Shiba-Inu, Japan

I have been hoping for so long to receive a card with a Japanese dog - and here it is, the cutest Shiba-Inu pup! :))) I fell in love with Japanese dogs while watching 'Hachi: A Dog's Tale'; such a touching true story of a faithful Akita-Inu dog (but Hachi puppy was played by an Shiba-Inu!). I was crying like mad and I don't think I'll trust myself re-watching it ever again..!

The letters say 'Spring Footsteps are approaching quietly'. Thank you Tomomi_F for choosing this card for me for the Japan & Other countries RR! <3

Donkey And Doggie, Turkey

This is a great card isnt it? The only trouble is, the same user sent it twice in a row in RRs AND i already had it in my album! So i thought i better post it here as well to avoid quadriples :) I do like the plane stamp & matching 'by air mail'  though :)

Golden Spike Locomotives, USA

     Locomotives at the joining of the transcontinental rails reenactment at

Golden Spike national Monument, Promontory Summit, Utah.

Old locomotives are sooo cool :))) Vacation RR - big thanks to Tina/mmtnsage :=D

Aniva Lighthouse, Russia

 Series 'Lighthouses of Russia'

Lighthouse Aniva, Sakhalin, Sea of Okhotsk

This beautiful, dramatic picture is of the Aniva lighthouse, one of the abandoned Russian Polar Nuclear lighthouses built in the time of the USSR. These lighthouses had to be fully autonomous, so the Soviet engineers decided to implement atomic energy to power up those structures - which was done in a form of  special lightweight atomic reactors. These lighthouses were kind of robot-structures; they counted themselves the time of the year and the length of the daylight, turned the lights on when needed and sent radio signals to the nearby ships. How impressive! I love these history lessons :)

The card was in my favs until i hosted my group in vacation rr, and Elena sent me the card, with a new set of stamps showing cascades - thank you :)

Donkeys From Round Robins

I have received these two donkey postcards some months ago - it is high time to post them here :) The 1st one might be a mule, but thats alright cos i love mules too! Thanks to Michigirl and Jacqueline :)

Kjeragbolten, Norway

This amazing card was doomed to sitting around in my favourites - until i joined the Norway group in Vacation RR , and Svea brought a smile to my face :) I can only imagine she had a great holiday! Million thanks :)))

Kjerag is  Norwegian mountain in Lysefjorden, Forsand municipality. most visitors are attracted to the northern drop to the fjord, as that is the location of this cool rock called Kjeragbolten. The place is becoming more and more popular with BASE jumpers who dive off the high cliffs, and of course hiking and climbing are other popular activities. I really wish i was an out-doorsy type as places like this make me feel like i'm missing out on so much!!!

Casa Salvador Dali, Spain

Portlligat is a small villages on Costa Brava, Spain. The genius surrealist painter Dali (need i say one of my favourites) lived there, and his house got converted into The Casa-Museo Salvador Dali - a detail of which (one of his famous eggs) is represented with this card :) I have become a true Dali fan when I visited his hometown Figueres during my highschool excursion. The Dali Theatre and Museum was such an interesting experience - it was 'something else', an engrossing attack to all my senses :=D 

It is easy to understand now why i loved seeing this card in my mailbox!

Thanks to CaCrr and gabriela/gaquero - also for the interesting stamp :))

Slender West Lake, Yangzhou, China

This pretty sight is Slender West Lake, situated in the prefecture-level city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, which is on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. Also known as the Yangzhou Gardens, it embodies the most advanced art in terms of layout, architecture, stone laying, water conservation, plant arrangement, etc.

Slender West Lake and Historic Urban Area in Yangzhou have a place on China's Unesco WHS tentative list :) Thank you blu and the fav CaCrr...and how amazing are the stamps?! I could almost kill someone cos the card i.e. the stamps got torn in one place!!! (ok i am calming down..:D)

Cute Little Things

This cute little mouse was in my favourites, until i received it in the CaCrr as a host - thanks to Stefan/Objektklasse :)

The little wolfie is howling - hopefully just a playful moment! I have tagged this card - thank you Christina/Balito! :)

Animal Map Card, Sweden

I love the Scandinavian countries but they are not that frequent on postcrossing, so i was very happy when lellykate joined my host group :) I have never received an animal map card before...this may even help me learn swedish as all the animal names are in the original language! I also love the stamps with the national flag :))) Huge thanks to Katja for sending me this map card for CaCrr!



The Romanovs

I think we can all agree how tragic the story of The Romanovs is...I've known the outlines of the story for a while, but only now that i've started receiving these striking portraits have i decided to read more about it.

This card showing Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was received via CaCrr - big thanks to Angela :) The photo was taken in 1898.

Nicholas was a successor to Alexander III - became The Emperor And Autocrat Of All The Russias in 1894, and abdicated following the February revolution of 1917. He also got engaged to Alix of Hesse in 1894, who had to convert to Russian Orthodoxy for the marriage. Alix /Alexandra was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

They are both known as the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia.

Official Card: RU-381405

This card showing Emperoror Nicholas II and his only son Alexei was sent to me by Julia/Faina.

In 1991 bodies of the executed royal family were supposedly found in Yekaterinburg, but only of the parents and three children. An American scientist concluded from dental and vertebral remnants that the bodies of Anastasia and Alexei were missing (two of the youngest). This mystery may never be solved..!

UNESCO - Himeji-jo, Japan

As i am a huge fan of Japan and all things Japanese i was only too happy to catch a spot in the Choose a Country RR (which i abbreviate to cacrr ;)) with this great result: a stunning view of Himeji Castle under a full moon. Thank you Saori, and for the great stamps and cute little stickers!!! :)))

As i started watching Kagemusha yesterday (am seriously falling behing with Kurosawa filmography!) I have recognised it as a setting for some of the movie's scenes :) It is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture. It comprises 83 buildings with advanced defensive systems, and dates back to the year 1333 when it was only a fort on top of Himeyama hill. It was extended for many centuries, (most notably in 1581 when three-storey castle keep was added), up to the early 17th century. For over 400 years now the castle remaines intact, even throughout the extensive bombing in WWII and the great 1995 earthquake.

In 1993 Himeji Castle was registered as one of the 1st whs unesco sites in Japan :)

July Donkeys

 I absolutely love this card, which i got from private swap with Tanja from Finland :)

Tanja was on a holiday in the beautiful Azores and totally recommends it - she also purchased some beautiful cards, and i was lucky to find this donkey among them and that she was willing to trade. Thank you very much Tanja for another great swap! :=D

These Irish donkeys were sent to me by dear Kim as RAS.
Thank you so much for this great surprise! :))) and the stamps are as gorgeous as always!

This lovely card is from Lotty's Animal RR, the Cats Vs Donkeys group. It is a double but recently i've decided not to worry about that :) The stamp is really cute too! I love the fact that i get so many finnish postcards and yet i hardly ever get stamp doubles. thank you Suvi!

Cheetah, Namibia

As it sez on the back of the card 'over 90% of namibia's cheetah, which need a very large range and do not breed well in captivity, are found on commercial farmlands.' such a beautiful, graceful animal! as most people already know, cheetah is the fastest land animal and can achieve speed of 120km/h (75mph)...! another interesting characteristic is that it is the only felid with non-retractable claws, which disallows gripping.

A completely new realisation for me is that there is the subspecies Asian Cheetah, which is critically endangered and can be only spotted in Iran (with reported rare sightseeings in Pakistan). I am always so sad to learn about the dying-out species.....

Big thanks to Anja for her choice of a card from her holiday :)

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago that constitutes the northernmost part of Norway - it is about halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, inside the Arctic Circle.

I have received this lovely card in the vacation RR (yes, again! great RR :)) and immediately fell in love with its nature scene; normally you wouldn't call me mad about flowers, but i do love the view of them in mountainous areas, where they grow wild and free and donate their colours to the world :-D This particular flower in the foreground is Boreal Jacobs-Ladder; it is not very common, and for some reason i was sorry to read it has a very unpleasant smell! (hence the name..?!)

Svalbard Archipelago is on the Unesco Whs tentative list.

Thank you Michaela, you must have had an awesome trip thru Scandinavia :)))

Nicosia, Cyprus

I love it how i can learn something new about the world with each postcard i get! I haven't had an image of Nicosia in my head before i got this card - and now i am very happy that i do :)

Nicosia is the capital of Cyprus, devided between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities by the Green Line in 1964. In 1974 Turkish Cypriots claimed the north part as the capital of their state Republic Of Northern Cyprus (which is recognised by Turkey only). There are constant efforts to unite the island...To the left you can see Selimiye Mosque, which is the chief mosque of the TRNC. This appears to be a view of the North Nicosia's old town...

Thanks to helen_orlova and her hosting in vacation RR :)

UNESCO - Works of Antoni Gaudí - La Pedrera, Barcelona, Spain

I have been a fan of Gaudi's work ever since i had the class trip to spain in (waaay gone) 1995 :) I don't remember seeing much beside the famous Sagrada Familia, which is a very good reason (on top on all the other very good reasons) to go to Barcelona again.

On the photo is atrium of La Pedrera, which is also known as Casa Milà. It was built in 1905-10 for a wealthy couple but is now owned by Caixa Catalunya. Would be cool to actually live there!

Thank you Gabriela for this lovely card for my vacation RR host group :)

Ukiyo-e - The Great Wave Off Kanagawa

I was very VERY happy to receive this card, the famous Great Wave by the most prominent Japanese artist of the Edo period Katsushika Hokusai. It is in fact one of the series of woodblock prints named 'Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji', created in 1830's. This card was in my favourites for quite some time - which ended thanks to kyoto348/Junko, who sent it to me for my vacation RR host-group :)

I must add that I am a huge fan of Japan and all things Japanese! I would really love to visit Japan one day, and perhaps all the places mentioned in my favourite book 'Kafka on the Shore' :) I hope the country is recovering well from the recent disasters...our thoughts are still with you..!

Inquisitive Donkeys

It was such a joy to receive this card for my Vacation RR host-group! It is now one of the cutest donkey cards in my collection :) Thanks to sunsky/Veronique. Merci beaucoup! 

The stamp shows the 1st great female scientist Marie Curie; the occasion is 2011 being the International Year of Chemistry :)

Sviatohirsk Lavra, Ukraine

This wonderful view of Sviatohirsk Lavra was sent to me by Olga (Olenenka) in our fav 'choose a country' RR :) as usual, she used an array of gorgeous stamps! forever thankful ;)

The Sviatohirsk Larva/cave monastery is situated on the right bank of the Severtsky Donets river, in Donetsk Oblast (eastern Ukraine). The first monks came and settled here in the 14-15th centuries. Unfortunatelly it was destroyed by the Soviets in the 1930's - but after Ukraine regained its independance in 1991 it was promptly restored, and its community now consists of more than 100 people (and growing).

It looks like such an awesome place to visit!