A dreamy chromolithograph sweep of Feldafing on the Starnberger See — Bavaria's aristocratic lakeside retreat — spreads across this "Gruss aus" greeting card mailed in the golden summer of 1903: a church spire punctuates a cluster of red-roofed villas, the still alpine lake glitters beyond, and snow-capped peaks of the Bavarian Alps crown the horizon. Feldafing was a favorite of Empress Elisabeth of Austria ("Sisi") and the Wittelsbach royal family, and by the turn of the century its shores were lined with the summer estates of Munich's elite. The sender, signing as Karl, dashed off a brief warm note ("Gott lob ist es so jetzt mit meinen Augen gut…" — "Thank God my eyes are now well…") and addressed the card to a certain Frau in Altlenbach, Lower Austria, postmarked 2 IX 04 at Altlenbach. Published by Michael Zeller jr. of Feldafing, the card carries a 10-Pfennig German Empire stamp.