Postcards from the edge (of the world) blog.

Postcards from different ends of the Earth have arrived recently. One carries the image of a "Portrait of a Girl," by Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), which is now found in a Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. Even a postcard can be an education; I didn't know that particular artist, but I do now. My nephew Sam, in the middle of his semester in Florence, sent it on March 16, according to the postmark, and it arrived yesterday. Not bad for the Italian post office. Cost to send a card from Italy to the USA: 0.70 euros. Roughly comparable to the price of an overseas card from the United States. It occurs to me that I don't know what a hundredth of a euro is called.

Two cards mailed on March 19 from New Zealand came today, from Ed, who ought to be back in Arizona by now, but still in recovery from the long plane ride. Bride magazine paid for him to go, so he could write an article about the place, as a honeymoon destination, I suppose. Now that's a fine writing gig. Cards from those islands cost NZ$1.50.

One card is of Wellington, on which he tells me that the national capitol of the country is nicknamed the beehive, "for good reason." The second card is of Mitre Peak, a remote-looking place on the South Island. "Overall, NZ looks much like Canada," he notes. "Like a very pretty part of Canada. Maybe it's a latitude thing. Maybe it's a Commonwealth thing. But last night, on a ship in Doubtful Sound, I went under a clear sky that looked entirely wrong."