Yuri Gagarin, Russia

well, apart from the Italian maxi card, some Russian cards of course...well a bunch of them actually....though I still have this feeling that I must have overlooked some :)

if you are not such a Gagarin fan, maybe you love Russian stamps....and this post has plenty of beautiful ones to show...
But before I get down to that, just wanted to show a picture of Yuri's night here in Skopje (it is an event organized throughout the world), and this time it was organized by the Russian Embassy here which I thought would be something spectacular, but was utterly boring but at least I got to meet some of my astronomy buddies and other friends....and at least pose for the picture with Gagarin....thanks to Iskra for the picture :)

and after the introduction lets get down to the cards....where for some I have NO idea how I have obtained them....yeah, blank cards....and the very first one is of such kind....

Found it in the 2010 pile, and it says it was issued by the State Institution of culture of Moscow, "The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics".....other than that, it says "Yuri Gagarin - the first cosmonaut of the planet fulfilled the age-old dream of the Mankind about flight to space. On April 12th, 1961 spacecraft 'Vostok' with Yuri Gagarin on the board, made one Earth orbit and successfully landed. The era of manned space flight has begun.

well, as I said, it is blank, so no stamps nor any idea who sent it to me....


Now, when it comes to the next one, I have two copies of it, one received for the WOTM in 2012 from Alexandra, and the other one as part of a swap from Ekaterina in...unfortunately I cannot read the cancellation...

but both are written and stamped, so a few words about the stamps now...

on the first one we have one of the Russian Kremlins' stamps from 2009 (the Moscow Kremlin) and the other one is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2011, for the Olympic Games in Sochi, showing Krasnaya Polyana, the only ski-resort at the Black Coast.

on the other card we have another of the Russian Kremlins' stamps  (the Rostov one) and three more - there are two stamps from the set of 5 issued in 2005, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of A.I.Mikoyan...and the one on the right, issued in 2008 in a set of 4 stamps showing the Decorative-Aplied Arts of Dagestan.



next we have another blank card from 2010...with a smiling Yuri! ♥

now this one is not a maxi-card, even though at first glance it may seem so...

the sender, Natalia, had designed it herself, and she says this was her first designer's experience with a retro photo....well done Natalia!! And thank you for sending it to me! :

and she used nice stamps too....two more of the Russian Kremlins (haha, maybe by the end of the post I will have them all :P) - here you can see the Zarask Kremlin and the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, and also a fantastic stamp issued in 2010, showing the Curonian spit...and if you actually touch it, you can feel the rough sandy-surface!


Next is probably one of the most iconic Gagarin pictures, where he is holding a dove...but in general there is a trend of famous people being photographed with doves, promoting peace and all...

blank card unfortunately...



another one with this super-charming Gagarin smile :D

RU-2939434

received this one as an official from Elena in 2014 (I also have a blank copy, so if anyone is interested, let me know).

and among the three stamps here, we also have a matching one with Gagarin!!! Issued in 2009, for the 75th anniversary since his birth...we also have one of the 2008 definitives, and one from one of my favourite Russian cartoons with Karlson - it comes from a set of 4 cartoons' stamps issued in 2012.


Ok, i think we are like half-way through, and next comes a card dear Maria sent me in 2010

It was indeed issued to commemorate April 12th, and the world's first spaceman!



Next is probably one of my favourite Gagarin cards where you can see him in the company of Gina Lollobrigida at the Second Moscow International Movie Festival in 1961

RU-631158

Received it from Polina in 2011, when Russia still had 6-digit IDs :)

On the stamp you can see another one of the Kremlins - the Ryazan Kremlin.


A card I received in 2012 from Anna for the wishlist-tag...

The English translation on the back of the card says "Long Live the Son of the Communist Party"!
I don't know how come the translation has the word 'communist' in it...or maybe it is understandable it refers to the communist party...but I do somewhat disagree with such wilful addition/omission of words..

anyways, the card comes with a nice stamp issued in 2011, showing the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve.


this next card is from the same series as the one above...an official received last year, sent by Larisa and Anastasia...sisters I guess :)

RU-3394987

the English translation says, "We are creative and friendly and clever, we're making space to be peaceful forever"! 

which word means 'clever' in Russian here? 

one more Kremlin stamp :D it shows the Astrakhan Kremlin. There is also one from the 2008 defintivies and one Sochi stamp from the set of 15 issued in 2014, showing all the different disciplines.


The next-to-last....

...received from Irina for the (no-more-existing) Favourites RR.
I wonder what's going through Gagarin's pensive head here....

A gorgeous stamp with Orcinus Orca from the set of two whales' stamps issued in 2012....and another 2008 definitive.


And this last card for this post, and today came as a surprise from dear Katya in 2013

another pensive Gagarin-look....probably before take-off :)

Here you can again see the Moscow Kremlin and another beautiful stamp issued in 2013 in a set of 3 Contemporary Russian Art stamps.


Sorry Yuri for the delay in this post....but I hope it still counts :)

and wishing you all a nice weekend....yeah sorry, that would be all for today, but I just wanted to make one update dedicated to Gagarin...I will try to come back soon with a new regular kind of update...promise! :)

Dublin, Ireland

Moving on to some Dublin stuff..

This first card came from Andy not so long ago from his trip to Dublin last December. Lucky, lucky guy! :)

The back of the card says" Dublin city is spread over the broad valley of the river Liffey, with Wicklow Hills sheltering it on the south. In addition to its splendid public buildings, Dublin is particularly rich in domestic architecture of the 18th century. It's one of Europe's most beautifully situated capitals with pleasant beaches and mountains only a short journey away.    

this stamp was issued in 2014 as part of two Marine Life stamps and on this one you can see the Fireworks Anemone...

the second Dublin card arrived as a surprise from Lynda...a great view of the city..and here you can see the Liffey river as well as some (important) buildings, that I  have no idea if I can identify properly...I guess the first bridge you can see is the Ha'Penny Bridge, built in 1816...and in the back on the right, that might be the Four Courts...well other than that I really dont know...that's why I included that last map card you can see below

again the fireworks anemone stamp....

and here is the Dublin map card, to help out lost and totally confused tourists like me with no sense of orientation. The back of the card has names for each of the numbers shown here, so with this, I really shouldnt get lost...all it takes now is to figure out how to get to Ireland...

nice colourful stamp from 2012 from a set of four stamps showing Myths and Legends....Id be thankful if anyone could tell me what the myth on this stamp is all about....

9 Million Bicycles...or just Hippy Happy =)

Ok, since I started with bragging, let's do a bit more of it :D I guess someone's gonna hate me by the end of today :)

Anyways, as some of you may know again, I LOVE my bicycle, due to which I actually started collecting bicycle postcards. However, for a while now I've been thinking of getting a new bike cos mine feels like it is saving its last breaths sometimes to get from A to B...plus it is a mountain bike, more suitable for men...I wanted more of a girl kind of bike so I can ride it even with a skirt on...I had this idea of getting a red or a black one...until one day I saw one that captured my heart...and few months later, became MINE!! Yup, I got myself a new bike last Thursday and I so much love love love it! (Those who are on Facebook have probably seen it already :))Well, that is one of the reasons why I won't be travelling for the holidays now (so sorry, no surprise postcards from me =/) There will be other opportunities to travel and torture your mailboxes...but for now I want you to meet Hippy Happy! (yep, that's how I named it, cos it seriously, the name is just soo suitable!)

isn't it just lovely? =))))

I can hardly wait for the weather to get better so I can ride it more often...Im rather limited with all this rain and fog and stuff....ahh happiness!!

and well, as a part of the post, for pure pleasure for the bike lovers, here are a bunch of bike cards I received during this year...I think that mine is still the loveliest :P

Yup, exactly! Me + bike = happy =)

Just a few thank-yous to some of the bike-cards contributors that you've seen above...hugs to Agi, Nataša, Svea, Jolly, Natalia, Helena, Jane, Katja, Galina, Stefanie, Andrea, Ksenia, Sasha, Viktoria, Marieke, Jenny, Carmen, Karolina, Irina...

Hopefully from January on Ill go back with my new bike to the Critical mass organized here in Skopje...that's a feeling one of a kind...hundreds of bikers together on the streets of Skopje =)

Pic and video from two different I attended few months ago =) (I feel like im becoming really self-centred =)) (In case someone's interested I appear from 1:39 - 1:41 in the video)

Roundstone, Ireland

well, for my last card today Ive chosen this beautiful Irish card (Irish cards are almost always BEAUTIFUL!)

I love the sort of gloomy atmosphere on this one...and i think I have a particular thing developed for boats like this...not like for a postcard theme, but ive noticed, that whenever I see boats on the shore or in the water, i take pictures of them, and try to make some cool shots regarding the boats' arrangement compared to the surroundings or so...and if boats come in different colours, that is just a bonus!

well, about that story I mentioned above....well, some 10 days ago, there was a huge fire at the main post office in Skopje...and unfortunately, that is the post office where the Philatelic Bureau is also situated...or should I say, 'was'...there were no deaths fortunately, but the damage is huge..and the post office is not working at the moment...all the employees there have been reallocated to other post offices...however, I cant find out where the philately lady is and if she is working at all or she is taking a break...I dont know if and how many stamps have suffered the fire but practically, right now, i cant get any nice new stamps....I have to be satisfied with the general (boring) ones that are sold at the post offices...and that is quite annoying...but unfortunately, for the time being, i dont have much of a choice, and im running out of the nice stock of stamps I usually get at the philately *sigh*
you can read about it here  as well

as for the stamps on the card, we have a nice selection of flowers here...the one on the left is a definitive from a set of 5 definitives issued in 2005. representing an Irish orchid. Next to it is the 'dandelion' (i cant tell if this one was issued in 2004 or 2007). Next tp the dandelion is the 'thrift', from the set of 3 wild flowers' stamps issued in 2008. And the last stamp shows a large-flowered butterwort, as a part of 4 definitives issued in 2007.

thanks a lot to Monika for this lovely card!

And a nice evening/morning/afternoon too all :)