Armenia

Well, another week passed by since  the last update...and it's been a very busy and stressful one and there was just no chance to find the time to post some cards...so  I guess this cold snowy Friday evening can be slightly used for that, although I still have a lot of pending work to do...yeah, you got it right, it's gonna be a busy weekend as well...

And Ill start this Friday update with a card from a country I havent had in my collection so far! Yup! My very first card from Armenia...and WHAT a card! You know I love map cards, and this one is just awesome, especially since it is showing what can be considered a rare country.
And what makes it even more special is that this card along with 3 others came as a kind gift from Susanne in Austria, who had stumbled upon my blog and offered to send me these cards that she kept from the time she had visited the country...i must say im always really touched when people do something like this for me...and i absolutely never know what to do or say in order to thank them properly...it always feels that whatever I do ain't enough but I hope that all these good fairies know im wholeheartedly thankful from the bottom of my heart!

This map card shows the Armenian provinces, 10 in total, where the capital city of Yerevan has a special administrative status.
Also, as you can see, the  geographic region of Karabakh is shown on the map, but I wont be touching such sensitive issues here...

Thanks again a lot to Susanne for the lovely cards!! 

Bath, England

A UNESCO card received in the Surprise me RR...one of my favourites!

The building on the card looks pretty impressive....this is the Royal Crescent in Bath, which is a residential road of 30 houses. It was built by John Wood the Younger in 1767-75. Each house is the same at the front but differing at the rear, as each purchaser bought a length of the facade and got their own architect to build the house to their own specifications.
Number 1 Royal Crescent is a museum while numbers 15 and 16 are a hotel.

In front of the Royal Crescent is a Ha-ha, a trench on which the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken fence or retaining wall. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from Royal Victoria Park, and to be invisible until seen from close by. It is not known whether it was contemporary with the building of the Royal Crescent, however it is known that when it was first built it was deeper than it is at present.

A very interesting place I must say and im glad to have a postcard from there....though I had to check several images to know Ive gotten it right what ha-ha actually is.

The stamp is a Christmas one from a set of 7 issued in 2010

Osijek, Croatia

A very nice card from Osijek received in....*cough cough*....2008.....yeah, I know, im awful!

I already wrote something about Osijek here. This card was also sent by Goran, I just wonder if he remembers at all he had sent this to me since it was so long ago :)

This card shows the Church of St Peter and St Paul, the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek. The church was built in 1898 and is one of the city's landmarks.
Wikipedia gives some trivia about this church which are as follows:

- This is the tallest building in Croatia outside of Zagreb.
- Capacity of the church during the mass is over 3000 people.
- The church is built of three and a half million bricks, and has a colored stone altars.
- The four tower bells weigh 2665 kg, 1552 kg, 740 kg. and 331 kg

If some of this info is wrong, I would like to ask Goran to kindly correct me, since as we all know, Wikipedia aint always the 100% reliable source out there.

The stamp on the card was issued in 2008, presenting the General Conference of International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 in Cavtat 

New York, USA

The last choice of a card for today is also a rather special one, coming from New York.

The card shows the United Nations Headquarters, which is a distinctive complex in NYC, located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan. It has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952.
There are 3 other additional, subsidiary, regional headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), and Nairobi (Kenya). And Im happy to say that I also own one UN card from Vienna thanks to Earney!
These adjunct offices help represent UN interests, facilitate diplomatic activities, and enjoy certain extraterritorial privileges, but only the main headquarters in New York contains the seats of the principal organs of the UN, including the General Assembly and Security Council. All 15 of the United Nation's specialized agencies are located outside New York at these other headquarters or in other cities.
Though it is in New York City, and part of the United States, the land used by the United Nations Headquarters is considered international territory, while also being subject to most local, state, and federal laws. For award purposes Amateur radio operators consider it a separate "entity", and for communications the UN has its own internationally recognized ITU prefix, 4U.

And of course, it has its own stamps, as you can see below.

The stamp on the right is from a series of 4 definitives issued in 1976. The one in the middle is from a series of two W.I.P.O stamps issued in 1977, while the third one is an airmail definitive from a set of 4 issued in 1972.
And I love the 'United for Peace' cancellation.

Just a great card and great stamps, no? Thanks a lot to Oleg for it.

And thank you for dropping by...see you soon...I hope :)

Dakar, Senegal

Hello everyone! Welcoming you to another postcard update
It's been a really busy week this past one...busy and tiring...but as weird as it may sound, it was the kind of business I love having and enjoy it. Today I got back to the usual business and everything felt so grey and depressing, just like the weather outside.
But when gloomy days like this come, there is my mailbox to cheer me up and in particular some people's thoughtfulness and kindness....coz today a new country arrived in my mailbox...a written and stamped card from Senegal!! Yippeee!!!!! For a moment, I even forgot about my persisting dental problems....but ill get down to that later maybe.
Well, I have this card thanks to two good fairies....one of them is Jennie, the sender of the card...and Im still trying to get into the trace of the other half of the puzzle, or who actually asked Jennie to send me this card....I should ask Jennie too...but im honestly too impatient to post this card here, so I dont think I could wait for the reply...but the 'offender' will show up sooner or later :)

This Senegal card shows Dakar, the country's capital. I dont know about you, but the very first thing that crosses my mind when mentioning Dakar, is the Paris- Dakar rally. I havent really watched it, but surely it is a widely known event. Jennie says that Dakar is sometimes called the Paris of West Africa....well, I dont know if that comparison is based anyhow on the above-mentioned rally or no, but Jennie says that the representation aint very good.
Well, being this is the very first time i have a card from Dakar here, I guess I should give you at least some basic info about it.
It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula, on the country's Atlantic coast, and due to its position, it is an advantageous departure point for trans-Atlantic and European trade and this fact aided its growth into a major regional port.
The Cap-Vert Peninsula is the westernmost point of Africa, which originally was called Cabo Verde or "Cape Green" by Portuguese explorers. However, it shouldnt be confused with the Cape Verde islands, which lay about 560 kilometres further west.
To be honest, at first I did think of Cape Verde, so I got a bit confused, but there you go...mystery solved rather quickly :)

As for the card, the three images represent The lifeblood, the Divinitiy and a mosque respectively. I like the names given to the first two pictures, lifeblood and divinity....

Both stamps on the card were issued in 2002 in a set of 11 stamps, portraying Senegalese elegance....the brown 500 f stamp represents a woman from Linguere (a town in Senegal) while the blue 50 f stamps represents the The Peulh Woman.

And the card was dated as of 31 Dec 2010...so it took just three weeks to get to me...amazing!!

Thanks a million to Jennie for sending me this card (the card is just great, I must tell you!) and thanks to the person to be determined soon....who im pretty sure is reading this blog, otherwise this person wouldnt have known I have no cards from Senegal yet :)

THANK YOU BOTH!!!!!

Traditional Past Time Games With Upin & Ipin and Friends

My next card for today was sent by dear Lyan from the recent postcrossing meeting in Kuala Lumpur, held on 19.12.2010.
Have I told you that I LOVE getting meeting cards? Yeah, I have, I know...but I just wanted to say it again...they really feel special :)

And the card is just lovely....the image feels soo realistic and so vibrant!
These cards were published during the stamps week (at the time of the meeting), and they were inspired from local popular children TV show Upin & Ipin and friends, and each card has a matching stamp, representing the characters playing a traditional game (there are 6 different sets of cards and stamps altogether).
Ive never heard of Upin and Ipin, but here is a chance to learn something new.
And I got the card where they are playing Congkak, which is a mancala game played in the island of Borneo, Singapore, and Peninsular Malaysia. As the congkak board is shaped like a boat it is believed that it is based on the legend of a fisherman unable to go to the sea during rainy season who lost his income during this time. To prevent boredom he created this game which is similar to his boat. However, on the island of Java, the board often has a dragon head at each end and the sides of the board (which is made of wood) are carved to look like reptile scales.
The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven, plus an additional store for each player. Each player controls the seven holes on their side of the board, and their score is the number of seeds in their left-hand store. The pieces are 98 undifferentiated seeds and the objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.

Aaah, I LOVE board games....but it's been so long since I played one....seems like all the fun board games have gotten their computer counterpart, so everyone plays these games on the computers not on real boards and real friends....which is really a pity.

and here is the matching stamp....a self-adhesive one.  Just lovely, isnt it???

Thanks a lot again to Lyan for thinking of me during this meeting and sending such a lovely card!! 

Maine, USA

A map card from the state of Maine.

Which consists of Maine facts on the back....just perfect!

Maine - "Pine Tree State"
Capital - Augusta
Area - 33,125 sq miles
Motto - "Dirigo" - I direct
Flower - Pine Cone
Animal - Moose
Cat - Maine Coon
Insect - Honeybee
Bird - Chickadee
Tree - Eastern White Pine
23rd State admitted to the Union

If I could read it write, this 'stamp' was created on stamps.com (I guess something like zazzle.com) Well, I must say it's a cute and unique one and definitely a better choice than the plain postage P.O metres...i just love it!

Cultural Dance, Nigeria

This past week has been an odd one, esp. mail-wise..my postman was practically ignoring me.....to the extent i started getting paranoid, since I knew a lot of mail was supposed to be coming my way, but i was receiving NOTHING....i even started wondering if maybe my postman had retired and a new one was put at his place who was too inexperienced to deal with my mail...everyday I come home and first thing i do is check the mailbox, and it's empty...on Monday and Tuesday i somehow didnt bother too much...but then Wednesday, nothing again..Thursday, nothing again...Friday...empty....i was already stressed enough with work and at least i hoped that some mail would cheer me up, but no....on the whole contrary...and Saturday was promising to be the same...but I guess my prayers were heard sometime after 2pm, coz thats when the postman had most probably dropped by and also dropped a plentiful of mail....or in other words, almost 30 cards, few covers and bunch of stamps!! *happy dance* Yay, at last!!! The only problem with such bulks is that in the end i dont even know what it is all that i received and takes really long to message everyone...and im still in the process of doing that....

And one of the cards that arrived yesterday is this one from Nigeria, showing a typical Nigerian dance. Irena, the sender of the card, says she doesnt like the modern Nigerian dancing coz it is not as interesting as the traditional one, which is something different and has a point.
Well, Im not familiar with Nigerian dances, but I think that on the overall i would usually prefer the traditional ones too, coz they tell more about the roots of the culture and simply, they are traditional.

two stamps on the card, with a smudged cancellation...the one on the right is from a set of 8 definitives issued in 2001, while the other one was issued in 2009, regarding the South African Football Worldcup.

Missouri, USA

Card from 2009 showing Hay Bails...

Missouri is well known for its agriculture and has the second largest number of farms of any state. Some of the major crops are soybeans, corn and hay. Missouri also produces a large number of cattle and hogs.
(from the back of the card)

I think that the second and the third stamp are more than familiar, but the first one hasnt been really presented...it is a self-adhesive sunflower stamp issued in 2008.

Garibaldi, Brazil

Sandro sent me this great surprise showing the train station in Garibaldi.

Garibaldi is a town in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, with a population of about 29,000 people, most of them of Italian descent. The city is famous for its wine and champagne productions. As for the name, that's related to the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Brazilian wife, Anita.

The train on the card is not used for regular transport of passengers, it is only for short touristic trips between Carlos Barbosa, Garibaldi and Bento Gonçalves (all three towns settled by Italian immigrants).
Old locomotives like this one, in Brazil are known also as Maria Fomaça, meaning Smoke Maria.

Thanks a lot Sandro for this great card!!!

The Khibiny Mountains, Russia

And another of the cards that arrived yesterday...a simply fantastic one!!

For some reason it always feels special to see some Northern lights in Russia...the card shows Khibiny, which is one of the two mountain ranges of the Kola Peninsula within the Arctic Circle (in the Murmansk region).
The mountains are mostly uninhabited, except for one of the world's richest mineral quarries, with approximately 10% of all new minerals discovered there, including one that can potentially absorb radioactivity from nuclear waste. By the foot of the massif the cities of Apatity and Kirovsk are situated.

it is simply a breathtaking card and I got it thanks to Natalia in the favourites-tag.

And Natalia used two lovely stamps too, coming from a set of 3 lighthouse stamps, issued in 2006.

Indonesia

Well after a some very tense working days, and no time to do things aside...or at least do them without dead-lines weighing over your head, here I am, in a rather relaxed mood, to post some cards...Id usually go to sleep, coz I feel chronically sleep-deprived....but right now i feel more like enjoying my cards :)

and ill start with this nice map card from Indonesia...what I really like about it is coz it gives you a chance to see where, compared to Indonesia and Malaysia for example, some places are...and the vicinity is rather surprising....i wonder how easy (and cheap/expensive) it is for example go get by boat from Indonesia to Christmas Island....coz if i lived in Indonesia I think I would go there just to buy and send a bunch of cards and stamps! You wouldnt complain to receive one, would you? :P
And then there is East Timor!!! Another postcard/stamps paradise! And even though you cant see it properly on the card you also have here Papua New Guinea..it is sharing an island with Indonesia actually....so there are just such nice rare countries around here....so maybe it is better i dont live in Indonesia....otherwise id go bankrupt rather quickly :)
Speaking of islands...Indonesia consists of  17,508 islands, out of which around 6,000 are inhabited...and Java is the most popular of course......

 

The two nice stamps are from a set of 5 issued in 2009 regarding the World Ocean Conference

Belgian Beers

A very cool card I received as an official

BE-74783

well, thing is, im NOT a beer drinker....actually, it is one of the alcoholic beverages I cant possibly stand...why exactly, i dont know but i know that just the smell itself puts me off, not to even mention the taste.
Last summer when I was out with some friends, the place we went to has all kinds of beers as their main menu...it is like a special beer-cafe....and of course, a problem occured coz i couldnt finds something suitable to drink...they had wines, but only large bottles, so somehow the waitress convinced me to take this dark beer telling me that you dont really feel the taste of beer there and that i will like it....but of course, i didnt...it was just as regular beer, maybe only not so strong....and she came later all smiling to ask me how it is....and left all disappointed when I made this 'yuck' expression on my face...i knew she shouldnt have convinced me, but lesson learned...
But despite the fact im an anti-beer lady, i still love this card...i like being introduced to cultures in such a way, even though ill never try any of these.

Btw, since we are talking of beer, i must tell you that there is this Macedonian beer which is very much praised by everyone and foreigners enjoy it a lot....we've had cases of foreigners getting awfully drunk coz they were sort of used to their own beer, which is not even close as strong as this Macedonian one, so after two bottles, which would do nothing in their own country, here they are in frantic laughter and behaviour! So if you come here, be careful with the Skopsko beer ;)  Cheers!

I have a feeling that Belgium has the most birds' stamps issued....well, you also have one very cute kitten stamp (covered by the cancellation). The kitten is from 2010, from a set of 10 stamps under the subject 'leaving the nest'.

Montana, USA

Believe it or not this card is from 2008.

No, I havent forgotten it...but i was just somehow so focused on the latest cards, that I totally neglected these ones....but I promised you that since the beginning of this year I will fix that and will treat them all equally....so dont be surprised if you see a card you had sent me that you had totally forgotten about...well, I have cards from before 2008, but they are not postcrossing cards....however I will try to put some of those too every now and then

And this card on its back says "Lost lake found in Northwest Montana". This structure of words just makes me laugh....the lost lake vs found in :P
It is considered as one of Montana's most unique bodies of water, hidden below the surrounding prairie north of the Highwood Mountains, about 30 miles east-northeast of Great Falls

It makes a lovely scenery definitely...from the Montana cards I had received so far, I can conclude that it definitely has beautiful nature

Kaali Lake, Estonia

Ive written about Saaremaa before, but this Estonian island doesnt cease to amaze me,

This time im presenting you Kaali, which is a group of 9 meteorite craters. Formed in the 7th century BCE, it is one of the most recent craters created by an impact event and the only known major impact event that has occurred in a populated area.
The crater on the card is referred to as the main and the biggest one.

And to my liking, some mythology interfering too!

One day a young man stepped up to the God of Sun and claimed that he was Phaeton, the son of the God of Sun himself and an earthborn woman Klymene. The young man had doubted his high parentage and demanded affirmation. The God of Sun admitted it, and, as an affirmation, promised to carry out his fondest wish. The boy, who had often admired sun disc's journey across the firmament, uttered an unexpected wish: he wanted to drive the sun chariot across the sky.

Hearing that, the God of Sun regretted his easily given promise. He tried to persuade the youngster to wish for something else, but without success. The boy, taking no heed of the menaces he was told about, had his will. At first the drive came off quite well and Phaeton felt himself almost the lord of the sky. But then the things took a tragic turn: the spirited horses, feeling that the reins were in weak hands, became frisky and sheered from the right direction. The youngster lost power over the horses, who now dashed up to the skies, now turned right down to the Earth so that forests and fields there caught fire, rivers and fountains evaporated and dried out.

When the cries and lamentations from the Earth reached Jupiter's ears, the latter, in this emergency, seized his lightning bolts and punished the irresponsible charioteer. The blazing Phaeton shot through the air and fell on the Earth into the mysterious river of Eridanos, which no mortal eye has seen. Phaeton's sisters Heliads, daughters of the God of Sun, Helios, sought out their brother's grave to bemoan him there. The mourning sisters were turned into poplar trees on the banks of Eridanos

and some very nice stamps...the first one is a definitive from 2007, showing a Wig Knapweed. The second and the fourth one are from 1997, a Christmas stamp and one with Folklore costumes respectively. The third stamps is from 1994, representing the International family year.

Burg Rabenstein, Austria

This last card again comes as an official I received in 2010 (as if it was so long ago...)

AT-65073

This is the Burg Rabenstein castle, which is said not to be well-known in the world and even within Austria itself. I guess thats why maybe there are not many information on the internet, at least not in English. But I came across some person's own experience of this place, so im conveying you his thoughts here...
"...Rabenstein is designated as an international cultural property by the Geneva Convention, and it is consequently protected from harm or use by military forces during times of war. In the 18th-19th century it was privately owned and used as a hotel, but today the small castle is owned by the Austrian Government in a specific capacity unknown. Apparently an official from the nearest town of Frohnleiten (a scant 3 kilometers away) presides over the castle and maintains its appearance. In summer the castle's courtyard is used by a local theatre group to present original dramas by Austrian playwrights.

Rabenstein is in immaculate condition, with magnificent lush flower-gardens and a fishpond in its courtyard, a freshly painted edifice, and a thick old-wood forest surrounding it on the steep hillside. And the Roman ruins, though crumbling and decrepit, still surround the rocky perch and stand majestically over the narrow valley...."

the above paragraph is courtesy of Jason Charles Buss, who I guess had quite a nice experience when visiting this castle.

and a nice birdy stamp (my cats would go frantic with so many birds, even if only on stamps :))
This one shows a Common Kingfisher and was issued in 2008 in a set of two stamps.

Netherlands Antilles

Well, due to Christmas holidays, im having two day off...plus the weekend...so i can take some time to post some cards.....I still have plenty of work to finish by Monday, but due to technical issues that *I* have to deal with, even though it is not really fair, I got fed up with it, so i decided to take a break

And im starting with a great card sent by dear Sainara...and a very special one too...no not, coz it is a fantastic map in question only...but coz it is a card from Netherlands Antilles, which I dont know if you were aware of, but stopped existing as such some months ago...so now if you want to send something to the Netherlands Antilles, you will have to write Dutch Caribbean instead.
I know that Curaçao and Sint Maarten became independent and they've issued their own stamp(s) in the meantime too...while Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatiues fall under the name BES Islands (also known as the Caribbean Netherlands/Dutch Caribbean)
Erm....does sound confusing a bit, esp if you already used to something, so I hope i didnt mix up anything above :)

Anyways, it feels great to know that I have cards from a country which doesnt exist anymore and from which i cant get cards anymore...at least not in its former constitution and not with the NA stamps. So im really happy and proud and I owe it all to kind Sainara for having sent me cards from the Netherlands Antilles!! Thank you so much dear!!!

and here is the NA stamp....I think these still could be used, until there are enough stamps issued from both sides
this stamp was issued in 2005 in a set of 10 flowers stamps.

Stockholm, Sweden

A very nice card coming from Stockholm.

As the sender says, the card shows a Swedish ship named Götheborg. This is a sailing replica of the Swedish East Indiaman from 18th Century. The original had sunk around 200 years ago.

A 2010 stamp from a set of two showing Queen Silvia (the other stamp in the set of course, shows King Carl XVI Gustaf)

Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse, USA

A great card for my lighthouse collection I received in one of the RR's.

This is Pointe Aux Barques lighthouse, which is located along the Lake Huron shore at the tip of Michigan's "Thumb". The surrounding area Lighthouse Park is an excellent recreational facility and museum maintained by Huron County.

and some nice stamps....apart from the famous clock, there are two I can consider as new ones for my collection, both issued in 2010...in the middle is a stamp dedicated to Winslow Homer, who was known as an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. I guess this is one of his paintings. And the other stamp is one you definitely recognize...Mother Teresa...commemorating 100 years since her birth.

Thanks for the nice card and stamps Craig!

Prague, Czech Republic

I know that the majority of my Czech Republic cards come from Prague, but they definitely have some great ones!

This one came as a surprise from Janek...or to be more precise, by his little adorable twins! :)
And theyve chosen such a great card! I know you cant see it properly, but this is a 3D card! I wish someone one day would invent a scanner which could show the depth of the 3 images as well...or show properly those lenticular ones...coz like this only I can enjoy the beauty to its fullest.
The card shows the Old Town in Prague which is also a UNESCO WHS. This is the Old Town Square and the building you see at the very front is the Tyn Church (or The Church of Our Lady before Tyn) which is one of the most preeminent symbols of Prague Gothic style. A funny fact about this church is that at first the towers seem identical...BUT...they are not. One of them is in fact a bit more solid and it is said that it represents the stronger side of the family, the man.
Well, whether it is the left or the right one, you decide :)

And some of the most fantastic stamps ive received on a card! This is actually like a part of the whole sheet of stamps issued in 2009 dedicated to the Krivoklatsko Region - A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The stamp is in the middle and shows Tyto Alba.

Thanks so much to Janek and his twins for something so wonderful!

Texel, The Netherlands

Well, another lighthouse for today and this is actually one of the few cards I received this year...the postman hasnt really liked me so far...didnt bring me much the past 3 days...and now again i have two days to wait until Saturday when I hope he will bring me something more.

This lighthouse is situated on the Texel island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark.
Texel forms the largest natural barrier between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea.

And some Dutch Christmassy stamps...the total set of 2010 consists of 10 Christmas stamps. The other one is a definitive from 2002.

And before I close this, just wanna wish a Merry Christmas to all the people celebrating today (me including). Hope you have a nice Christmas Eve and a nice Christmas Day as well with great food and people you love and feel close to! Hugs to all!!!

The Jomsom trail, Nepal

Hello my dear friends and readers and welcome to the first update of 2011!! Before I get down to anything, id like to wish you a Happy New Year and hope you had a nice celebration last night, whatever you did, wherever you went to, whomever you were with...mine was really nice for a change....cosy and relaxed with great music and great people. I hope there will be more times like that throughout the year as well.
And today, i gave myself a real day-off, indulged into writing postcards and preparing envelopes to be mailed, eating, sleeping, eating....eating again....dont know why but on 1st of January food tastes different and tastier :)) Yeah, just as an excuse for the amounts of food ive consumed....and then i wonder why clothes dont fit me...ehhh....

Well, without too much ranting, as I told you last time, once 2011 hits the roads, ill try to make some combinations of cards and post ones received in different years, not just the current one as it was mainly the case during 2010.
So here is a card I got in 2009....not written and stamped unfortunately, but thats gonna happen one day too, right?
This card from Nepal shows the Jomsom trail, a favourite route for trekkers, which follows the gorge of the Kali Gandaki River from Jomsom to near Pokhara, central Nepal. Most of the way the trail is narrow and rugged, forcing travellers to share narrow, rocky tracks with hard-pushing donkey caravans. Occasionally the gorge breaks out into an open valley, as here, giving th welcome relief of flat ground.

I dont know if I should be surprised, but too few trekkers on the card...for a place like this, called a favourite, i would certainly expect some more....or at least, my impression that is.

Collioure, France

My dear Beatriz sent me this lovely card from her recent trip to Collioure in France and arrived just before New Year's Day!

For some reason, many coastal towns remind me of each other...this one reminds me of Budva...and the old town...except that around the old town in Budva, you cant possibly see so many roofs...
As for Collioure, it lies on the Mediterranean, in the south of France. A small and beautiful village where the poet Antonio Machado died. He fled here to escape advancing Francoist troops at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
Famous people like André Derain, Georges Braque, Othon Friesz, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Tsuguharu Fujita have all been inspired by Collioure's royal castle, medieval streets, its lighthouse converted into the church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges and its typical Mediterranean bay.

I like such artistic places, with that kind of a cultural note....they seem to have a special charm in the air...

a French definitive issued in 2009, from the Marianne and Europe series (which replaced Marianne of the French series). Marianne is an allegory for the French Republic, and on the definitives she is wearing a Phrygian cap and is presented in profile, looking to the left. The stars around her head represent the flag of Europe.

Muchas gracias querida!!! Abrazos!!!

La Passion du Chocolat

You know that I love Nouvelles Images cards (the multiples series)....and here is one of my very very very favourites!!! The Chocolate one!!! Yumm yumm yummmie!!!

Plus being the holidays, it feels appropriate to post it and maybe feel less guilty for having eaten all those sweets and cakes and stuff :)
And the ones on the card just look unbelievably delicious!!! Esp that big one at the top line....I dont know what exactly it is, but it looks incredibly good...and at least i know there will be enough to satisfy my appetite :P
The Foret noire looks awesome too and the one with triple chocolate too...and the mousse...and the Opera...and just everything!!
Im not really a chocolate addict, at least not anymore, but I do have my moments of consuming them in large quantities....Ive tried to give up on them and not consume anything sweet...and usually I dont have a real need for chocolate or a cookie...but sometimes, when someone offers you with something nice, you just cant resist it...and sometimes you come across at a store or a cake shop at something tasty...so why refrain myself...as long as I dont do it on daily basis and overdose each time, I shouldnt deprive myself from these guilty pleasures...coz fact is, the more I try to force myself not to eat something, the more I feel like craving for it eventually...so it is all psychologically/emotionally based, than that it shows the real need for a particular product...same goes with coffee.....at least for me.

Mount Tai, China

A lovely surprise Dani sent me from China!

Such a fantastic view, with so much blue!! Perfect for the blue lovers like me!
The name of the card is "The Winter Charm of Azure Cloud Temple". Situated on the Mount Tai, near its top, is a grand building complex, a special combination of metal components, wood, and bricks and stone structures. It is the most influential, its influence extending over more than half of China. During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), Azure Cloud Temple received several hundred thousand worshippers annually. From the Taishan Temple to the Azure Clouds Temple there are numerous stone tablets and inscriptions and ancient buildings on the way.

I love the name...azure clouds...and feels like you have the whole world at your hands here :)

the stamp is from a set of 2 definitives issued in 2004.

Philippines

My last card for today is an official I received in 2009

PH-11181

My only official card from the Philippines so far...however, the user eventually moved to Canada, so I dont have it anymore counting as one from the Philippines =/

It is a very nice map card, showing a bunch of different views from the country, and they go as follows (starting from top left corner, to the right, then you go down and just follow the line :)

1. Makati; 2. Black Nazarene Procession, Quipao; 3. Jeepney; 4. Intramuros; 5. Rizal Shrines; 6. Manila City Hall; 7. Fort Santiago, Intramuros; 8. Philippine Brahma with gypsies woven handicraft carriage, Diliman; 9. San Augustin Church, Intramuros; 10. Ortigas Center; 11. Manila Bay sunset; 12. Roxas Blvd.; 13. Rizal Monument in Luneta Park; 14. Manila Cathedral, Intramuros; 15. MRT in Ortigas Center; 16. Spanish-inspired horse-driven calesa, Intramuros

If I ever get a particular card from one of these places, ill give you more details regarding it or them....if i get to write one about each one of them, that's gonna be an endless boring post :)

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the famous Philippines' definitives...here you have two different designs from a set of 40 stamps issued in 2009