Iceland

I had such a lovely surprise in my mailbox this summer! My French friend Tiphaine and her boyfriend took their mothers to Iceland as a surprise gift for them, and Tiphaine was sweet enough to send me a postcard from there. I had no idea she was going to Iceland! Another friend of mine went there earlier this summer, too - I want to go as well!! :P

Doesn't Iceland look amazing?! The picture in the top left corner shows a church in Skagafjörður in northern Iceland, while the picture in the top right corner is a view from the Þingvellir National Park, which is also a Unesco site. The picture underneath it shows Víti crater by lake Askja, and the one next to it shows the Látrabjarg cliffs. The picture in the bottom left corner shows the Jökulsárlón lagoon, and the one on top of it is the Skógafoss waterfall.

Lofoten, Norway

It's always a treat to receive postcards from Norway, it's SUCH a beautiful country! This card arrived through a swap earlier this year. Thank you so much, Grethe!

Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude. It is well known for its natural beauty within Norway.

Lofoten encompasses the municipalities of Vågan, Vestvågøy, Flakstad, Moskenes, Værøy and Røst. The total land area amounts to 1,227 km², and the population totals 24,500. Many will argue that Hinnøya, the northern part of Austvågøy and several hundred smaller islands, skerries and rocks to the east of Austvågøy are also part of the Lofoten complex. Historically the territorial definition of Lofoten has changed significantly. Between the mainland and the Lofoten archipelago lies the vast, open Vestfjorden, and to the north is Vesterålen. The principal towns in Lofoten are Leknes in Vestvågøy and Svolvær in Vågan. The Lofoten Islands are characterised by their mountains and peaks, sheltered inlets, stretches of seashore and large virgin areas. The highest mountain in Lofoten is Higravstinden (1,161 m) in Austvågøy; the Møysalen National Park just northeast of Lofoten has mountains reaching 1,262 m. The famous Moskstraumen (Malstrøm) system of tidal eddies is located in western Lofoten, and is indeed the root of the term maelstrom.

Jabiru stork, Belize

A lovely postcard from Belize I received last year. This was actually my first received written and stamped postcard from Belize, too! Thank you so much, Debbie!

Jabiru stork (Jabiru mycteria). Standing nearly five feet tall and with a 9-12 foot wingspan, the jabiru is the largest stork in Americas.

social media in China

I'm not usually too fond of ad cards as a lot of them are so tacky and boring and well, just seem like adverts for a product or something else I'm not interested in. There are exceptions, however, and this official from China is a great example.

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This card shows the most popular websites in China and the numbers of members they have. I have to confess I hadn't ever heard of most of these websites so I found this really interesting and informative.

Uglegorsk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia

My collection of postcards from different regions of Russia keeps growing. :) A while ago I received three gorgeous postcards from the Sakhalin Oblast, this one is probably my favourite.

Uglegorsk District is located on the western coast of Sakhalin. Uglegorsk City is the administrative centre of the district with a population of about 27,200 people. Cape Lamonon is located in this district, too. Sakhalin Oblast is a federal subject of Russia comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The oblast has an area of 87,100 square kilometers. Its administrative center and the largest city is Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Population: 497,973 (2010 Census). Some territories of Sakhalin Oblast (four islands, the southern ones of the Kuril archipelago) are claimed by Japan.

Ukraine

This card makes me hungry! ..and I really like the colours here, and definitely wouldn't say 'no' to one of those embroidered towels. So pretty!

In the first picture you can see borsch in the pot, in the second picture berries of snowball tree. In the third picture you can see pretty embroidered towels, and in the fourth picture vareniks, stuffed cabbage fritters. The sender, Anna tells me there are potato vareniks as well. Mmmmmm...! They look a bit like the Polish pierogi (which I still haven't tried even though they're sold in lots of places here as there are a lot of Poles living in this area).

Kraków, Poland

A wonderful official I received from Poland earlier this year. This card was in my favourites, too! It's always nice when people look at the favourites wall. I always do that, too, but don't always have anything from some people's favourites :(

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On this card you can see Tram No. 15 on its way to the Cichy Kącik estate in Kraków. I just love the atmosphere here, so mysterious! ...and I love trams, they have so much more character than buses or trains I think.

bicycle, the Netherlands

The Netherlands seems to have an endless supply of bicycle postcards... which suits me just fine as I love them! :) This one is from a favourites tag on the Postcrossing forum this summer.

I don't have much to say about this card expect that I really, really like it. The Anne Frank graffit is brilliant!

Istra, Croatia

I'm trying to catch up with this blog a little so it's time for another update. This lovely map card is from a swap with Adi in Croatia earlier this year. I love the shape! :D

Istra is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy.

Tea Pickers, West Java, Indonesia

This is a really old postcard, received back in 1997 from Terhi who used to be my penpal way back then. She moved to Indonesia for a couple of years as her dad got a job there, and she sent me some postcards from there which I still have (I probably have all her letters still somewhere, too, as I don't like throwing mail away). I don't think I used email too much back then as Terhi sent me this card to let me know of her new address...

I don't have much to say about the card itself, and the text on the card pretty much says it all. I'm not sure if I've ever had tea from Indonesia, btw... I'm going to need some extra cups of the stuff this weekend as I've managed to catch a cold, ugh. :/

Petra, Jordan

A WONDERFUL card I received from a swap recently. Thank you so much for this treat, Luca! This is also my first received written and stamped viewcard from Jordan - I did already have a postcard sent from Jordan (thanks to dear Astrid) and I really like it, too.

Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system. Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourist attraction. It lies on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.

Muir Woods National Monument, USA

Moving on to North America. This gorgeous card is from a swap with Katie in the USA earlier this year. The main point of this card was actually the cherry blossom stamps, but I really like the card itself, too.

Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on the Pacific coast of southwestern Marin County, California, 19 km north of San Francisco and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It protects 224 ha, of which 97 ha are old growth Coast Redwood forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area.