Marie Curie 4.2.2011

The United Nations proclaimed 2011 the International Year of Chemistry. To commemorate this event the French Post issued a stamp dedicated to the famous French chemist Marie Curie.

Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) was a Polish-born French physicist and chemist famous for her work on radioactivity. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity and the first person honoured with two Nobel Prizes – in physics and chemistry. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris.

In 2011 France celebrated the 100th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Marie Curie.

This cover with Madame Curie’s stamp on it cancelled on the day of issue, namely, on 4^th February 2011 at Paris was sent to me by Eric.

St. Etienne Cathedral & the Protestant Temple Neuf in Metz

The First Day Cover displayed was issued to commemorate the 84th FFAP Congress at Metz in France. On Sunday June 12th, the 84th congress of the French Federation of Philatelic Associations brought together representatives of 623 philatelic associations comprising the F.F.A.P. About 250 collections, grouped in 16 different exhibition classes, competed in the Championnat de France de philatélie. The SAMOLUX'11 was also held in Metz on these days. This is the ninth event of the interregional stamp exhibition bringing together collectors from Saarland (Germany), Moselle (France) and Luxembourg. The Metz stamp design is by Claude Andréotto. Since the Nancy congress in 2005, the stamps issued on the occasion of the F.F.A.P. congresses have included an attached commemorative label or vignette with no postal value. In this case, the group shows 3 of the main monuments of the city, the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne, the Temple Neuf and, in the vignette, the Porte des Allemands, a vestige of the old medieval walls. This same building also appears in the first day postmark, also designed by Claude Andréotto. For those interested in more details about he pictures on the stamps, a short brief on them would not be out of place. This stamp and its coupon on the FDC are featuring some emblematic monuments of the city of Metz, the Prefecture of the department of Moselle (Region of Lorraine).

We can indeed see the St. Etienne Cathedral, built from 1220 to 1522, nicknamed the "Lantern of God" because of its impressive stained-glass surface (6,500 m², a record in France !). Saint Étienne de Metz (French for Saint Stephen of Metz), also known as Metz Cathedral) is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral in the city of Metz, capital of Lorraine, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Metz and the seat of the Bishop of Metz.

To the right on the same stamp and attached to it is a coupon, which depicts the Rhine architecture's Protestant Temple Neuf, inaugurated in 1904 by German Emperor Wilhelm II.
The cathedral is sometime nicknamed the Good Lord's lantern as it possesses the largest expanses of stained glass windows in the world with 6,500 m² (70,000 sq ft). The stained glass windows include works of Hermann von Münster (14th C); Théobald of Lixheim and Valentin Bousch (16th C); Laurent-Charles Maréchal (19th C); Roger Bissière, Jacques Villon and Marc Chagall (20th C). Its nave, 41.41 meters high, is one of the highest in France only overtopped by Beauvais Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral, and is the 10th highest nave in the world. Protestant Temple Neuf was built in 1903, under the reign of the Germans in this town. Like many of the border territories in this area of France, the control of political power has swung between Berlin and Paris for many centuries, making it a place with a multi-cultural feel. This church is a perfect example of that, designed in an obvious Rhenish style; the neo-Romanesque finish is typical of Protestant churches that were built across Germany in the early 20th Century.
This wonderful First Day Cover was given to me by my dear friend Maria.

Bicycles – From the Origin to the Present 17.10.2011

Vehicles for human transport that have two wheels and require balancing by the rider date back to the early 19th century. The first means of transport making use of two wheels, and thus the archetype of the bicycle, was the German draisine dating back to 1817. The term bicycle was coined in France in the 1860s. A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now number about one billion worldwide, twice as many as automobiles. They are the principal means of transportation in many regions. They also provide a popular form of recreation, and have been adapted for such uses as children's toys, adult fitness, military and police applications, courier services and bicycle racing. The basic shape and configuration of a typical upright bicycle has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. However, many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for particular types of cycling. The invention of the bicycle has had an enormous impact on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Several components that eventually played a key role in the development of the automobile were originally invented for the bicycle, including ball bearings, pneumatic tires, chain-driven sprockets, and spoke-tensioned wheels. 
This wonderful set of six stamps and covers were issued by France on 17.6.2011 commemoration this great invention. And, thank you my dear Maria for sending them to me.

Bi-Centenary of the Paris Fire Brigade

Exactly 200 years ago, Napoléon the First created The Paris Fire Brigade just after the accidental burning of the Austrian Embassy. Before that, there was no organisation to fight against the fires and to help the victims of accidents. It is one of the best things Napoleon created in Paris as well as numbering the streets in a very logical manner with even numbers on one side and odd numbers on the other side. There are nearly 9000 firemen in Paris and the surrounding region of Ile de France. All belong to the French army and are under the command of the Ministry of Defence. They do 4 hours of exercise everyday; no wonder why they have fabulous bodies and generate passion and admiration for both Parisians and tourists alike! Only two other cities have a similar situation: Marseille and Monaco. In France’s other cities, firemen are volunteers and sometimes have another job. The Paris Fire Brigade (Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris, BSPP) is a unit, which serves as the fire service for Paris and certain sites of national strategic importance.
The brigade is a unit of the French Army's Engineering Arm (Génie) and the fire fighters are therefore sappers (sapeurs, thus sapeurs-pompiers). With 8,550 firemen, it is the largest fire brigade in Europe and the third largest urban fire service in the world after the Tokyo Fire Department and New York City Fire Department. The Brigade is placed at the disposal of the Paris Prefecture of Police in an arrangement similar to that of the French Gendarmerie. Its motto is "Save or Perish". 

This Bi-centenial commemorative souvenir sheet set of ten commemorative stamps issued on 19 September 2011 was given to me by my dear friend Maria.

Year of the Rabbit 14.1.2011

France issued this stamp and FDC on 14.01.2011 to usher in the Year of the Rabbit. 

Eric sent me this lovely cover.

France – Madame Curie 27.1.2011

Marie Skłodowska Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish-born French physicist and chemist famous for her work on radioactivity. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity and the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris. She was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw (then in Vistula Land, Russian Empire; now in Poland) and lived there until she was twenty-four. In 1891, she followed her older sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she obtained her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw. Her husband Pierre Curie shared her Nobel prize in physics. Her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and son-in-law, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, also shared a Nobel prize. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only woman to win the award in two different fields. Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity (a term she coined), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms (cancers) using radioactive isotopes. While an actively loyal French citizen, she never lost her sense of Polish identity. She named the first new chemical element that she discovered polonium (1898) for her native country, and in 1932 she founded a Radium Institute (now the Maria Skłodowska–Curie Institute of Oncology) in her home town, Warsaw, headed by her physician sister Bronisława. This nice FDC was given to me by Eric.