Alkmaar, the Netherlands

Postcard NL-2528251 from the Netherlands shows the city views from Alkmaar, the Netherlands. It is famous for its traditional cheese market, as shown on the bottom right. The North Holland Canal, as seen on the left, was dug through Alkmaar and opened in 1824.

Alkmaar is home to the professional football team AZ (Alkmaar Zaanstreek) with a 17,000-seat stadium, the AFAS Stadion, where the Dutch national football team trained in preparation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In today's Group B match, the Netherlands beats Australia with a score of 3:2.

Open Training Session at the AFAS Stadion on June 3, 2014
(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Wuzhen, Zhejiang, China

Postcard CN-1163302 from China shows a winter scene at Wuzhen (乌镇), a historic scenic town, in Tongxiang, northern Zhejiang Province, China. It is only lies 68 km south of Tongli, Wujiang county, Jiangsu Province, another historic scenic town that we featured before. Within the proximity of triangle formed by three major cities: Hangzhou (80 km), Suzhou (80 km) and Shanghai (140 km), Wuzhen is a small town that covers an area of 71.19 sq km or 27.49 sq mi, with a total population of 60,000, of which 12,000 permanent residents.

Wuzhen is noted for its historic buildings, stone bridges, stone pathways and delicate wood carvings, mostly from Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912).

Tongli, China

Postcard CN-1076001 from China shows Tongli (同里), a historical town in Wujiang county, Jiangsu Province, China. It has been given the nickname "Venice of the East" for a system of canals. The town, on the outskirts of Suzhou, retains many of the features of an ancient Wu region town.

One of most notable attractions in Tongli is the Retreat and Reflection Garden (退思园). It is a private garden built in 1885-1887 by designer Yuan Long. The concept of design was adopted from a famous quote "Step forward to do your job loyally; step back to think about how to make up your mistakes (進思盡忠，退思補過)" in Zuo Zhuan (左傳) or sometimes translated as the Chronicle of Zuo that is among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history, covering the period from 722 B.C. to 468 B.C.

Through an extension in 2000, the Retreat and Reflection Garden,  along with the Canglang Pavilion, the Lion Forest Garden, the Garden of Cultivation, the Couple's Garden Retreat, was included in the property of the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was originally recognized in 1997.