Some crocusses already flowering.

Lots of daffodils.

I love daffodils.

My friend Ineke came by and we talked about our holiday to Italy this June. We are planning to travel from Holland to Italy in her small campervan (I think it's a VW).

On Sunday afternoon she invited me out to  lunch in a nice restaurant on the harbour front. Two other friends joined us.

This is the restaurant (It's called Twenty7):

We sat inside as it was really cold.

This is on the other side of the restaurant (where the yachtclub is):

We looked out onto the famous 'Swan' bridge and it happened to be open to let a barge through:

You can see the road bit completely vertical.

And here there were daffodils too:

As a starter we had oysters!!

I love oysters but they are not always in my budget...

And because today is T for Tuesday, I am glad that there were several glasses of 'bubbly' in sight.

That is all I have to tell you tonight. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be traveling to Spain and will be spending the night in Marbella. Then on Wednesday morning I will tackle the long bus journey back home. I'm not sure if I will have time to visit. I will probably visit quite late if at all. We'll see. I'll do my best.

Wishing you all a very happy T-Day!

Keep smiling,

Hugs,

Lisca