A Postcard A Day - Friday 21 July 2023 - Friday Smiles

 Hello lovely ladies,

How are you all? I have nearly melted! My outdoor thermometer (in the shade) has just registered 42 degrees! But I'm indoors, under the fan, typing away.

Let me show you my postcard for today:

People know that I like postcards from UNESCO World Heritage Sites as they are always worth looking into. This card is from Wismar, with its proper title Hansestadt. 

A Hansestadt is a town that is part of the Hanseatic league. In the Middle Ages the Hanse (Hanseatic League) was a powerful alliance of independent trading centres on the Baltic and North Sea coasts. Its aim was to represent and protect the common commercial interests of its members.  

It has about 45000 inhabitants. Wismar retains much of its charm and many reminders of its days as a member of the Hanseatic League and over more than 250 years of Swedish control (1648-1903). It sustained limited bombing during WWII which preserved many of its brick buildings with gabled store fronts and half-timbered buildings.

Wismar was part of East Germany under Soviet Control until the Wall fell in 1989. Many of the buildings in the Old City (Altstadt) have been preserved.

The large white building top left is a ship wharf. Wismar city is one of three cruise ship-producing locations of MV Werften (along with Rostock and Stralsund), and the shipyard with its tall white-blue hall is one of the city's largest employers.

The card was sent by Postcrosser Gabriele and she tells me she and her husband had been to Wismar and stayed  in the red building on the left. 

The stamps are very interesting, especially the large one. It features Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808-1881).

He was a founder of the Home Mission movement in Germany. 

Wikipedia writes: Wichern was born in Hamburg into a family of poverty, together with seven siblings. He became headteacher of a Sunday school in St. Georg, Hamburg which proved very successful, and in 1833 opened his Rauhes Haus at Horn, Hamburg. Wichern became especially known for recruiting and training a corps of "brothers" who helped educate and discipline wayward boys and men and tend to the needs of the poor. He founded hostels across Germany that were supposed to provide a refuge, free of alcohol and gambling, to journeymen and other travellers. In his writings and speeches, Wichern promoted the ideal of Christian voluntarism to assist the poor, criminals, and disabled^[1] and heal the class and political divides in Germany surrounding the Revolution of 1848 (which he loathed).^[2][3] He is also credited with inventing the (now traditional) Advent wreath in 1839.

So, what have I been up to then? My highlights are always the times I spend with friends. Living alone, socialising is very important. Quite soon after I'd come home from my travels, there was the annual 'do' with the gym ladies. The only man in the group is the teacher!

I'm on the right, sitting next to the teacher.

The custom here is to bring dishes to the table which we then share. Below is one of the dishes:

The Spanish eat a lot of seafood and fish. Luckily I love that too. The above dish is squid.

Another highlight was when Kim and Andy treated me to lunch. We stayed local and went to the same restaurant as the above photo.

We had a lovely meal and of course it's great to spend time together. We never seem to run out of things to talk about.

In spite of the heat, I have managed to tidy up and clean my patio. It looks quite liveable now (although it's too hot to sit there in the day time).

I have a lemon tree. It has survived my absence.

And if you look closely, you'll see a single baby lemon on the right hand side.

I have since cut away the 'suckers' at the bottom.

As you can see, I have an orange sun shade, so it has tinged the photos with orange. 

That is all from me today. I'm going to visit Annie at A Stitch In Time for some more smiles.

And of course there are some funnies for you at the end.

Have a lovely weekend,

Hugs,

Lisca