Hello lovely girls,
In my last blogpost (Tuesday) I mentioned I was traveling to Italy. The reason was that my son is celebrating his 50th birthday on the 28th (today). He hasn't been able to get the evening off, so there is a familia lunch planned for tomorrow, so I will be able to tell you about that on Tuesday.
Although I am writing this in Italy, the card I am about to show you comes all the way from China.
It shows a high speed train. I love trains and train travel so I am delighted with this postcard. For those who are interested, it is a Fuxing CR400BF Electric multiple unit.
The Internet tells me: The Fuxing Hao (meaning “Rejuvenation”) is China's independently developed next-generation standard EMU (Electric Multiple Unit) train. CR400 Series: Flagship high-speed models running at 350 km/h on major trunk lines like Beijing–Shanghai.
The back of the card has multiple stamps:
The stamp in the top right corner is in commemoration of the opening of the Bejing-Shanghai High Speed Railway.
Wikipedia tells me that The Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway officially opened for commercial service on June 30, 2011, following construction that began on April 18, 2008. The 1,318-kilometer (819 mi) line connects Beijing South Station and Shanghai Hongqiao Station, slashing end-to-end travel times to under 5 hours.
The other train stamp features the China-Europe freight train (Yiwu-Madrid).
Launched in 2014, Wikipedia writes this about the line: The Yiwu–Madrid railway is the world's longest freight train route. Spanning approximately 13,052 kilometers across eight countries (China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and Spain), the trip takes roughly 16 days, connecting Yiwu, China to Madrid, Spain.
I wondered about the different track gauges of the different countries, as I can't even travel from Spain to the rest of Europe without changing trains. AI came up with the following answer: Yiwu–Madrid railway line encounters three distinct track gauge standards across its route, requiring physical container transshipment or bogie exchanges at major breaks of gauge in Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Spain.
What a palaver!
The two stamps with the cranes have been jointly issues by China and the USA:
The endangered North American whooping crane and Chinese black-necked crane appear on stamps jointly issued in 1994 by China and the U.S., advancing wildlife conservation as they represent friendship. Artists at the Clarence Lee Design Studio in Honolulu developed eight concept designs; Chinese nature artist Zhan Gengxi created the final artwork, influenced by one of the concept designs.
Issued on July 6, 1997, the Ancient Temples of Wutai Mountain stamp set features a 40-fen multicolor stamp depicting the Temple Complex in Taihuai Township (Taihuai Town Temple Group) alongside five other stamps showcasing historic structures on Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province, China.
Well done if you made it this far. That was a lodda stamps!
I have been traveling from Spain to Italy. First I got on the bus to Valencia.
That was a 7 hour journey. Below a photo I took out of the window (I think in Alicante):
Sorry for the reflexion in the glass.
Then I stayed the night at the airport hotel and the next morning I got a flight from Valencia to Pescara in Italy.
This is a photo taken inside the airport. They have an aeroplane hanging from the ceiling:
My son and family picked me up and this morning my daughter in law had to go out to have her nails done and my son and I went to have breakfast somewhere:
Enjoy your weekend,
Lisca
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