Helsinki, Finland

A lovely snowy view from Finland I received last year. I love the atmosphere here, it seems magical somehow.. and cozy at the same time.

The picture is from the Kruununhaka neighbourhood in southern Helsinki. It's one of the more affluent, fancy areas of Helsinki. According to Wikipedia, the area is known for its vintage shops??!

I LOVE the stamp! It was kind of why this swap got arranged in the first place... :D

Udachny, Sakha Republic, Russia

Another snowy view, this time from Russia. This picture was taken in April, brrrr!

Udachny is a town in Mirninsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located 1,370 kilometers northwest of Yakutsk on the Markha River. It has a population of 12,611 (2010 Census preliminary results).

The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is a federal subject of Russia. Comprising half of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the largest subnational governing body by area in the world at 3,083,523 square kilometers and the eighth largest territory in the world, if the federal subjects of Russia were compared with other countries. It is larger than Argentina and just smaller than India which covers an area of 3,287,240 km2. It has a population of fewer than one million inhabitants. Its capital is the city of Yakutsk.

The Sakha Republic is one of the ten autonomous Turkic Republics within the Russian Federation. Yakutia also fosters close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the independent Turkic states through membership in organizations such as the Turkic Council and the Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture.

I received this card from a swap with Jaroslav who lives in Moldova, hence the Moldovian stamps.

Lappeenranta, Finland

Uh oh.. long time no see. I didn't realise it's been *that* long since I last updated this blog. I don't want to go into details here, let me just say that I haven't really been in the mood for updating this, or doing many other things. I haven't actually sent that many postcards in the past few months, either.. :/ ...and now Christmas is almost here (again)! I'm not very much in a festive mood at the moment and it's not helped by the fact that it's been raining so much for the past few days, and it looks like it's going to be the same over Christmas. I don't normally like snow all that much but it does make the scenery more Christmas-y. :P Therefore I thought I'd post a couple of snowy views of my old hometown Lappeenranta in Finland.

These are actually both Christmas postcards, issued by the local energy company. You couldn't really tell, though, they are REALLY nice. The top one was sent to me and Matt's family by my parents a couple (?) of years ago and shows a view of the harbour, one of my favourite places in the town. The card on the bottom, then, was an official I received in 2009 from a Postcrosser who lives in Lappeenranta! I love coincidences like that :D The picture is from the old fortress, another favourite place of mine and perfect for sliding down the hills with a big bin bag in winters :D (We did that when Matt's family came over some years ago for a visit, hehe.)

Whiteface Mountain, USA

Just a few cards for now as I felt like updating. I'll have to go out in a bit, I really don't want to though as it's so grey and wet outside. I'd much rather stay at home and be all warm and cosy :( It's not like the postcard below makes me feel warm, either, but I really adore it, it's such a beautiful view and the purple tones are gorgeous!


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Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in New York State, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont and even Canada. The skyscrapers of Montreal, 130 km away, can be seen on a very clear day. Located in the town of Wilmington (about 21 kilometers from Lake Placid) the mountain is home to a ski area with the highest vertical drop in the eastern United States (1,050 m). Part of the post World War II growth in recreational skiing attributed to the efforts of returning veterans of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Whiteface also hosted the alpine skiing competition of the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Lake Placid, then, is a village in the Adirondack Mountains. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638. Lake Placid is best known as the two-time site of the Winter Olympics, in 1932 and 1980. In the United States, the village is especially remembered as the site of the 1980 USA–USSR hockey game, the so-called Miracle on Ice, when a group of American college students and amateurs upset the heavily favored Soviet national ice hockey team 4–3 and two days later won the gold medal. Another highpoint during the Games was speed-skater Eric Heiden's performance, winning five gold medals.

During the 1932 games, the trails outside of the city served for the cross-country skiing events and the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined event. Lake Placid, St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Innsbruck, Austria are the only sites to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

Brockenbahn, Germany

A lovely official I received early last year. I'm glad the views here aren't snowy like this, but I have to admit snow does look pretty.


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Brockenbahn (the Brocken Railway) is one of three tourist metre gauge railways which together with the Harz Railway and Selke Valley Railway form the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways railway network in the Harz mountain range of Germany. It runs from the station of Drei Annen Hohne at 542 m, where it joins the Harz Railway, via Schierke and the Bode River valley to the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain of the Harz at 1,141 m and part of the Harz National Park.

Toronto, Canada

A gorgeous winter view of Nathan Phillip's Square in Toronto I received from my friend Kristen a couple of months ago. I just love the lights here, they look so magical!



Nathan Phillips Square is an urban plaza that forms the forecourt to Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, at the intersection of Queen Street West and Bay Street, and named for Nathan Phillips, mayor of Toronto from 1955 to 1962. The square opened in 1965, and, as with the City Hall, the square was designed by architect Viljo Revell (a Finnish architect!!). The square is the site of concerts, art displays, a weekly farmers' market, the winter festival of lights, and other public events, including demonstrations.

Cambridge, England

This week has been really cold over here. Today's been the worst so far - this morning it was only +9 C in my bedroom! I've got the little heater on but I still feel like an icicle, and my fingers are pretty stiff. Fun time typing... :p We haven't had any snow in this area so far, but might get some this weekend. I hope the weather reports are wrong. :/ I don't like it when everything stops thanks to half an inch of snow, and also because our house is so stupidly cold. I should probably move to the front room where it's nice and warm as the fire's on in the fireplace. ...but then I can't DO anything, grrr.

Anyway, I thought this postcard would be fitting for now. You don't usually get scenes like this in this country, it only snows a couple of times a year on average. It's pretty but sooo inconvenient.



Snow aside this is a very typical view in Cambridge. There are bicylcles EVERYWHERE, I remember that from when I visited there some years ago. Jacqueline who sent me this card explains that there are very few places to park a car, so bicycles are an ideal means of transport. They are also fairly cheap for students to use. ...I guess it's also safer to cycle in Cambridge than in the West Midlands. I wouldn't risk using a bicycle over here, there's way too much traffic over here and I wouldn't trust drivers to be careful enough. It's a shame because it would be a great way to get some exercise too, but what can you do. *sigh*

Cambridge is also very topical to me at the moment in a different way... That is, because of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie who went to university there. They were on tv yesterday, together for the first time in 15 years! There's more about Fry And Laurie Reunited here if you're interested and want to watch clips of the program. It was excellent, SO good to see them together again! Hehe, and now I really want to rewatch 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie' :D







I love this year's Christmas stamps in the UK. Wallace & Gromit! It's just a shame they have to be so small.