's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands

They obviously don't celebrate Midsummer in the Netherlands either as there was a big Postcrossing meet-up there then! :D My lovely friend Astrid sent me this beautiful postcard from there.



The name of this place has been confusing me for a while. Online I always see it in the form "'s-Hertogenbosch", but then I also hear people say "Den Bosch", and that's what Astrid wrote on the card as well. Apparently the latter is a colloquial name for the place - well it does seem much easier to say! :p

Doesn't it look pretty?! I wouldn't mind taking a walk by this canal and admire the old houses by it. :) Apparently, hidden below the old city is a canal network called the Binnendieze that once spanned 22 kilometres. It started out as a regular river, the Dommel, running through the city in medieval times but due to lack of space in the city, people started building their houses and roads over the river. In later times it functioned as a sewer and fell into disrepair. In recent decades, the remaining sixth of the old waterway system has been renovated, and it is possible to take several guided subterranean boat trips through it. (I think Astrid has sent me a postcard showing this before, I have to dig it up now!)



The card was signed by everyone attending the meet-up. Looks like there were more people there than in London in May! I recognise a few names here...



The stamp on the left is from a set of 10 Christmas stamps from 2009. As for the stamp on the right... It was issued this year, but the only info I could find was this and it's in Dutch so it's not very helpful. It seems to be football-related, though.