I have always been dreaming about the Czech Republic. To most of my contemporaries, their Europe is Paris, Rome, Madrid, Berlin, London, etc., but mine is simply Prague. There's something about Prague's amazing architecture and culture and history that strikes me.

So, anyway, this is the first postcard I received from the Czech Republic:


Postmarked, but too faint to read
Dated 19 Nov 2008
CZ-18330

This was sent by Lena, and it shows the beautiful Hluboka castle in a town called Hluboká nad Vltavou situated in the Southern Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. According to the Wikipedia:

The original royal castle of Přemysl Otakar II from the second half of the 13th century was rebuilt at the end of the 16th century by the Lords of Hradec. It received its present appearance under Count Jan Adam of Schwarzenberg. According to the English Windsor example, architects F. Beer and F. Deworetzky built a Romantic Neo-Gothic chateau, surrounded by a 1.9 square kilometres (0.73 sq mi) English park here in the years 1841 to 1871. The castle is opened to public. There is a winter garden and riding-hall where the Southern Bohemian gallery exhibitions have been housed since 1956.

Oh, and a trivia here: The castle has been used in a scene in a Jackie Chan/Owen Wilson-movie, Shanghai Knights.

Thanks very much, Lena. This postcard will make me yearn even more to visit your country.


P.S.
I am a disappointed that the Hluboka postcard, and the postcard from Pula, Croatia that I received previously, arrived here in pretty bad shape. It was pretty much creased. I do hope that post office staff would exercise more care when handling postcards.