Trains, Czech Republic

well, get ready for a longish post full of train cards from the Czech Republic, all coming with a whole variety of lovely Czech stamps....and you know, it was while selecting the cards for this post that I realized the huge number of Czech train cards I have received...my initial idea was like to post them all but that turned out absolutely inconvenient...so I decided to stick to a small part of it...

and first comes a card I received from Monika last year...
This illustration, showing the 220.1, the oldest locomotive in the Czech Republic, produced in 1858 and it was issued as a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first train to Prague Masaryk Station.

the stamp on the left was issued in 1995 in a set of two 'Homeland' stamps, with this one showing the Panska Skala, also known as the Lord's Rock, while the other stamp was issued in 2013, commemorating th 400th Anniversary of the Bible of Kralice.



Next is a card I received from Katka in 2012...

The modern blue and white one is called Pendolino and is considered as the fastest train in the Czech Republic (well at least it was when this card was mailed). The other one is a regular train (and as Katka says, not very comfortable), bearing the logo of Poštovní spořitelna, one of the banks in the country...so it is something like an advertisement train...

both stamps here were issued in 2011....the one on the left was issued in 2011 for the Children's Day, showing the Little Witch, a feature film by Zdeněk Smetana...the other one is from the Young Animals series and shows the European Hamster.


The title of this one translates into "Full Steam ahead into the New Year"...I don't know if this was meant as a New Year greeting card or what, but I do like the correlation :)

sent by Radana for the Favourites Tag in 2013, this card shows the 354 195, CSD Steam locomotive, manufactured in 1925 by ČKD (Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk).

a beautiful car stamp showing the Mercedes Benz 540, manufactured in 1936. the stamp is from a set of 6 Classic Cars stamps issued in 2012.


This steam engine was sent by Milan on the very last day in 2010 for the Czecho-Slovakia meets the world tag...

it shows the U 46.001 Steam Engine train on one of the few narrow-gauge railways in the Czech Republic, near the town of Jindřichův Hradec in South Bohemia.

3 stamps here (don't be fooled by the big one which came with the...well, I dont know if this is the vignette or the selvage but it comes as a nice addition - the stamp in question was issued in 2010, and it is from a joint issue with Luxembourg, commemorating the 700th Anniversary of the Succession of Luxembourg to the Czech Throne.
The one on the right is from 2000 from the Zodiac series, representing the Virgo, while the flower stamp is from a set of two issued in 2007.
It's been a while since I've seen Milan around, I hope he is doing fine :)



One from Radim for the June-November RR in 2012...

the card shows the IC 141 "Detvan" Praha-Zvolen train, which has just left the Ústí nad Orlicí station on 14 September 2006.
The 151014-8  Locomotovie (the Prague depot) in the Czech Railways was the only locomotive of this series, which had the advertising painting of Poštovní spořitelna in of 2006. Five other locomotives of the series 362/363 propagated also this company, while other vehicles were then given advertising stickers of this financial institution.

a stamp issued for the Olympic Games in London in 2012.




And a train card which I often confuse with the one above since they like bear the same colours and I often get to confuse them, but just now I realized it is because of that famous Poštovní spořitelna that they are advertising...

Sent in 2014 from someone called Erika or something...on behalf of Goran...and now I cant recall if I have ever figured out which Goran was in question here, since I know two who could potentially be involved in such a surprise...so I dont know now if i had ever thanked the right Goran...shame on me =/

from the back of the card:
Six red yellow locomotives (advertising colors of Poštovní spořitelna) were seen in 2006 on the Czech rails. It was three locomotives of the series 362, two locomotives of the series 363 and a locomotive of the series 151. The color scheme came from the Konting advertising studio.
On 13 September 2006, the locomotive 362121-6  Locomotive (from the Brno depot) was seen at the front of the fast train R 878 Brno - Česká Třebová, Praha near the stop Tatce.

and a fantastic Mucha stamp issued in 2010 in a set of two, commemorating 150 years since his birth !!


now comes a card that I dont know what did it actually go through on its journey, to arrive in such a condition in the end..

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This express steam train dates back to 1917, which for that time was considered as the company's largest and most modern machine and had its last journey somewhere in the mid-60s.

at least the stamps didn't suffer some greater damage....three nice ones...starting from the left, issued in 2010, from the "For the Children" series, here we have a stamp commemorating Helena Zmatlíková, one of the leading Czech female illustrators of children's books.
In the middle there is a Chrysantemum stamp issued in 2011, and at the right we have the Christmas stamp from 2011.


Hope you are holding on, since there are three cards left....

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an official card, showing the CD 715 001 (T426 001) rack diesel locomotive.

a nice stamp issued in 2013 commemorating Franz Kafka on a stamp which portrays a realistic-looking beetle. As a symbol of relentless metamorphosis, not always for the better, the beetle is set in austere, even unsympathetic modules.



Another card from Radim...

...where again you can see the Pendolino...

...and two nice stamps on the back..the one on the left is from the EUROPA issue from 1999 on National Parks, and here you can see the Šumava National Park. The other stamp was issued in 2007 and comes from a fantastic sheet on which the White Carpathian Mountains and Orchid Meadows Unesco Biosphere Reservation. On this particular stamp you can see the Ophrys holosericea.



aaaand as promised few cards above, here comes the last one for today..

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an official card sent by the Raab Family, showing the 310 006 Locomotive..

...which came with three lovely stamps (in case you have followed this post from start till end, maybe you noticed that all the stamps shown were different, no repetitions or such :)).
Anyways, the first stamp is from a set of three Old Aeroplanes, issued in 1996. The middle one was issued in 2003, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the First Electric Railroad Connection, while the last one is from 2000, showing a train from 1900 with a steam locomotive, service coach and carriages for passengers - it is from the set of two stamps for the Transport issue, comparing the Railway of 1900 and 2000.


so, no more trains for today, promise :D

Monterrey, Mexico

as I said, no more trains for today :)

received in 2009...yep, 2009 indeed, from Jhonatan, as a result of a private swap....from the days when my mailbox would be all head-over-heels for receiving a card from Mexico :)
It may look like a single view, but actually it is a few iconic places in Monterrey combined in one picture, like for example the Commerce Beacon, the Fountain of Life, the Obispado Museum and the distinctive Saddle Mountain (or "El Cerro de la Silla").

the stamp is a definitive from a set of 4 issued in 2009, representing ceramic objects.

Podgorica, Montenegro

ok, one more card for today, sent by a long-absent postcrosser, but thanks to FB, I know he is doing just fine =)

The card shows the Church of St. George, which is the oldest Orthodox church in Podgorica, located at the foot of Gorica Hill, (that the town was named after). It was built between IX and XI century. During the turbulent history it had several repairs and rebuildings, so that its original look has not been fully preserved. The inside is decorated with frescoes that are the work of an anonymous artists.

Rajko used 3 nice stamps on this card...the two at the top were issued in 2010...the left one commemorates the 650th Anniversary of the Balsic Dinasty, while the other one is from a set of four Tourism stamps.
The bottom stamp was issued in 2011 in a set of two Art stamps (this one shows a painting by Vojo Stanić, a a Montenegrin painter and sculptor).

Hvala Riči na super razglednici i markice!!

So, that would be all for today folks! Till next time...

Yuri Gagarin, Italy

This post was supposed to happen 3 days ago, commemorating Gagarin´s travel into space...but due to a number of reasons I didn't manage to do it in time...and not even the next day...or the next...(I actually haven't been able to post anything for like two weeks even though I had some cards already prepared)....as for the reasons...my allergy kicked in and it's been terribly annoying, preventing me from normal functioning...then I had to do deal with some issues out of nowhere....and on top of it prepare for this job interview which took place yesterday....and which I must say was like one of the most disappointing job interviews I have ever had...like EVER!  It was not about something long-term...just one year for this future project...and you know, I was so delighted that I actually entered the shortlisted-candidates....but then because of a few factors my delight went down the drain...and then you leave the building, wandering like lost around the city and you have this sight of armed soldiers, tanks, water-cannons because of the current situation here and the protests going on.....yeah, quite a reality to live in...and when you sum it all up, postcards are not really something you think of...apologies to all waiting a card from me...I promise to put it in the mail in the next few days :)


Anyways, back to Gagarin...as you know, on April 12th, 1961, the charming Gagarin and his Vostok went on a journey into outer space, completing an orbit of the Earth...the first human to have ever done so...yeah, if I ever get asked to name like the 5 most charming men in the world, Gagarin would take one of the spots ;-)

now this maxi-card here was issued by the Italian post in 2011, commemorating the then, 50th anniversary of his journey into space....I have no cards or anything commemorating the 55th unfortunately

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

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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

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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 :)

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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! :)

Mauritius

Hello all and welcome to the first post of April...which brings some nice recently and not so recently received cards..

and for starters here is a nice one from Mauritius sent by Alvin last year...more precisely, last January...yeah it is really cool during the cold gloomy winter days to retreat to a place like this...and Alvin really makes some cool winter travel destinations :)

well here you can see some different pictures from the island, starting from beaches, crystal waters, to flowers and iguanas....not my favourite type of animal, but as long as it is on a card, I don't mind :)

a very nice stamp from the  2014, 3-set Flora and Fauna issue, showing the Rodrigues flying fox or Rodrigues fruit bat. At first glance it looked like an eagle to me, but when I took a better glance, it is a bat indeed.

Alvin, thank you! :)

Bicycles, Spain

Next are two super cool bicycle cards from Spain!

The first one comes from the Balearic Islands, sent by dear Agi...I absolutely love the retro-look of this one and the color too...it is like a super best-friend for your every day errands ...it just looks like one very happy bike :)

and I think that a mushroom stamp collector would be quite envious on such a card:D These come from a set issued in 2013, and I'm far from a mushroom expert, but for the curious one, here you have, from left to right: Agaricus xanthoderma, Amanita pantherina and Marasmius oreades.

I received this other bicycle card just recently, for the favourites tag...not sure where this one is exactly...I can just hope that it is in Spain at least :)

the stamp is a rather glowing and shiny one and is from the set of two Christmas stamps issued in 2015.

Greetings From...

Here comes like one of the coolest GF cards out there....the Black Hole one :)

and one thing is for sure - absolutely zero Postcrossing members and 000 000 people living there :)
The whole Black Hole thing is a really complex thing and I wont get into details now...however, I don't know if you are familiar with some of the recent discoveries about the gravitational waves and the sound they recorded during the collision of two black holes...that was a really big day in the astronomy world I must say...I also attended a lecture on this like a month ago or so, and this Wednesday I will be attending one held by Nagin Cox....ok, that one will have to do nothing with Black Holes and Gravitational waves, but it would be like the first time that I attend a lecture held by someone coming directly from NASA - it is like so super exciting!! She will be talking about all the rovers that have so far visited Mars, including the last one, that is Curiosity and all their findings.

Anyways, with regards to the black holes...here is how it sounds when two of them collide and become one

and that is all thanks to the gravitational waves, and if you wanna get some more technical insight into this and see a computer simulation of two black holes coliding, check out this video

Our Universe is just so never-endingly mind-blowing, isn't it?!!!

and well, this card can't go out with this super-cool-black-hole song :D

Copenhagen, Denmark

a very nice view card of Copenhagen...

...the city that is still on my to-visit list. I've written about it on a number of previous occasions...this time it reminded me of "The Danish Girl", the movie I watched recently and really liked it...a very heart-warming one, based on a true story  and I think that Eddie Redmayne was a great choice for the trans-gender role but also, Alicia Vikander did a terrific job...and if there is one fuzzy feeling you are left with after having watched the movie, is wanting to have a partner in life just like her...

if you are curious to take a look at the trailer...thought it doesn't even closely bring the depth of the whole story

Quite a lot of divided opinions regarding the movie, some love it, some say it's nothing special, some have prejudices regarding the whole thing...but as with many other things in life, I prefer to experience things on my own and decide for myself if I like something or not than to rely on what others say...and same was with the Danish Girl...so, give it a try and who knows...maybe you won't be disappointed :)

the big stamp is from a set of four Christmas stamps issued in 2010...the other two are from the four 'wavy lines' series, issued the same year.

Thanks a lot to Suzan for this one!

Bicycles, Ukraine

So, one more card for today...ok, that is actually one more post, with two card :)

...and it is bicycles again, sorry :)))
These come from Ukraine, and on the first one we can see a number of people on old bicycles...I really really wish I could at least once take a ride on such a bike...they are real classic!

This card came as part of the Choose a Country RR, two years ago, thanks to Kristine

She also used a number of nice stamps on it...first we have a cool monkey stamp from a set of 12 stamps issued in 2013, representing the Lunar Calendar, and each stamp represents one of the animals...as if Kristine knew why she should send me the monkey one :) and on each stamp you can also see the actual years for that particular sign.
Next to it is another stamp issued in 2013, representing the History of National Communication, while the one below it is a flora stamp, issued in 2012, showing the Fraxinus excelsior.

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This other bicycle card arrived as an official recently and it says "I love Ukraine very very much"...

I dont know why the bicycle in the picture...I never would have related Ukraine to bicycles, but I certainly don't mind...it makes one beautiful postcard! 

the stamp is a definitive issued in 2013.

So, that would be all for today...hope you didn't mind the bicycle over-dose :)

stay well and enjoy your week ahead!!

Suriname

So hello there...time  for a new update, with some new and not so new cards :)

And first on the list today comes a great card from Suriname, sent by Sonia last year. I think that in just a few sentences she has grasped so much about this country, that it just makes you wanna go there, like right now!
She says Suriname to be a very interesting country with a mix of cultures and languages and as you walk you can see people of Chinese, Indonesian, African, Indian and Dutch descent. And although Dutch is the main language, you hear many others spoken as well.
And what has won my heart here, Sonia says that she has never seen so many spices in her life and that the smells on the market are wonderful. (You know I am a sucker when it comes to spices and markets...
The only downside - it is very hot - 32°C to 37°C...I have such temperatures and worse like, every summer...and I hate that time of the year...and then people tell me 'but why do you wanna go to Norway, it is so cold there!' - heh...

With regards to the card...I guess it represents a man during some working activities...or I don't know...with his back turned I can't really see what he is doing ( I hope this has nothing to do with me being short-sighted)...did you notice the flag around his waist though?

Sonia used three birds stamps from a set of 8 issued in 2008 - here you can see the Caryothraustes canadensis (or the yellow-green grosbeak), then the Megaceryle torquata (or the ringed kingfisher) and the Chloroceryle aenea (or the American pygmy kingfisher)