Way before the advent of the web was even thought of, you could travel virtually through stamps collection.
I remember as a kid browsing through my father's philatelic collection with many vignettes of the fast fading French Empire.
Stumbling upon the Blog timbré de ma philatélie by Eric Contesse brought back memories of dreaming of faraway places when turning pages of the albums.
All stories are offered by Eric Contesse in French and English (side by side) and first one I read was City of Paris at the 2010 "Salon Philatélique d'Automne" (November 10) with its evocative illustration of the City of Lights.
Bistrots, romance, the Eiffel tower all in one fell swoop.
As you can see these stamps are part of a series on European Capitals (Capitales Europeennes).
Thanks to Eric Contesse for letting me use this piece of history which he bought on the very first day it was out.