A recollection card with Krakóóóów!

Otrzymałam dziś Kraków)))
Dzięki Paula za wspaniałą kartkę))) Pamiętam to miejsce bardzo dobrze! I nawet widzę nie tylko ten widok na pocztówce, a wszystką panoramę rynku.

This market square reminds me of pleasant and happy days which I spent in Krakow once.
I was on a New Year excursion tour there and the celebrating of the New Year was in this very city. We had a banquet at a hotel, we sat at a beautifully-served table, ate some food, but then I suggested going to the city centre to see the New Year in there. It was at 23.35. Ten minutes later we were already heading there on a taxi and reached the centre within 10 minutes. A taxi driver could stop very close to this market square.
We hurried forward and when we reached the square, we saw a great crowd, which gathered there! A city major (as we could conclude) was giving a speech. Last seconds before twelve all the people counted together and aloud and then, when clocks stroke, everybody clang glasses, bottles etc and even with the unknown people. The atmosphere was so light, happy and friendly. At the same time with the clock striking a great fireworks started! I had never seen such great, completely-covered-sky fireworks! Maybe I saw something like this later - on the day of the city Sochi.
So then we walked and happy passer-bys congratulated everyone with the holiday.
That was a most uniting New Year I've ever had!

PaulaZ87

A 'bridge' from Italy

Today (22.05.2012) a card from Italy came, but not just a card - my Dad was there at the beginning of May. It's so pleasant to receive cards from close people, who remember about your hobby, isn't it?))))
This card shows Siena - view of the Campo Square on the starting of the Palio (July 2nd and August 16th).
Dad wrote they walked on this square and there were few people. He liked Siena, because its centre is very old and the whole city is nice.

This (24.05.2012) day there were many cards and even 2 letters in my box and I couldn't believe when saw 2 (!) postcards from my Dad! I realised when he was in Italy he decided to send me postcards from almost every spot he visited! :D

Here is a gorgeous Milan!

I saw this grand church on a painting of some European artist for the first time in a gallery of European and North America art (of Pushkin Fine Art Museum) in Moscow and still have a dream to see it! There is a Latin phrase written on the postcard:

"Officina vero ubi haer omnia diligenter operemur claustra sunt monasteri et stabilitas in congregatio".

It was added they stayed at an abbey in Milan suburbs.

This bright merry and funny card wholly personalise my Dad! He loves jokes and everything funny :) He told there are much more tourists than inhabitants. It reminds me of Bulgaria, where I was last Summer. I stayed in a touristic town and I can say I have never been to a place where are only tourists before )))

Handmades

Just the other day I received lovely handmade postcards, which are different though.

This one is a self-print, actually, yet of good quality - it was printed in a printing salon and has a nice glossy face side. It looks really nice :)

It was sent to me by a friend postcrosser, who I met on the head post office at a mail box, when both of us were sending the postcards. She was very occupied with her postcards - she had plenty of them. so I noticed it and asked if she were a postcrosser, and she replied yes! ))) I asked why she is sending postcards from the head post office (just to make things clear - even though the head post office is in the center of the city, it isn't quite convenient to come there all the time because of great size of Moscow, however right this very head office is my post office, so I have a chance to reach it easily), so Valya (that was the name of my new aquaintance) replied that her post office in the Moscow area doesn't take cards with required stamp price - they try to convince the cost should be higher. Well, I do hear about such things, but they happen not in big cities, but in towns.

from wildwings through the forum postcross.ru

And the secone one shows a violin! How I love this instrument, though played it only a few times in my life! It is made in decoupage technique - my first such a postcard and very neat indeed )) A sender Alena (Alenaus) has made it by herself! And I'm really she sent it to me )))

from Alenaus via RR in the postcrossing forum, Russian branch

zamek Ogrodzieniec

I've received a very beautiful castle of Odrodzieniec yesterday from romanek.Thank you, Marcin, so so so much!

These castle's ruins are the beggest in whole Poland.

That what says the official castle's site:

The castle of Ogrodzieniec in Podzamcze is the most imposing Eagle Nest of all the castles of Cracow – Częstochowa Upland (Jura). It is situated on top of Janowski's Mountain – the highest hill of Jura ( 515,5 m above sea level). It was a strong fortress built of hard limestone and dolomite. In the XII century it was a small settlement consisting of several wooden huts surrounded by rocks and protected by a stockade from the north side. For that reason and because of its exceptional defensive value against the raids of princes of Czech and Silesia, it was called "The Wolf Jaw". The castle was then ruled by an old family of the Włodeks. In 1241, after the settlement had been looted and burned down during the Tatar raid, the Włodeks built a castle of stone, which was their residence till 1470. Later, the castle had different owners, until 1523, when it became the property of Jan Boner, the representative of a very important Polish family. His nephew, Seweryn Boner, extended the castle in 1530 – 1545 so that it grew to an imposing Renaissance defensive residence, full of splendour, likewise the Wawel in Cracow. His son, Stanisław, modernized the castle and adjusted it to the contemporary architectural requirements.

The next owner, Jan Firley, married to Zofia Boner, and other representatives of this family of great patriots, prominent politicians and patrons of the arts ruled Ogrodzieniec for over 100 years, extending the castle and decorating its inside in a splendid style of a magnate mansion.

The south walls of the castle were seriously damaged during the Swedish raid in 1655. The contemporary owner, Stanisław Warszycki ordered to build a stable and a coach – house and had the powerful wall rebuilt.

In 1702 there was another Swedish raid and the fire started by the invaders. The last owners left the castle in 1810. Over the years, pilfered by local villagers, it had fallen into decay.

In 1906, Aleksander Janowski was inspired by the beauty of OgrodzieniecCastle and established the PTTK (Polish Tourist-Sightseeing Society), an association promoting patriotic traditions and protection of historic monuments. After World War II, due to reconstruction works performed by the state, the castle ruins could be used as a tourist attraction.

Kartka ze spotkania w Warszawie!

Bylam baaardzo szczęśliwa gdy dostałam tę kartkę wczoraj. Taka niespodzianka! Dziękuję wszistkich)))))))) Jest moja pierwsza pocztówka ze spotkania w Polsce :)))

Drip-drop

I was astonished, when received this card! I've never seen such postcards, have you? It's triple, so one side was folded and glued on a special glue. There is also 4th image, which isn't seen from this angle.

from Nataliamarsha

Unusual reprint

This Moscow-in-future reprint postcard can be found only in a chocolate box of Einem manufacturer. These postcards illustrate a painters' of the beginning of XX notion how Moscow would look like in a hundred years. The real pictures can be found in a museum - if I'm not mistaken in the Moscow history museum. Once I saw them, though it was many years ago and I remember little, only the impression of the pictures - it was so unusual to see such pictures now, when the time they show has already come )))

If you would like one you can ask me for :))

Mozart in Prague

I was so happy to receive this card with Mozart - it was the first one about him. W.A.Mozart is actually my favourite composer.

Nataliamarsha

Nostalgic card

Oh, this card reminds me of a happy childhood :)
This is one of the illustrations to Charles Perrault tales by a Russian painter Boris Dekhterev.
I have this old book (edition 1960) and when I was a little girl I loved reading it and watching the pictures. They were so nice and full that it seemed to having watched the whole cartoon, but not just reading.

julasha

Russian Emperors

I've received a number of emperor's portraits, that's why decided to combine them in one post.

Alexander II (Alexander the Liberator ) (1818-1881)

He was a liberal emperor, who accomplished the Emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia - in my opinion, one of the greatest reforms in the history of Russia. He is also know as to have been assassinated. That was a very unusual, even an incredible thing, because in the course of Russian history Tsars and Emperors were regarded as very reliable persons, given to rule the state by the God and even were sometimes called as "Tsar-father".

Alexander III (1845-1894)

A son of Alexander II. He was the next emperor after his father.

From History lessons I remember he was a very strong man. Once the Imperial train got into an accident, due to the crash a carriage roof collapsed and Alexander III had to hold its remains till the children ran out of the carriage. However this situation influenced his health and he died soon after it.

Nicholas II (1868-1918)

The last Russian emperor. So he is one of the most well-know, talked about emperors of all Russian emperors.
By a belief he knew the date of his death (which also was the year of the falling of emperor power in Russia), which had been predicted 100 years before it (approx. in 1817-18) to his ancestor Alexander I. That emperor ordered to conserve the prediction and to open it only in 100 years.

Birthday cards

This post would be devoted to my received postcards and cards to my birthday - April, 11 - on Birthday RRs. It happened that mostly they are from Russia.

This birthday was the most card birthday of all! :)

from Mirrora

tropiki

from Vakhnyuk

Briana_Serpent

Solnivko

from Lysiandra

Integra-Hellsing

from my sister

from elyara

from granny

from postcrosser2011

Vitaljevna

z Polski

Te kartki przyszły z Polski

Wszystki kartki są piękną!

from anulenka

Mirin - RU tag

Ata_ - wspaniała kartka!

romanek

wymiana z mevo - uwielbiam taki mapy))

margaretka02

edtta

AgnieszkaPL

Jancio

likevel

likaa - official forum, Russian branch

A postcard highlight

At last it has happened!

Just the other day I received a wonderful airy light ship from Finland. Its journey took 2 months! It was indeed worth waiting for !

I love such images of ships. They remind me something, though I can't say what - childhood or an old tale or something else.

Its size isn't large at all, but it's elegant.

This picture was sent by Tarja (Vehkotar), I wrote to her and offered a swap, so we succeded!

She told me the history of the ship:

"The ship is "Suomen Joutsen" (Swan of Finland in English) and it´s a three-mast, steel hull, full rigged ship, built in 1902 in St. Nazaire, France, and she served in the trade between Atlantic and Pacific ports. Government of Finland bought it in 1930 for Finnish Navy to be a training ship. From 1956 she was a stationary Seamen's School for the Finnish Merchant Navy. Since 1991, she has been a museum ship owned by City of Turku. The artist is from Turku, Håkan Sjöström, who is one of the foremost marine painters in Scandinavia today."

Tarja also put WWF stickers - they are wonderful and I've never seen such ))

(Wow! What a size!)

And that is the stamp

Thank you, Tarja, for your magnificent card!