Piazza dei Miracoli

Postcard IT-278165 from Italy shows the Piazza dei Miracoli, which means "Square of Miracles", a wide walled area located in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. It is recognized for it's important role in European medieval art and architecture. Owned by the Catholic Church, the square is dominated by the Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistry, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery). It also hosts the New Hospital of the Holy Spirit that houses the Sinopias Museum and the Cathedral Museum. The Piazza dei Miracoli became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Bremen, Germany

Postcard DE-3274224 from Germany shows a city view of Bremen in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the River Weser, Bremen is the second most populous city in Northern Germany and the tenth largest city in Germany.

The market square in the city center is shown on the card, with Bremen Cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter, in the background. The cathedral belongs to the Bremian Evangelical Church, being protected by the monument protection act since 1973. The cathedral has twin 99-meter towers, built between 1215 and 1253, guarding the main entrance on the west side of the church. The towers were reinforced and given pyramid-shaped tops in 1346. Rhenish styled "helmets" were added when the towers were restored and raised in the 1890s, as still seen today. It is interesting to see that the crossing tower, a reminder of the original west front towers, also have a pyramid-shaped cap.

Bremen is home to the football team SV Werder Bremen that have won the German Football Championship and the German Football Cup multiple times. The team's home stadium, Weserstadion, almost completely surrounded by solar cells, is one of the largest buildings in Europe powered by alternative energies.

Coincidentally today, Germany have advanced to the FIFA World Cup Final today with a sensational 7:1 victory over the host Brazil at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte.

Alte Oper in Frankfurt

Postcard DE-3080344 shows Opernplatz (Opera Square) in front of the Alte Oper (Old Opera), a concert hall and former opera house in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The original opera house was inaugurated in 1880 with many important operas performed for the first time.
It was destroyed by bombs in 1944 during World War II. It was rebuilt over the time in the 1970s, and re-opened in 1981. With a new Frankfurt Opera and Play House already opened next door to Schauspiel Frankfurt in 1951,  the newly restored building on the site of the original opera house was always intended as a concert hall. It has hosted all sorts of entertainment since.