Maastricht, The Netherlands

And after ticking another country off the list, back to something else now.

I haven't really considered visiting Maastricht.... but after having received this card, my plans kinda changed.
This is one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world (according to Alvin, and im pretty sure he is right).
Built in 1294, the cathedral features large open spaces boasting three-story bookshelves. Being that the church contains 1,200 square meters of shopping space with only 750 square meters of floor space, the architects decided to design vertically. They incorporate the modern scheme of the shop without obstructing the religious motifs or structure of the ancient venue. Within the space, there is also a cafe. As a nod to the bookstore’s past-life, there is a long table shaped like a cross in the eating area, which is conveniently located where the choir formerly situated themselves.

How can you not want to visit this place? So if you end up in Maastricht and wanna do something that is not really touristy, this is a great way to spend your time. If I end up in Maastricht, this would be my first destination, for sure!

Two nice stamps on the card. Christmas one on the left, from the set of 10 Christmas stamps issued last year. The other stamp is from 2018, showing the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision - Beeld en Geluid.

Taipei, Taiwan

the next card comes from Taiwan, and it shows the largest bookstore in the country, located in Taipei.

the bookstore has six stories above ground and two basement floors, with over 300,000 titles and more than a million books, covering publications in Mandarin, simplified Chinese, English, Japanese and European languages. And the best part of it all is that it is open 24/7...so you can drop by and read a book whenever you feel like it...esp on a rainy day as I presume it is when this picture was taken...at least that's the impression I get thru that window in the back :)

The other day I finished A Heart so White. Hmm, well, it is a good book...and I did find myself wanting see what's going to happen on the next page and how it is going to end and all...it ended a bit, well, I dont know, all of a sudden...you have odd events happening and things culminating until like the last 10 pages of the book, and then all of a sudden everything calms down and ends...on top of that, the book had not seen a proof-reader...or had seen a very careless one, coz all I kept doing was catching spelling and orthography mistakes...and as I was getting ahead with the book, the percentage of mistakes per page was increasing...and last, but not least, the syntax and construction of the sentences was sometimes confusing and made it difficult to figure it out what is he trying to say actually.
Still, it is not a bad book...you just need to find the right copy to read it...probably in Spanish would be the best if you are able to :)
So now, finally I can get down to Kafka on the Shore by Murakami

there are two really nice stamps on the card! First one belongs to a set of 20 stamps under the theme 'Wishes, Tourism, and Traffic'. It was issued in 2011. The other one is from a set of 5 deep-sea creatures' stamps, issued in 2012 and this one here shows is the Regalecus glesne...or in a more understandable language, the giant oarfish.

Bookstore

next comes one of my all time favourite cards...Ive had it in my favourites for quite long...and I just couldnt believe it one day that someone tagged me for it! I was just super-duper excited!

why I so much love it? ahh, I dont know....I mean, you have a bookstore that looks sooo nice and cosy..you know, not the modern kind of bookstore, but those old ones, with a wooden door, a bell sound when someone enters...the smell of old books inside....such a nice warm atmosphere, while outside it is raining...and the cherry on top is the bike...it just makes this card so perfect, and so much ME..yeah, this card is screaming ANA ANA ANA all over the place! I just love love love it!
Speaking of books, currently Im reading "A Heart So White" by Javier Marías. Im at page 64 so I still cant give some conclusion whether the book is good or bad...but there is some interesting development of events.
Speaking of bicycles...the front tyre on mine literally exploded today while I was going back home...just now when the weather got so nice and the rainy gloomy days should be behind us, my bike betrayed me...I really need to have my tires replaces as soon as possible...coz i just have this itch to be in the sunshine on my bike!

the credits for the photo go to: http://morbcn.com/ where you can see a lot more awesome photos!