San Jose, Costa Rica

I can't say that there's anything beautiful about this postcard, but I found the message amusing.

As a side note, the Banco Anglo Costarricense no longer exists. The bank was closed down  in 1995 after incurring over $200 million in losses due to bad loans and investments in Venezuelan bonds that subsequently disappeared. Oops. A number of the bank's board members and management are serving prison sentences.

In case you can't read the message, it says:

Aug 12, 1966

Dear Ned,

I'm here at last after missing my plane. I had to wait 6 hrs. in the bus station for my suitcase. 

Isabel won't let Teri, Francisco, or me play the piano, she says only you play well enough,

Kenda

The Colorado Spring House

This is a spot along what used to be known as The Lariat Mountain Trail, a road which led from Golden, Colorado to Lookout Mountain. Building the road was quite a feat, because it included lots of curves and hairpin turns over the 4.6 miles and 2,000 feet rise in elevation. It was completed in 1914.

There were other shelters along the road, but somehow this one, which no longer exists, was widely featured on postcards and in brochures. 

 This is one of the other shelters that is still there:

Buffalo Bill Cody was buried in Lookout Mountain Park in 1917.  His funeral procession included 20,000 people, driving, on horseback, and walking the Lariat Mountain Trail.

If you would like to know more about the Lariat Trail, now known as Lookout Mountain Road, check out this fine website.

Porte Saint-Martin - Paris, France

There's a lot going on here, everything from horse-drawn carriages and bicycle deliveries to street cleaning, some probable flirting, and a very nice beer advertisement in the upper right corner of the card.
Here's a view of the same location today, remarkably unchanged, except for the ubiquitous automobiles.

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Porte Saint-Martin was one of the symbolic entrances into 17th Century Paris. Although it served only an ornamental function, it was built on the site of a former tollgate. There was once a Metro station here at Saint-Martin. It was closed at the beginning of World War II and only briefly reopened before being shut down for good. The station still features the old porcelain advertisements, but the Metro doesn't stop here anymore. Here's a website that shows some interior shots of the phantom station.