Hamburg, Germany

As I had previously mentioned, the last post of today would be a bit overwhelming with cards (but not with text, I promise! 😎)

The reason behind this Hamburg post is my cancelled trip to Hamburg, which was supposed to happen at the end of April, but of course, for well-known reasons, didn't happen.
So, just wanna take a glimpse on postcards of things I could have seen in real life, and well prepare myself for some Hamburg trip in the future 💓
Funny, all, except for one of these cards have been sent as officials...

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How can you not love this view above? It shows the Binnenalster Lake, which is one of the two artificial lakes within the city, formed by the river Alster (the other being the Außenalster). In the background you can see some important sites like the Rathaus, several churches, the Alsterpavillon....

comes with a cute Peanuts stamp issued in a set of two in 2018

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A view of the centre of the city, again with the Binnenalster, and the Rathaus as well as the Lombardsbrücke, or the Lombard Bridge, named after the Lombard pawn shop situated here in 1651.   

well, not the Lombard bridge, but another bridge is featured here on the stamp from 2013, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Fehmarnsund Bridge, which connects the German island of Fehmarn in the Baltic Sea with the German mainland near Großenbrode  

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A multiview of the city, which I guess covers all the essentials :)

The stamp is from a joint issue with Japan from 2011, showing UNESCO world Heritage sites and this stamp features the old town of Regensburg.

Here is that famous Rathaus I had already mentioned above (and the only card which is not an official one). Oh yeah, that's the town hall for those wondering...but when it comes to Germany, im just so used to their Rathaus word, that I never use any other....

the stamp was issued in 2014 showing the Stolzenfels am Rhein Castle.

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aaaand, guess what.... the Rathaus again! 😆

and again we have the Fehmarnsund Bridge from 2013





From what I could find while looking through my collection, these seem to be all the Hamburg cards I have - I must admit it would be more but then that would have made my job tonight more difficult here, so Im perfectly fine with these 6 cards, and I can simply enrich my collection once I go there (and yours of course 😊

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Well, it is just an aerial view of the city, with the port, no other particular information about this one. 

On the left is one of the famous flower definitives (this one is from the set of 3 issued in 2005). The other one is a machine stamp, which I was just told has some kind of rare fault, since the holes at the bottom (which i dont think you can see), usually are like half-holes, but the ones here are like three/quarters of a full circle... so haha, I have some kind of rare specimen in my collection... who would have thought, esp. with a machine stamp, which I must admit, I dont really like at all :)

So folks, that would be all for today! Hope you are still surviving your lock-down wherever you are!

And yeah, I know this aint a priority, but I hope borders and airports would open soon so I could give my itchy feet a nice trip  - this is not just about the borders but also the possibility of having to go into quarantine in case you wanna travel - I mean what is the point of going on a few days trip if you first need to spend two weeks in quarantine there? Where's the sense in that???

Have a nice weekend ahead... till next time! 

Cook Islands

Not sure what has been my longest hiatus on the blog, but these almost-eight-months might win the trophy.

Where has that time passed?
Well, it's been one really strange year, and when I look back, so much has happened, both good and bad, that in the blink of an eye, without properly realizing it, 2020 is at its doorstep.

Not that I havent been busy with mail... my mailbox has been welcoming postcards from all over, and I have even been more active in sending compared to the last few years... but it is this blog that has paid the price cos seems that I am not that multitasking as women in general are thought to be.

It has come to the point that I haven't even managed to brag about a new country to my collection and it already arrived during the summer... so after all the silence, here is a beauty coming from the Cook Islands - it is so cold here and so polluted that I would trade for a scenery like this without thinking twice...

Way back, during my junior postcrossing years, I did receive a card from the Cook Islands, but it was blank (sent in an envelope with some other cards from the USA I think...), and just now I noticed that I had never ever posted it... cos yeah, what is the thrill about a blank piece of cardboard, when at the end of the day, is something I could have printed myself... I should look for that blank card and send it to someone who collects blank cards, now that I am properly covered with Cook Islands and can tick it off my list...

The card says to show two beautiful little islands in the middle of Aitutaki's pristine lagoon. This view of Rapota is from Motu Rakau, where TV series Survivor and Shipwreck were both filmed (don't know about you, but I have watched neither...)

Two beautiful stamps from a set of 6 issued this year, from the Suwarrow Atoll National Park series.

Thanks to Azzi for this gem in my collection!

Isla de Tabarca, Spain

I don't know if blogger had been messing with the platform, but I just cannot seem to properly adjust the size of images... they either look too small or too big as if there is no in-between which used to seem just right... or maybe it is just me and remembering things the wrong way, heh..

Beautiful view of the small Tabarca island sent by Eva earlier this year.

It is the smallest permanently inhabited islet in Spain and seems that I've been quite nearby during my visit of Alicante (it is actually considered as part of the city) ... just a short ferry trip away...

A beatiful train wagon stamp on the left from 2018, commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Last Travelling Post Office (that is actually a sad occasion...)
The King Felipe VI stamps are from 2016.

Thank you so much Eva for thinking of me!

Jal Mahal, India

When going through my cards and trying to make a choice of what to post today, more often than not I was like, oh have I really received this, this year?? At times it feels like it is something from ages ago... or it might be cos this year has been as it has been and I have some distorted sense of time....

I dont know about you, but whenever I see this card I read Taj Mahal :D And actually back when I swapped for it, I was ready to argue, but this is not Taj Mahal,  and I have more than enough view cards from there anyway! Good that I took a better look before I spoke (cos something looked odd about the Taj Mahal) and I spared myself the embarrassment, haha...

Jal Mahal (which is said to mean Water Palace) is a palace in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur city, and the way it is secluded in the middle of the lake is what makes it so appealing to me and maybe even more beautiful than Taj Mahal and for sure less touristy.

the big stamp on the right is from 2018 from a set of 3, commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the First Flag Hoisting at Port Blair. The Yoga definitive next to it was issued in 2016, while on the left side, that guy in black and white is from a set of 16 definitives issued in 2016, showing Makers of India and this one is Bal Gangadhar Tilak, 1856-1920, who was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence activist

Thanks to Thomas for this card.

Fountain of Youth, USA

Ok, one more card for today. I don't wanna push myself too far after all this idling :)))

The card shows the Statue of Juan Ponce de Leon, discoverer of Florida and its first Spanish governor from 1513 to 1521, was dedicated on April 3, 1950, the 437th anniversary of his landing in 1513.
Quite a strange number for an anniversary...
As for the effects of the water drank, I cannot vouch, sorry :)

two stamps from that beautiful sheet of stamps featuring the Southern Florida Wetland, issued in 2006.
Another small birdy on the left, from a set of two issued in 1988, showing the grosbeak (the other one shows an owl), and a flag stamp from 1976, featuring the state of Florida (quite convenient, both this one and the Wetlands stamps, related to the card :))


Thanks to Bryon for this card, who is one of the few that regardless of my absence from the blog, feeds my mailbox quite regularly :)

Yeah, that would be all folks for now... might squeeze in another update before the end of the year, or maybe not...one can never predict what turn life will take...

Stay well!

Niue

Another slow day at the office calls for what? A blog update, of course! Well I planned to do it over a week ago, but then somehow the office days werent that slow anymore, so this most important office job had to be postponed. Terrible, I know!

But the time has come... and if you remember, on several occasions previously i had posts dedicated to some of my postcards' fairies so for this time my choice was Chris. And funny thing, it is probably for a reason the previous attempt was postponed, since in the meantime I got this card, which would have been a pity not to be included!
I knew that Chris had paid a visit here, and I was secretly hoping I card was sent my way, and voilà! A new country in my postcards' collection! Directly from Niue!! ❤

What is special about Chris's cards (well most of them)  is that they are unique, since he designs them and prints them himself, so unless he has sent you a card, this is not something you will find at stores :)

Even though the name of the country is something I am familiar with, I actually barely know anything about it.
Niue is one of the world's largest coral islands. The terrain of the island has two noticeable levels. The higher level is made up of a limestone cliff running along the coast, with a plateau in the centre of the island reaching approximately 60 metres high above sea level.
The lower level is a coastal terrace which slopes down and meets the sea in small cliffs

The island is commonly referred to as "The Rock", which comes from the traditional name "Rock of Polynesia.

Niue is a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand; and New Zealand conducts most diplomatic relations—though not all—on its behalf. Niueans are citizens of New Zealand, and Queen Elizabeth II is head of state in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand.

Total number of inhabitants is estimated at around 1600. Probably my neighbourhood has more people than this. It is kinda scary to even imagine, living all your life within these confinements.
(I know there are places with way less inhabitants, and funny thing, I often wish I could get away far from everything and everyone with no people around - but I would endure that better than just being stuck with the same people on such a small space, all the time).

Lovely stamps and very interesting cancellations from Niue's capital, Alofi.

The bottom one, next to the address is from a set of four issued in 2001, represeting the Coconut Crab (it is found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean ).
The others are from a set of 6 Tourism stamps issued in 2009.

Holetown, Barbados

An extremely slow day at work, I mean extremely! So it calls for doing at least something useful now, doesnt it? I mean for sure I'm not gonna do it over the weekend...

And on today's menu we again have a few cards that have arrived during these three months of 2019.

So here we go...


First a card from Glenn, one of the regular readers and contributors to my collection!
Here is a card from his last cruise, from his stop in Barbados.

The card shows us a few images of Holetown, a small town located in the parish of Saint James on the sheltered west coast of the island.
In 1625, Holetown (formerly known as St. James Town) was the site of initial English settlement of Barbados and the Island's oldest church, St. James Parish Church (which i believe is shown on the bottom left image), was erected here in 1628, a year after the first settlers landed.

a nice choice of stamps!
The three ones on the right are from a set of 20 issued in 2016, commemorating Centenarians of Barbados (that is a lot of centenarians!), and here you can see, from left to right, Edith Vimetta St. Clair Wilkinson, Beatrice Gertrude Carrington and Vera Elaine Gibbs. So the reason they have deserved their spot on these stamps is that they have got to live for over one hundred years... which my oh my, sounds kinda scary.. I dont know if I would like to live THAT long :))

The last, fourth stamp, is from a set of four issued in 1982, commemorating the 21st Anniversary of the Birth of Princess of Wales.... or better known as Diana. Here she is shown with Earl Spencer Proceeding up the aisle (if the name doesnt ring a bell, he is actually Diana's younger brother). And dont wanna play a smart ass here, but I actually had no idea either until I googled him :D

Thank you Glenn for the great card and stamps!

Krupa, Slovenia

Next is an official card I received from Slovenia - which is really cool since I dont often receive official cards from Slovenia, making it number 32 on the ranking list of countries on my official site
Number one is of course, Germany :)

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Now this is exactly the kind of place I would like to retreat to right now, away from everything and everyone for a while, just enjoy the nature, the fresh air, the sound of birds, and good books. No phone, no internet, no postcards... nothing... just me, myself and I :)

As for the card, it shows the springs of River Krupa, a 2.5 km river in southeastern Slovenia.
The river is protected as a natural monument and has been included in the Natura 2000 ecological network however, it is infamous because of its extremely high pollution with PCBs due to improper handling of PCB waste material which has been used for decades by the capacitor manufacturing company XYZ - will leave the actual name out, i dont wanna be prosecuted for name shaming cos, nowadays you just cant be sure where a thing you had said on the internet will take you to, haha!

the cute birdy stamp is from a set of 5 fauna stamps issued in 2014, showing a cute small falcon called lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)

Cyprus

Next is a surprise card from Andy and from his trip to Cyrpus earlier this year.

I dont receive cards from Cyprus that often, and the last one on the blog was published back in 2011, so yeah, a card from Cyrpus does deserve a spot today :)

Unfortunately, I cannot figure out where any of these places are... not that Cyprus is THAT big, but still :P

Funny thing about the postcards mailed from Cyrpus... I read somewhere recently that none of the postcards there have been postmarked, and even though my previous Cyprus cards prove that theory wrong, this card proves it right. So I dont know if it had become a habit in the last few years and in the end it is certainly better than a pen scribble, but still... it is a pity.

The stamp on the right is from a set of 6 Christmas stamps issued in 2017, and I guess the child here is writing to Santa.
The other one is a Cyprus Refugee stamp from 2018 (these have been issued since 1974)

Thank you Andy!!

Taiwan

One more card for today... this time a very cool official card from Taiwan.

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A very interesting way of portraying some of the most famous places and things / foods in Taiwan. How many can you actually recognize?

a stamp from a set of 4 Minerals' stamps issued in 1997. This one shows an enargite.

So folks, that would be all for today! Have a nice weekend ahead and if you had read the sticky post and you are still around, well thank you too :)

Las Vegas, USA

Moving a bit over the pond, where some states experienced real polar temperatures resulting in closed schools, offices, airports.

Nevada fortunately didnt make the list, otherwise Im not sure Glenn would have enjoyed that part of his last trip (and Im curious where else he had headed after the Casino adventures :P


Yeah, as he says, more than enough glitter on this card.. speaking of which, recently I was 'lucky' enough to be showered with LOOADS of glitter at a gig I attended. Still I can find specks in my hair :D

And the stamps are very anti-polar too :) Three seashells from the set of 4 issued in 2017.

Sri Lanka

So after like 3 weeks into the New Year, I thought it was about time to blow off the dust and bring this place back to life after last year's hiatus.

Don't know if that was like my worst year blogging so far, but certainly not the one I would like to brag about. But what's done is done... and who knows, maybe this year will have a better outcome. No promises though, since they never work (there is nothing that works so badly as a New Year's resolution).

And the most proper way to start this year would be of course with cards received in 2019, which may not be much but are just enough for one blog post. :)

 The very first one is this lovely train card that Kiran sent me from his trip in Sri Lanka.
Dont know exactly which line this is, but it says that Taking the train is a great and inexpensive way to get around, the train journeys are real cultural experience and the most scenic routes will be highlights of your visit - in particular the wonderful journey from Colombo to Kandy and up into Tea County, and the coastal train ride from Colombo to Dutch colonial Galle.
British visitors will find the stations, signal boxes and old red semaphore signals very familiar.

Ok, I guess the rest of us will feel completely lost and puzzled then, wondering what kind of objects are those...

Kiran used two lovely stamps to match the card, issued in 2017 as part of the World Post Day.
The actual sheet is really fabulous btw...

Brussels, Belgium

By now some of you probably know already where I had spent my New Year holidays. May seem like an odd choice, but when you find cheap tickets for a place you havent been to before, you just grab the opportunity and make the best out of it, and I must say the trip was really fantastic.

The best thing about Brussels? Our AirBnb, which included 5 cats and one dog. Endless joy! One of the cats would scratch on our door every day to let him in, and he would just climb on the suitcase and fall asleep, waking only to the rustling sounds, knowing it was probably food. (Make a wild guess which one was the frequent visitor :D)

Brussels itself is nice, just too crowded for my taste. But it was nice to see it. It didnt make the list of places I would never really like to go back to again, so thats a plus.

the place shown on the card is called Mont des Arts (meaning Hill/Mount of the Arts) which probably makes it one of the best places for taking pictures, cos the view is really stunning (however when your personal photographer cannot really grasp the idea of a good picture, you will end up without one with you in it...)

Not big fan of spending time in museums, at least not those standard types of Art and History ones, but I do love some unique ones, esp if related to my interests and Brussels has this super cool Comics museum, where if nothing else, you will realize how ignorant you actually were about the comics' art cos it is not all Tin Tin and Smurfs and stuff...

and of course, Belgium wouldnt be Belgium without the waffles, but to my surprise and to the disbelief of many I got to eat only two...but they were real good!

and probably just the best nachos I've ever eaten, so if you are in Brussels, and feel like having nachos, go to the O'Reilly's Irish Pub - their food is just fantastic!

so all in all a great stay in this small county and would like to visit it again and explore more of it (aside from Brussels, we also got to see Brugge, Ghent and Leuven, so not bad, eh? :))

the only downside is the lack of cancellation (or as in case with my card, it was upside down) on just all the cards sent but when I think about it, that is way better than some pen scribbles.

There is one of the birds' definitives (not sure which year it was issued), and two stamps from a set of 10 issued in 2003, under the name This is Belgium. Different places across Belgium are represented, and on these two stamps it is Vilvoorde and Turnhout, where the latter is obviously known for its playing cards industry, hence the playing cards' symbols.