BORING POSTCARDS

This Group celebtrates Boring, ordinary, dull, commercial Postcards that feature aspects of our everyday life – such as streets, roads, houses -- and are, in a strange way, interesting because they are so uninteresting. Join in and share your Postcards of our Boring world.

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  • Valentine Mark Herman

    WALKS ON THE NOT SO WILD SIDE" without Lou

    1. Walking in the woods in 'Beatiful Vosges', France

    2. Walking with lots of sheep and a dog somewhere in France

    3. Walking around a shopping center, Aix-les-Baines, France (another one sent to la famille Canard)

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    "THE TOURISTIC AND COMMERCIAL COMPLEX" OF BEHOBIE, SPAIN--nice carpark an some commerce, but not many tourists

  • Daniel de Culla

    Nice all. Thanks. Here's "Ghost" Paseo de Las Fuentecillas. Burgos, Spain.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    TWO MORE!

    1. Municipal Swimming Pool, Toulouse, France

    Come early today as the temperature in Toulouse is going to be in the high 30's, and the pool will be crowded

    2. Hverfjall's 'world-famous explosive crater', Iceland

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Lubniewice (German: Königswalde) - a small town on the border between Poland and Germany, in the lake district, in an area with a lot of woodland; it is located in a narrow strip between two lakes Lubiąż and Krajnik. Numerous leisure and active recreation centres have sprung up in the town due to its excellent recreational and touristic qualities. Postcard sent in 1970. 

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    Thanks Mar, and welcome to the Group. You'd be surprised -- well, maybe not -- how many cities display their 'civic pride' with some truly awful postcards as can be seen from the second one. From which city do the postcards come?

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA FROM THREE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES -- you really do get around Mikel.

    1. Arad, Roumania

    2. Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, Spain

    3. Kowloon Park, Hong Kong

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FOUR BORING FENCH POSTCARDS

    1. Centre de Plein Aire de la Couturanderie

    2. Swimming Pool, Seignosse-le-Penon

    3. Les Fiances au Coeur, Les "Calanche", Ile de Beauté, Corsica

    4. Sun set on Mont-Blanc

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS ONE?

    It's 'Le Jardin Fleuri' of the Hotel Brun in St-Rambert-d'Albon, France. Lots of flowers. A fat lady in the background; But no Hotel!

    If I was thinking of booking nto a hotel, I'd rather see the hotel than the garden. But maybe there is no hotel, and the garden part shown here is part of a camp-site. Or....?

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Cieplice Śląskie- Zdrój - (German: Bad Warmbrunn) - currently a part of the town of Jelenia Góra, located at the foot of the Sudeten mountains. The postcard shows a modernist hotel building in the spa. The postcard was sent in 1977.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    Welcome Jorg!

    That's a very good start for you in the Group.

    Below iss a friend for your old woman

    Keep on sending Boring Postcards, please.

    Regards, Val

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    PEOPLE DOING BORING THINGS

    1. Being Cowboys in the French Camargue

    2. Stilt-walking in Landes, France

    3. Shopping in Lyon, France

    4. 'Spinning by the door-step', Greece

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FROM AN EMPTY GERMAN ICE-CREAM PARLOR TO AN EMPTY RESTAURANT AT AN SNCF HOLIDAY CENTER,ORRY-LA-VILLE? FRANCE

    Maybe they got ice-cream for desert!

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FROM HELEEN -- BEDANKT! I don't know if it's Boring, but it's certainly Weird

  • Richard Canard

    Yeah, "from Heleen--Bedankt "(I don't know if its's boring, but it's certainly weird" comment by Val M.H.) ----that's  sorta my habitual reaction to the things posted at "Boring Postcards"---- I don't know what to think or how to react. 

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    Dare Mr Canard, look at the 'Interesting Postcards' part of this. I thought it might encourage discussions about weirdness and other not-necessarily-boring things. It didn't; the last psot on it was 2 years and one day ago. It didn't work. And that's weird too.

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Ełk (German: Lyck ) - a city in north-eastern Poland, in the  Masuria Region (earlier Ostpreussen). The largest and most populous city in Masuria and the main industrial and cultural centre in the region. The postcard was sent in 1969 and shows views of different parts of the city.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA

    1. Playa Flamingo, Lanzarote, Spain (but the flamingos seem to have flammed off)

    2. Les Gorges du Tarn, France

    3; La salle des Gardes, Le Chateau, Langeais, France

    THANKS MIKEL!

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    I SET OUT 5 'STANDARD QUESTIONS' WHEN I STARTED THIS GROUP:

    * first, why did someone want to make a postcard of this particular boring subject?

    * second, why did some printer and some seller think they could make money from this Boring Postcard?

    * third, why did anyone buy this Boring Postcard? Was it a deliberate choice, or were there no other more interesting postcards available?

    * fourth, in choosing and sending this Boring Postcard, what message did the sender mean to convey?

    * fifth, what on earth did the recipient of this Boring Postcard make of it?
    THINK ABOUT THEM WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS 'CLASSIC' BORING POSTCARD!
    Les Pissotières (urinals), Place de la bastille, Paris, France
  • Daniel de Culla

    Lovely¡ Thanks.

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Monument - tank. In Czarnków, as many as three hundred Soviet soldiers who fought for the Czarnków area were laid to rest in Freedom Square. In the middle of the square, a monument - a T-34 tank - was erected to commemorate those events. In 1945, three hundred Soviet soldiers who fell in the fight to liberate the land of Czarnków were buried in the square. In 1945, it was not in the best of shape. Earlier, it had been shot at by a German cannon, while its commander was killed. The Soviet tank-monument from Czarnków has been gone since Thursday, 17 March 2006. A tank that has become a symbol of the city. "This is history, it is worth witnessing it," - they said. Punctually at 9 a.m., the dismantling of the tank began. Its lifting and setting up on a trailer took more than an hour. The only thing that fell off was the old tracks, which had been sealed with concrete. The monument stood for more than 60 years - its erection was decided by the Soviet commander of the city in March 1945. The tank was to commemorate the soldiers who were buried here, among others. Postcard send in 1975.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    Raphael, Thanks for the tank card.

    This is from the BBC today:

    "Estonia has decided to remove Soviet-era war monuments from public places.

    The move is aimed at preventing them "from mobilising more hostilit... and tearing open old wounds" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government said.

    An iconic T-34 tank in the city of Narva, which borders Russia, was being taken to the Estonian War Museum.

    The replica tank was taken from a plinth on Tuesday morning and loaded on to a military trailer ahead of its journey 200km (125 miles) to the west, public broadcaster ERR reported. Authorities said they were restricting public access to the area around the tank as well as other local monuments."

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Łódź - a large city in central Poland, associated with the development of the spinning industry in the 19th century. The monument consisted of 2 T-34 tanks. It was erected after World War II after the creation of a military "district" (barracks, officers' blocks, WAM) around Haller Square (then 9 Maja Square). In 1992, the tanks were transferred to the Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw. To this day, many residents of the district do not say: "on Haller Square" but "by the tanks". Postcard send in 1976.

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Łódź Teofilów - such a district of the city, postcards from around 1976 - 1978. Older residents of the Teofilów estate certainly remember when an aircraft stood on a plinth at the site of today's symbol of Teofilów. It was a TS-8 Bies, constructed for training purposes. The machine appeared on the Teofilów estate in the 1970s, and disappeared from the urban landscape in the 1990s. During this time, the place was a landmark for many residents, who used to meet up for meetings 'by the plane'.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    BORING POSTCARDS EXHIBITION -- HELP!

    I have put together a collection of Boring Postcards that I will exhibit in Sigean France in November, and, hopefully in many other places.

    It consists of 42 A3 pages, divided into 18 sections (roads; hotels and motels; beaches; transport: etc)

    I am writing to you to see if you can help me with the marketing.

    I hope to sell this exhibition to a number of galleries (library, art school, institution, café, etc) in several different countries.

    The exhibition is in the form of a 42 page ready-to-print exhibition that can be supplied in a high-resolution A3 format PDF download.

    If a gallery is interested in purchasing it (for €100, $100), all it has to do is to print it out...and then display it. It takes up about 9m of hanging space.

    Can you help me by providing names of any galleries, etc that might be interested in buying it, please? Then I will approach them.

    I can send you a short marketing version of this Boring Postcard exhibition if you send me your email address (mine is billytulip1956@yahoo.com), as it is too large to send via IUOMA.

    I hope you can help.

    Long Live Boring Postcards!

    Val

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA --  3 TIMES THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

    1. Gyeongog Palace, Seoul, Korea

    2. Salou, Costa Daurada, Spain

    3. Ordesa National Park, Spain

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THANKS TO JEAN-PHILIPPE GILLIOT, AND TWO QUESTIONS FOR BRADFORD

    Bradord:

    i) what make of car is this? (easy?)

    ii) what is the model year? (more difficult?)

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA -- THANKS AGAIN MIKEL!

    1. Berdun, Italy

    2. Playa Flamingo, Lanzarote, Spain

    Aptly named, as thyere's only one flamingo there (to the right of the right-hand palm tree)

    3. Salou, Spain

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    TWO FROM BRADFORD in DEADWOOD, SD -- thanks Bradford!

    1. Scenic (sic) US 60, West Virginia

    2.  Home of Salina, Board of Trade, Salina, Kansas

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FROM ANNE WHO WENT TO PORTUGAL (by plane, not train)

    "Oporto is known as the Invicta. The city that gave its (sic) name to Portugal. It is also a City known worlwide for its (sic) Wine, its (I can't go on...), and ancient and contemporary Architecture." [But not it's trains]

    "The Historic Center is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO. This project intends to expand through the art of Photography, this noble City." But not it's trains]

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    TWO FROM SOME SORT OF DESIGN ACADEMY IN MAASTRICHT (NL). NOT ONLY ARE THEY BORING, BUT THE SELECTION AND JUXTAPOSITION OF IMAGES IS BIZARRE

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    MOST BATHROOMS ARE GREEN,  BUT VIVIANE JOAKIM'S IS GREEN

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    'LA SAUTEUSE' ('The Jumper') BY SYLVIE BLOCHER

    This work can be seen at the Musée des Arts Contemporains au Grand-Hornu in Belgium.

    Sylvie has nearly finished her training with the 4th Division of the  Belgian Air Force Parachute Corps;

    We wish her a safe landing.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    BORING 'SELF-PORTRAIT'* POSTCARD FROM THE NETHERLANDS

    * the hand and the glass are part of this 'self-portrait', but anyone who knows me will tell you that I am more, er, dashingly handsome than this guy

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA -- THANKS AGAIN, MIKEL!

    1. Place de la Concorde, Paris, France

    2. Salou, Spain3. Castillo de Loarre, Spain

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FROM GEORGIE STONE -- AMERICAN AIRLINES LEARNING CENTER, DALLAS/FORT WORTH AIRPORT, TEXAS, USA -- Thanks Georgie.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE VINTAGE ONES FROM KATERINA -- MERCY BUCKETS MOM KAT!

    1. Spa and Health Centre, Sofia, Bulgaria

    2. Swans at Lac Léman, Switzerland, Swanning About

    3. Morning Bath, Greece (note the modesty of the donkey wearing a yellow halter top)

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    SOMEONE (I Think from France) SENT ME THESE, BUT I HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO THAT 'SOMEONE' WAS -- APOLOGIES 'SOMEONE', AND THANKS/MERCI

    1. Barletta, Teatra Comunale Curci (Italy?)

    2. Chapel Bridge with Water Tower, Lucerne, Switzeland

    3. Chateaux de la Loire, Chaumont Sur Loire, Valoire, France

    4. Mortehoe and Woolacombe, England

    5. Dartmouth Castle, Devon, England

    "The twin castles of Darmouth and Kingswear guard the mouth of the River Dart, Devon's beautiful river. The towns are reached by roads A 379 and B 3205." And, when you get there, don't forget to buy a Boring Postcard (or two).

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Egypt, Karnak, the famous avenue of sphinxes near the temple. A postcard from 1974, with a commemorative stamp of the Polish military, on duty with the UN in the Golan Heights, among other places.

  • Richard Canard

    18.10.22 Dare Mister Valentine Mark Herman,   ...I'm certainly not complaining, but I hardly ever see a "boring postcard" here anymore---exotica, exotica--- galore!!!(or does that response simply point out my lack of awareness & a meager geographic sophistication?)...& turning the opera house upside down only made it more glorious. SinCelery, Richard Canard   

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    QUESTION: WHAT IS IT?

    Answer: A prehistoric 'hand-print' in a Spanish cave

  • Valentine Mark Herman

                                      QUESTIONS: 

    i) WHY ARE 5 OUT OF 6 GUATAMALAN CHILDREN RIGHT-HANDED?

    ii) WHAT ARE THEY WRITING?

                                                    ANSWERS

    i) I don't know -- do you?

    ii) Boring Postcards?

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Kielce - a city in south-eastern Poland, the capital of the Świętokrzyskie region. Situated in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, on the Silnica River, historically in Lesser Poland. A postcard from 1982, it shows a plan of the city, blocks of flats of a housing cooperative, the Central Hotel and an amphitheatre in a former quarry.

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA -- FOR WHICH MANY THANKS

    1. Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

    What a name for a beach! Is it repulsive, or is something being repulsed?

    Note the strategically placed garbage bin, front center!

    2. Hotel des Monnaies, Cour d'Honneur, Paris, France

    3. Puerto de Somport, French-Spanish border

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    TWO FROM BONNEVIDIVA --FEATURING WILEY AND GEORGE WASHINGTON. Thanks Bonnediva!

    1.George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, Virginia

    2. Wiley's Wood

    Hands up§ And show your navel, young lady bottom right.

    "Great Wolf Lodge combines the rustic charm of a northwoods lodge with the amenities of a contemporary resort. Wiley's Woods is a four-story, 20,000 square foot live video game adventure. Just one of the many fun, family-oriented attractions at our award-winning resort."

    (Would you take your family there? I wouldn't)

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    EMPTY AND UNINTERESTING STREET IN COLLIOURE, FRANCE

  • Raphael Nadolny

    Piła Region - an area comprising 42 municipalities, 414,000 inhabitants. A tourist region - picturesquely situated towns and resorts on lakes, an abundance of forests. Piła (German: Schneidemühl) - the hometown of Stanisław Staszic, completely rebuilt after the war damage in 1945. Postcard from 1977, and in the photos: Piła - monument to Stanislaw Staszic; Zakrzewo - monument to the Defenders of the Land of Zlotow; Wągrowiec - resort on Lake Durowskie; bunkers of the Pomeranian Wall (1945).

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FOUR LONG AND THIN RUSSIAN ONES FROM JARINA AND HER CAT LAPJE -- THANKS AND MIAOU!

    (the colours on the postcards are not very sharp, alas)

    1. The Yauza River at the Andronikovsky Monastery, and the Portal of the Cathedral of the Saviour (15th century)

    2. The Pushkin Monument, Moscow

    3. Metro Bridge at Lushniki

    4. The CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic assistance) Building, Moscow

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    THREE FROM THE FAMOUS FRENCH POETESS NADIA ESTABAN

    1. Main entrance to  Carcassone Cité, France

    2. 'Le Jacques Cartier'

    3. International Exhibition Paris, 1931: Temple Ankar Vat

  • Valentine Mark Herman

    FOUR POSTCARDS FROM JARINA AND LAPJE FROM THE OLD SOVIET UNION

    (I think they are from Moscow, but I can't read the description of them as it's in Russian.....Help Raphael or someone?)