Great Wall of China

A postcard of The Great Wall of China, from Taiwan, just arrived and it's so beautiful.
I hope one day I have the opportunity to visit it... Here it is:

 The stamp shows a Luscinia Calliope (Siberian Rubythroat).

Curiosity about Taiwan:

•  The 1st contact between Europe and Taiwan was in 1544, when a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan. At the time, and as the Portuguese sailors couldn't understand the language of the natives to ask for the place's name, they decided to call it "Ilha Formosa", which means "Beautiful Island".

Hope you like it!

From Resica Falls...

Another postcard from USA, this time from Pocono Mountains:

Curiosity about USA:

• In Pocono Mountains you can visit The Resica Falls Museum, which displays the 19th century tannery village folklore and local Indian artifacts that date to 500 B.C.

Warm Wishes!

1st postcard from Kyrgyzstan!

I'm so happy today! I received my very 1st postcard from Kyrgyzstan! Here it is:

In the picture you can see The Burana Tower and on the background the Kyrgyz Alatau Mountains.

Curiosity about Kyrgyzstan:

•  The Kyrgyz together with Arabs, Chinese, Slavs and others, formed the ancient and huge Mongol Empire, created by Genghis Khan. A part of the population still retains some Mongol's traces and customs.

Hope you liked it!

Old Postcard arrived!!!

Yesterday I received this postcard:

It's such a really beautiful and old postcard, so I was sad when I saw that it was a bit damaged on the left :(
In the picture you can see The Nat Goodwin Cottage, Ocean Park, Los Angeles.

Curiosity about USA: 

• Even though it was sent from NY I'll tell you a curiosity about LA, since the image represents it. Did you know that Los Angeles in Spanish means "The Angels"?

Have a nice day! :)

1st postcard of the week! Finally!!!!

This week has been a really sad one for me and my mailbox. I've only received this one so far. It comes from Warsaw, the capital city of Poland.

The picture shows the Palace of Culture and Science.

Curiosity about Poland:

•  The landscape of Poland consists almost entirely of lowland plains of northern Europe, with an average elevation of 173 meters, though the Sudetes and the Carpathians are the southern border.

Best Wishes!

Disneyland on my mailbox!!!

Friday I received this cute postcard from USA. I was so happy when I saw it :)
Disney characters always make me feel good. They are so funny and the stories they are in are so beautiful!
In 2007, I went to Disneyland Paris with my friends and it was one of the most special and magic experiences of my life.  Enough talking, here is the postcard and stamps ;) Sorry for the poor quality...

Curiosity about USA:

• Ronald Reagan (the American President on the stamp) wore hearing aid during his presidency (1981-1989) and there was a dramatic increase in the sale of hearing aids. The opposite occurred during the term of President Bill Clinton, when the hearing aid industry was severely affected.

Have a nice day!

Happy Rabbit Year from Taiwan

This postcard is so beautiful! And it has all the colors I like...
You can see the front side and then a little bit of the back.

Curiosity about Taiwan:

• In some districts of Taipei there is no place for garbage. When people ear a specific music playing they know that the truck is at a certain place and that they must take their trash there and throw it directly into the Picking garbage truck. 

Best Wishes!

1st postcard from Brazil!!!

Yey! Today arrived my 1st postcard from Brazil, more precisely from São Paulo. This is also the 1st that I received 100% written in Portuguese. Here it is:

In the picture you can see The Carnival Parade, which is a very popular happening known worldwide. In this case, the school was Escola X-9.
On the stamp a Amblyramphus Holosericeus (Scarlet-headed Blackbird) which is an icterid bird of southern South American wetlands.

Curiosity about Brazil:

• 60% of all millionaires in Brazil live in São Paulo;

Best Wishes!

From Assen

Another postcard from Netherlands, this time Assen :)

Curiosity about Netherlands:

• The world's oldest National Anthem is the  Dutch. His name is Wilhelmus and was composed between 1568 and 1572 in honor of William of Orange (martyr of independence from the Netherlands) and is used today as the official anthem of the country. The curious thing is that it only became official as the national anthem in 1932.

Warm Wishes!

Retiro Park in Spain

Today I received this beautiful postcard from Fabienne (Famalubel).

In the picture you can see the typical costumes of Madrid (Spain) worn during  "Fiesta de San Isidro" (The Fiesta of San Isidro),which is celebrated every 15th May.
On the stamp you can see Melanargia ines (Spanish Marbled White).

Thank you so much Fabienne! Merci Fabienne!Gracias Fabienne! :)

Curiosity about Spain: 

• In Spain all the movies are dubbed, and watching movies with subtitles is a rare exception. The movies are not only seen dubbed on TV, but also in movie theater and cable tv.

Have a nice day!

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Finally...Belarus

I've sent some postcards to Belarus but I've never had the chance to actually receive one. But today was the day... And I'm really happy :) Here it is:

In the 1st stamp you can see a Paeonia Lactiflora (Chinese Peony). Below a Lepus Europaeus ( European Hare) on the right and then a Mustela Lutreola (European Mink).

Curiosity about Belarus:

•  The name "Belarus" is derived  from the expression "Russian White" . There are several theories about the origin of this name. I leave you here 2 of those: (1) The name described the Eastern European area covered by snow and populated by Slavs, in opposition to Black Ruthenia, controlled by the Lithuanians. (2) Another possible origin of the name would be the white garment used by the Slavic population in the period.
  

Hope you liked it!

Sonnenaufgang am Staffelsee

Today I received a postcard from Germany. It's been some time since I've received something from this country.
So it here is:

The postcard shows a typical Winter landscape and the stamps commemorates the 300 years of Porcelain production. On the back was also this imprint that says: Straubing - Region of the renewable raw material.

Curiosity about Germany:

• Were Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, both German, that invented the first gasoline-powered car. After that, in 1885,  their compatriot, Rudolf Diesel, created the diesel engine.

Best Wishes!

Map Update

Since I've joined Postcrossing, I've discovered so many great things, not only geographic or cultural fats, but manly social ones. Before my Postcrossing Experience, I thought that Human kind was becoming more and more selfish, rude and over ambitious. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that having ambition is bad, I'm just saying that sometimes ambition and the need of having everything that we want make us hurt and/or disrespect others.
But now, I see that is not general. There are still a lot of nice people in this world that are willing to share with (almost) complete strangers, pieces of their life, experiences, country, culture, etc...It's true that some swaps didn't work out has planned, but all the others surely compensate this unfortunate cases.

 So I want to take this opportunity to say: THANK YOU!  To everybody that sent me postcards, private swaps and officials. To everyone that visits my blog and left/leave their support. And to everybody that sent me used stamps.
Thank you for your kindness and sympathy.


Without further ado, I leave here the Map with My Postcards' Place of Origin:

Best Wishes!

1st postcard from Estonia!

Yey! So happy :) My 1st postcard from Estonia which was trough a direct swap.

A beautiful view of Tallinn, the capital of  Estonia, which is in UNESCO's World Heritage Cities list.
And the stamp is so cute! By the way, what is written below 2011 means "The Year of the Rabbit" in Estonian.

Curiosity about Estonia:

• Estonia has one of the oldest continuously running pharmacies in Europe, having always been in business in the same exact house since the early 15th century) named Tallinn Town Hall Pharmacy (Raeapteek).

Have a great day!

Cool FI postcard and stamp

Another official postcard from Finland, which was the 1st country to reach 1,000,000 sent postcards!

 It's such a shame that you can't see this fantastic stamp well. When you move the postcard you can see a snowboarder do a flip! How amazing...

Curiosity about Finland: 

•  Anyone who wants to throw away your mobile phone can do it with style and even win a medal for that World Championship Cell Phone Throwing, the latest Finnish contribution to international athletics. Held in Savonlinna, a town near the border with Russia.

Don't believe it? See the proof here:

( Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4H6gK81d5k )


Hope you liked it!

The Golden State

My 2nd from the West! This one is from California:

Although this state is known as the Golden one, the sender told me that, at the time she wrote, it was really cold due to a strange cold front. Probably was going to snow in her zone, which would be a never before seen event.

Curiosity about USA:

•  Agriculture has a strong presence here. Highlight for plantations of strawberry, grape, cotton, onions, oranges, rice, lettuce, tomato and livestock. It is possible to see that when is go in the freeway.

Best Wishes!

Gerber Daisy from Netherland

One of the postcards that I received this week came from Rotterdam and it's so pretty:

Curiosity about Netherlands:

• The Netherlands has the highest concentration of museums worldwide, including 42 in Amsterdam.

Best Wishes!

New York!

USA is unstoppable. Another postcard! This time it comes from New York:

Although the sender is in New York, this postcard shows the Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
  It says here that is was built on a plan which provides a maximum of light and air to all.

Curiosity about USA:

• Everyone knows that New York is known for its taxis but did you know that taxi drivers speak, together, 60 different languages?
  
   

 Talking about taxi drivers, I leave you here a video of a Brazilian driver who imitates Michael Jackson really good. His english is not always right but some of the notes are a lot similar to the original song.

Have a nice day!