Saint Basil's Cathedral

Another Russian postcard this week! This time with the Saint Basil's Cathedral. I was waiting for a postcard like this for a long time... I love this church's architecture!

Curiosity about Russia: 

• You must take your shoes when entering someone's home - they will give you a pair of slippers for you to wear. Russians do so, especially in the winter, to keep the house clean.

Warm Regards!

 

Russian Metro

The 1st postcard of the week came from Russia and looks like this:

It's a pity that you can't actually see this picture with the same definition of the postcard.
It appears not only the metro arriving at the Vorobjovy Gory Station, but also a beautiful river scene with a boat and a green area (maybe a forest, on the other side),  through the window (right).
It's a really good photo!

Curiosity about Russia:

• If you want to give flowers to a Russian give only in odd numbers; even numbers are used only for funerals. Russian florists already know this, but it's always good to prevent and know this curiosity :)

Best Wishes!

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DE postcard :)

Yesterday I received this postcard from Germany. Really cool isn't it?

As you can see is shows the Fountain at the Cathedral Square. On the stamp a Ballonblume.

Curiosity about Germany:

• In German, Happy Easter is "Frohe Ostern" :)

Warm wishes!

New Australian postcard!

This cool postcard shows a piece of a The New Yorker's page and it came from Australia. Check it out:

Curiosity about Australia:

• The kangaroo was chosen as the symbol of the country. Appears on the Australian coat of arms alongside the emu bird. The estimated population of kangaroos is 40 million - two for each inhabitant of Australia. Thus hunting is allowed in some places the country at certain times of the year. 

Coat of Arms

Have a great day! 

A Vintage postcard!

Another old card from USA! Here it is:

It shows the Training school Building in Tennessee.

Curiosity about USA:

• Along with Missouri, Tennessee is the state that has the largest number of neighbors: eight states. The same is confined to Kentucky and Virginia (north), to North Carolina(east), Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi (south), Arkansas and Missouri (west). Tennessee is known as The State of Volunteers, due to the military spirit of its people.

Hope you liked it!

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Postcard from Barcelona...

So this week I've also received this amazing postcard from a dear friend that visited Barcelona:

As you can see is view of the city of Barcelona. It's really impressive!
The stamp shows a Charaxes Jasius (Two-tailed Pasha or Foxy Emperor).

Curiosity about Spain:

• You can see beautiful buildings with no right angles in Barcelona, as well as gorgeous mosaic monuments made ​​by the famous architect Gaudí. Some pics of his work:

 

Hope you like it! Best Wishes.

Japanese Painting from Usa!

Today my mailbox was full again... What a joy! One of the postcards was this one:

The piece of art that you see is one of a pair of six-panel screens created by Sakai Doitsu. It's name is Irises.

Curiosity about USA:

• Here I leave you the top 3 of the biggest states of USA:

1.Alaska 

  

2.Texas

3. California

 

Hope you liked it... 

Another Honk Kong postcard :)

This was another postcard that I received Friday and it came from Hong Kong. Here it is:

It shows an old map of Northeastern United States and a little bit of Canada.


Thank you so much, Gladys! I really liked the postcard, the stamp, the drawings, the stickers... Everything.
I'll send you one this week :)


By the way, visit her postcards' blog. It's worth taking a look:  http://ggglaaadysss.blogspot.com/

Curiosity about Hong Kong:

• Over the past 40 years, some areas of the Far East experienced great development. Especially Japan but also the so-called "four tigers": Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong.In less than one hundred years, Hong Kong moved from a small port in the black market to a major crossroads of international trade.The success of Hong Kong is due to its versatility,and efficient labor and minimal government intervention in the economy.

Best wishes!!!

1st postcard from Macau!!!

Yesterday I received my very first postcard from Macau (China). I'm really happy, not just because it's a gorgeous postcard or it's a new place, but mainly because the sender is learning Portuguese and wrote the whole postcard in Portuguese.
It's good to know that, even thought it has passed some years since Macau was no longer a Portuguese Colony (or administrated by us), this mixture of Portuguese and Chinese culture is still alive. It really shows that it's possible to coordinate the differences without one suppressing other :)
 The postcard and the stamp:

Curiosity about Macau:

•  Tourism and gambling have been the primary drivers of Macau's economy. The first one started in 1962 and had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly ended in 2002 and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market. 

 Best Wishes!

Australia in my mailbox!!!

What a perfect way to end the week! 3 postcards and 2 new places for my collection :)
Since I have so much to study due to exams, I'll present one today and the rest trough the weekend.

So the 1st one is from Australia. Here it is:

As you can see, it shows a native flower and a super cute Koala with his baby.

Curiosity about Australia:

• The name koala was given by the Aborigines and it means, in Aboriginal language, "don't drink" , because this animals only need a small quantity of liquids to survive.
  
   Their diet is based mainly of eucalyptus leaves extract, where they get the amount of water they need. However, these gentle creatures only "approve" 20 species of eucalyptus from the 350 existing ones. Another thing:  Koalas sleep, on average, 14 hours a day!

Interesting, right?

Best Wishes!

My very first French postcard

I received a postcard from France. Finally! I think I've sent about 4 or 5 to France, but never received one... So, I'm really excited! :) Here it is:

As you can see, it's an old picture from Paris with the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River. Beautiful as always... Paris as such a unique vibe, that makes you want to go back there (ate least I want).

Obviously I want to thank to Famalubel, who remembered me and decided to send this amazing postcard. You can visit her blog here :

http://postcardsfromallovertheworld.blogspot.com/


Curiosity about France:

•  The Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

Warm Wishes!

2nd postcard from Ukraine!

Today I received this great postcard from Ukraine:

The city is Kiev, the capital and the largest city of Ukraine. In the center, you can see it's coat of arms.

Curiosity about Ukraine:

• In the Ukrainian dishes we can find chicken, beef, pork and mushrooms, as well as a variety of vegetables like potatoes and cabbage. In the traditional cuisine is included varenyky (filling: potatoes, mushrooms, sauerkraut or cheese cherry), the famous борщ (borsh) (beetroot soup) and holubtsy (cabbage stuffed with rice with minced meat or wheat - Moor). The specialties are the Ukrainian Chicken Kiev and Kiev Cake.

Best Wishes!

Amazing Chinese Painting!

Yesterday I received this gorgeous postcard:

It really made my day :) I love art in general, but Chinese and Japanese paintings are the ones that impress me the most. I like the contrast of the colors, the themes, the characters... In one word: Everything :)

The animal in the stamp is a Budorcas taxicolor (Takin), a goat-antelope found in the Eastern Himalayas.


Curiosity about China:

•  Today I leave you a video about Chinese painting, more precisely how to Paint Bamboo. Although it's in Chinese, I thought it was really interesting because it's possible to see very clearly how the painter hold the brush and works with it. 

Hope you enjoy it!

From Brazil...

Friday I received this amazing postcard from Brasilia, capital city of Brazil:

The card shows the National Congress in Brasilia.
On the left stamp, which I really liked, you can see the Abu Simbel's Temples in Egipt and on the right a trumpet.

Curiosity about Brazil:

• The oldest tree in Brazil is a pink pink with 3020 years found in Vassununga State Park, Santa Rita do Passa Quatro in SP.

Best wishes!

A Finnish Angel

This week I received a postcard from Finland:

As you can see it shows a person making an angel in the snow. It's really common in Finland to make this because of the big amount of snow that falls.
I think that the stamp is from the same collection as the one that is in the hand made postcard.
(see it here: http://mypostcrossingexperience.blogspot.com/2011/02/hand-made-postcard.html )

Curiosity about Finland:

• In Finnish enkeli means angel and lumi snow. I thought it is quite funny that lumi is snow because, in Portuguese, we have a similar word: lume, that means fire.

Best Wishes!