Monument of the fallen Krajina soldiers, Bosnia and Herzegovina

well, one more card for today that arrived from a swap last year...from the not-so-far-away Bosnia..well, not so far from here at least :)

The card shows, as the title of this post says, The monument to fallen Krajina soldiers, in the War for Liberation (1941-1945) against fascism. It is located at the top of the Banj Brdo (Banj Hill) at 431meters of altitude. It is around 5 kilometers away from the city of Banja Luka, and the road between Banja Luka and the monument on the Banj Hill is covered in concrete al the way long. The monument of the mausoleic type (13 meters high and 24 meters long), is a work of one of the greatest Yugoslav sculptors and craftsman of memorial plastic, Antun Augustinčić. It was erected at the place where, in June 1941, a Distric conference of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia for Bosanska Krajina was held together with a few counselings related to the rise of the rebellion. It was made from white stone from Brač. It has a unique form, special dinamic line and looked from afar, it seems like a bullet fired in the direction of Krajina (Kozara and Grmeč). At the front of the monument, above the entrance doors, there is a huge figure of a naked young man holding a flag in his hand. Sideways there are relieves which show the battle against the occupants and after-war construction. The monument was solemnly opened in 1961 and since then it has become a place where visitors come from all over the world. The monument was visited by Josip Broz Tito in 1966 who, before leaving the monument plateau, having looked back once more, said: “You have chosen a wonderful location for this monument. I think it is the greatest monument in Yugoslavia. When the stone gets used to this climate it shall look even more beautiful“.

this is an EUROPA stamp, from the 2008 series representing Letters.

Well, I hope you liked the cards chosen for today...and see you next time!

Tartu, Estonia

I decided to end today's update with this Estonian card

I've already written about Tartu, and here now we have these two cool statues...you may be recognizing the guy on the left...one of my all time favourite writers...Oscar Wilde!! While across is an Estonian writer called Eduard Vilde...and this installation is actually called "Two Wildes" and its author is some guy called Tiiu Kirsipuu.
These two have never met, but Tiiu seems to have been inspired by their similar last name and by the fact that they also lived at about the same time. Oscar lived from 1854-1900, while Eduard from 1865 till 1933.
I've never read something by the latter and I don;t know if some of his works can be found in English here (im like more than sure it is a no-no when it comes to Macedonian). But I would really like to read something coming from his pen...and if you have some particular book to recommend, would be happy to hear about it :)
Btw, I think I have whined before about the kitschy Skopje 2014 Project...and statues and monuments are a great part of it...makes my teeth cringe, for many reasons...if you care to see more and be all WTF, just click here...and I cant help it but make comparisons...the above pictures invokes admiration...the project in my hometown...erm, definitely a descriptive word that should be censored =)
But at least the tourists often have a good laugh about it, wondering where's the sense in all that...unfortunately, I do not have the answer...I just am appalled and frustrated.

and a stamp from this year's EUROPA theme of postal vans...Estonia issued two stamps for this occasion.

well, off to seize the rest of the day =)

Leyte, Philippines

next comes a really nice card from the Philippines.

On the card you can see the monument showing the return of Gen. McArtur to the Philippines, where on October 20 1944, his forces started liberating Philippines and parts of Asia from the Japanese occupation. McArtur earlier made the promise of "I shall return" (I guess something like Schwarzi's "I'll be back" in Terminator :) and became famous for that line.
And Lannie, the sender says that it is very common nowadays for Filipinos to use that "I shall return" phrase when they want to say they will be back.

the fish stamp is from a set of 10 Marine life stamps issued in 2011, while the beautiful one with the roses is from a set of ten, Paintings of young Filipino artists' 2012 stamps.

Bucharest, Romania

Second card for today is an official one from Romania (im happy coz I dont get many officials from there) and it shows the Eroilor Aerului monument, or in English, The Romanian Airmen Heroes Memorial.

RO-18461

It is situated in the Aviators' Square in Bucharest and was built between 1930 and 1935.
The bronze structure is 20m high where bronze sculptures resting on an obelisk-shaped stone pedestal. On the top of the obelisk is the statue of a flying man with his wings outstretched. Three aviators, each in a different stage of flight attempt, are depicted around the base of the obelisk. On the pedestal are the aviators' insignia, helmet and equipment, as well as engraved plaques with the names of Romanian airmen who had crashed to their deaths by the time the monument was built. These men died pursuing various goals: skill development, performance, adventure and fighting in World War I. The first name is that of Gheorghe Caranda, killed on 20 April 1912 on an airfield during a training flight; the last is that of Sava Rotaru, killed on 29 May 1934 in thick fog in the hills around Cernavodă. After the official dedication, 99 additional names have been posted on the North bottom side of the pedestal.

I love such cards....they may be sad in nature, but they tell some great stories as well.

The stamp is from a set of 4 issued in 2007 representing Romanian pottery, and here you can see a pot handcrafted in Transylvania. 

The Veteran's Monument, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Im proud to announce a new country in my collection....which came as a total total surprise hence im even happier! :D

St. Vincent and the Grenadines....that sounds just sooo exotic! I honestly barely know anything about this place..and yet it is one of those places which like to confuse you (like Antigua and Barbuda for example), since the whole name of the country for example is St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but then, this card in particular comes from St. Vincent, so sometimes i dont know what;s the proper way to classify them...but the stamp says 'St. Vincent and the Grenadines', so St. Vincent and the Grenadines let it be....either way, it's more than worth having it! :D

The card shows the Veteran's monument....and the back of the card say: "The Monument - Court House in the background. To the Glory of God and in Memory of the Sons of Saint Vincent who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great World War 1914-1918.

Now the thing with St. Vincent and the Grenadines is that St. Vincent is the main island, while the Grenadines are a chain of smaller islands stretching south from Saint Vincent Island. Capital is Kingstown, which lies on St. Vincent of course.
Funny fact...this country has 120,000 inhabitants (only), yet it is considered ajavascript:void(0)s densely populated with over 300 inhabitants/km2.

Thanks a million to Herbert for thinking of me during his trip in the Caribbean! This really really made my day!

Now let's get down to the stamp...what i couldnt believe is that this card was mailed on 6th October...it took just two weeks to get there....wow! Congrats to the SVG postal system!
The left stamp is from a set of 4 insect stamps issued in 2007....as for the other one, i didnt manage to find it...or i didnt have enough patience..but problem is these stamps do not have the issue dates printed on them, so the whole search takes a real more.
Now, another, frustrating thing (if i may call it that way) regarding the SVG stamps is something I read over at Glenn's blog not so long ago, and he said that St. Vincent has issued stamps for The Grenadines since 1974 but certain islands of the Grenadines, have their own stamps, in particular Union Island, Bequia, Mustique, Canouan and Mayreau.
Now, thats like a mission impossible to me...esp since from what I read, many people who live on those islands either have no idea that they have stamps of their own or they have never seen them.
This postcard and stamp thing really feels complicated sometimes...Im extremely glad to had got the chance to kick off with a St. Vincent and Grenadine card and stamps at least...as for the rest of the particular islands...oh well, we'll see..you never know :)