Germany and Spain checklist

Germany and Spain are my favourite countries to get cards from! I aspire to get cards from alllll German states and Spanish autonomous communities. So here's the checklist:

Germany

Baden-Württemberg X
Bavaria (Bayern) X
Berlin X
Brandenburg
Bremen
Hamburg X
Hesse (Hessen) X
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern X
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) X
North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen) X
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) X
Saarland
Saxony (Sachsen)
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) X
Schleswig-Holstein X
Thuringia (Thüringen)

_________________________

Spain

Andalusia (Sp. Andalucía) X
Aragon (Sp. Aragón)
Principality of Asturias (Sp. Principado de Asturias)
Balearic Islands (Sp. Islas Baleares)
Basque Country (Sp. Euskadi, País Vasco) X
Canary Islands (Sp. Islas Canarias) X
Cantabria
Castile-La Mancha (Sp. Castilla-La Mancha) X
Castile and León (Sp. Castilla y León)
Catalonia (Sp. Cataluña) X
Extremadura
Galicia X
La Rioja
Madrid X
Region of Murcia (Sp. Región de Murcia)
Foral Community of Navarre (Sp. Comunidad Foral de Navarra) X
Valencian Community (Sp. Comunidad Valenciana)

Alzey - Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

This card says Alzey in wine paradise Rhenish Hesse. Rhenish Hesse (German: Rheinhessen) is a region in German state Rhineland-Palatinate (Rhineland-Pfalz) and is the largest of 13 regions producing German wine (hence the wine paradise).
Alzey is one of the Nibelungenstädte – towns associated with the Nibelungenlied – because it is represented in this work by the character Volker von Alzey. Hence, Alzey is also known as Volkerstadt.

And this is my favourite stamp from Germany:

Bollenhut - Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Part of traditional Schwarzwald (Black Forest) women costume is Bollenhut, a straw hat with wool pom-poms. Married women wear black pom-poms, unmarries girls wear red ones. These hats are worn in the three neighbouring Black Forest villages of Gutach, Kirnbach and Reichenbach since around 1750.

Also a stamp featuring Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (known in many countries as Felix Mendelssohn), famous German composer, pianist, organist and conductor.

Hamballe fountain - Baden-Württemberg, Germany

In the German cultural region Swabia (in the South of Germany) there is a term "Hamballe", meaning a dopey (but lovable)person who would, for example, water their flowers when it's raining.

Also, some nice German stamps:

Hamburg by night

Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (used to be a member of the medieval Hanseatic League) is the second-largest city in Germany and the eight-largest city in the European Union.

Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen

The yellowish building here is St.-Paulus-Dom, Münster's cathedral, and in the distance you can see the St. Lamberti church. Its construction was sponsored by the city's merchants, to compete the mighty cathedral. So St. Lamberti was a church for common citizens and merchants.

Lufthansa

Trier, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Stamp: joint issue with Latvia. Theme - Unesco World Heritage Sites. On this stamp we can see Black-roofed house in Riga (Latvia).

Zuckerschnecke: cinnamon roll from Germany

Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Stairs

There is so much light on this card!

Greetings from Germany - Sachsen-Anhalt

A card from Germany, Halle an der Saale - Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)

Stamp and cancellation

Ruhrgebiet - North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

I have a card from the Ruhr Area in Germany. It used to be the land of havy industry, with large coal deposits, iron and steel factories. The sender of this card wrote that the Ruhr Area was famous for industries "like coal, steel and beer" :) Now it is mostly the land of culture with one of this area's cities being the European Capital of Culture in 2010.

This card is dear to me because it reminds me of how we've been learning everything about Germany's industries at uni:))

Reichstag dome, Berlin

What makes this card even more precious to me is the fact that it's written in Russian! I'm always more than happy to get cards from foreigners written in my mother tongue:))

A seahorse and other lovely things

This is one of the most beautiful and thoughtful cards through and through:))
There is a seahorse on the front side, and I just love seahorses

*by Walter Trier, children's book illustrator*

On the back side, there was a poem by my favourite poet and the stamps were so nice!

On the left stamp is Bernhard Grzimek, famous zoologist and book author, on the right one is Heinz Erhardt, comedian, musician, actor and poet. The stamp says "Another poem!" (it was the title of his first book), which corresponds beautifully with the poem on the card.

Grüße aus Münster - North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Da hast Du deine Karte:)

"Here you have your card", says the card:)

Beautiful card from a little girl - Baden-Württemberg, Germany

This is my second postcrossing official. It's very special for me. Not only is it extremely to my liking, it was also sent by a little girl. So very sweet:))

Baltic Sea - Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

Die kleinen Lerndrachen