#412

Received: September 2014

From: Shannon (Traverse City, USA)

Depicts: Lighthouses of Michigan, USA

This official postcard is yet another map card and it shows all the lighthouses that exist in Michigan, which, according to Shannon, has more of these buildings than any other U.S. State. This is nice, new information, plus a state card, and a map card, are always welcome!

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#411

Received: September 2014

From: Sara (Porto, Portugal)

Depicts: Views from Morocco

This card is very special, not only because it was sent to me by my best friend, but also because it's my absolute first postcard ever from Morocco, how great is that? I, myself, have been to Morocco once, in 2009, and I was in Agadir and Casablanca, two cities that Sard didn't visit, but that I can easily connect with the views in this card.

Postcard stamp:

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#410

Received: September 2014

From: Lai (Tasek Gelugor, Malaysia)

Depicts: Petronas Twin Towers (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

This beautiful card was the prize of yet lottery I won in the Postcrossing forum! It shows that which is perhaps the most famous sight in Malaysia: the Petronas Twin Towers, which were once the tallest buildings in the world and background to a famous movie starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Entrapment".

Postcard stamp:

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#409

Received: September 2014

From: Ana (Berlin, Germany)

Depicts: Prague Meeting Card, Czech Republic

Ana is the co-founder of Postcrossing and an amazing and inspiring person that I was lucky enough to interview once, so I was really glad to be one of the winners of the lottery she held on the Postcrossing forum, and really glad to add yet another card to my meeting cards collection - which, I must say, is still really poor, with only three cards, but I'm getting there!

Postcard stamp:

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#408

Received: September 2014

From: Heena (Mumbai, India)

Depicts: Hampi, India

As far as I could understand, the picture in this official card was taken by Heena herself, which is really cool since it's a beauticul pic and place!

Powstfcdarda wstdampwsL:

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#407

Received: September 2014

From: Fengchun (Sanming, China)

Depicts: Giant panda

A nice card from China - I'm still sad, every time I get a Chinese postcard, that it never depicts a beautiful views from the country. Such an amazing country deserved to have better cards! But I do like pandas a lot, they're sweet and pacific, so this one is a good card.

Postcard stamps:

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#406

Received: September 2014
From: Elena (Athens, Greece)
Depicts: Birthday card

This beautiful, cute card came all the way from Greece and I absolutely loved it, it was probably my favorite birthday card ever - plus, it came from the exact country I want to visit the most! I just love the little "jewels" on the butterfly's body and in the cherries! And Elena was a sweetheart! And look how amazing it is on the inside:

Postcard stamp:

None, since it came in an envelope.

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#405

Received: September 2014

From: Renny (Friesland, The Netherlands)

Depicts: Vintage painting "Miss Ellen"

Since my keyboard is pretty messed up at the moment, I'll be very brief in the descriptions of the next few cards; but I want to make sure people still know how grateful I am for each and every one of them.

This card is a reproduction of a vintage painting and I really liked getting it, since I've been trying to start a collection of vintage-looking cards!

Postcard stamp:

None, since it came in an envelope.

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#404

Received: September 2014
From: Sonia (Pamplona, Spain)
Depicts: Berlin Mini-Meeting Card

This card is quite special - not only because it's all cute, with the bears and its colors and all, but because of its meaning! Sonia went to Berlin for two weeks and was lucky enough to participate in a mini Postcrossing meeting that was held there in August 28th, and she remembered me and sent me a card, which was so nice and unexpected of her! Plus, Paulo and Ana, the founders of Postcrossing - who are Portuguese just like me -, and whom I've had the pleasure of interviewing back in March, were also present in that meeting and sent me their regards, which was also so kind.

Postcard stamp:

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#403

Received: September 2014
From: Nijole (Kupiskis, Lithuania)
Depicts: Hill of Crosses (Siauliai, Lithuania)

Another very original official card, this time from Lithuania! It shows a very unique place in the world: the Hill of Crosses, in Siauliai. In Lithuania, crosses are seen as signs of thanks and hope, so there are thousands of them in this very peculiar hill! I really liked getting to know this strange but fascinating place.

Postcard stamps:

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#402

Received: September 2014
From: Olesya (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Depicts: The quai and water jet (Genève, Switzerland)

This official postcard really enthused me because of its colours and its summer feeling! Plus, it confirmed what I already knew: Genève really is beautiful! I was there already, but I was so little that I don't remember it at all!

Postcard stamp:

I really liked this stamp!

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#401

Received: September 2014

From: Angelina (Maria Lankowitz, Austria)

Depicts: Guy with saxophone

First of all: it's good to be back here! I confess that my life has been so full of other things that I've been completely away from the postcard world, but I plan on coming back as much as I possibly can now, and that includes keeping this blog up-to-date!

So this was a quite original official postcard that I got from Angelina, in Austria - I just have no idea whatsoever who the man is! But he is handsome!

Postcard stamp:

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#400

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Constance (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

Depicts: Views from Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This is my 400th card!! I'm amazed by how many cards I've been able to gather in thirtheen months and how many good things Postcrossing has brought me! For example, this card: it came all the way from Dubai, it's a rarity, really, and I'll be holding on to it dearly because I don't think I'll ever get another! So it was the best possible card I could use as my number 400. It shows the Arabian desert and the famous Emirates twin towers, both at day and night.

Postcard stamp:

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#399

Received: September 9th, 2014
From: Gerraldo (Minneapolis, USA)
Depicts: Map card (California, USA)

I'm fond of map cards that show you some of the particularities of the place they depict, and this one is very good at that; plus, it also serves a state card, and that's a collection I'm also interested in completing, although I know it won't be easy to get 50 cards from 50 states in the USA! But still, one can dream and Gerraldo helped me already.

Postcard stamps:

With these amazing stamps, Gerraldo was also able to combine two things I really like: sports (especially with the Joe DiMaggio stamp, who I know because he was married to Marilyn Monroe), and then Harry Potter: I didn't have a Draco Malfoy stamp yet and I love it!

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#398

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Yrsa (Sweden)

Depicts: Swedish countryside

Yrsa sent me a card with pictures of what she calls the typical Swedish countryside; apparently, it's not easy at all to find this kind of landscape anymore there, so I was happy to get it and get a different view of the country from the one I've been making up in my head.

Postcard stamps:

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#397

Received: September 9th, 2014
From: Choi (Hong Kong)
Depicts: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of United Kingdom

I was quite happy to get this official card because, as anyone who follows this blog knows, I'm quite interested in royal families! And I was still missing this card of the Queen of England. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997 and Choi told me that Queen Elizabeth II used to be on stamps and coins everywhere, but not anymore, of course; plus, her nickname there used to be "Lady Boss"!

Postcard stamp:

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#396

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Pei (Stavanger, Norway)

Depicts: Disney official card

I absolutely loved this official card! Not only it's official from Postcrossing, it's also original from Disney, and it came all the way from Walt Disney World!! Pei visited last year and got some cards and I was lucky enough to get one! It has all the "classical" Disney characters, which include my favorite: Minnie. And it's all glittery! Plus it was my first official card from Norway!

Postcard stamps:

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#395

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Jeanette (New York City, USA)

Depicts: Lower Manhattan Skyline (New York City, USA)

Jeanette was going through my Favorites wall on Postcrossing and found out that I had marked this card as a favorite several times, so she sent it to me, the dearest! I really, really love the card though; isn't it absolutely amazing? I love the big moon, the colors of the sky, the city lights... I just really want to go to Manhattan one day!

Postcard stamps:

I really liked the two stamps with food and vegetables!

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#394

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Lucy (Taunton, England)

Depicts: Saint Peter's Basilica (Vatican City, Vatican)

This is my first card from the Vatican and I'm so happy I could get it! Lucy hosted a lottery in the Postcrossing forum to send a card from her holiday to a few lucky winners and I was one of them, therefore this beauty of a card arrived at my home! I really love it - I was in Saint Peter's Basilica myself back in 2008, and I remember how huge it was; the kind of building that makes you feel overwhelmed because it's so amazingly beautiful and grandious. I really liked it.

Postcard stamp:

Even the stamp relates to the Vatican and is amazing!

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#393

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Sonia (Pamplona, Spain)

Depicts: Views from Berlin, Germany

I won this card through a lottery that Sonia held in the Postcrossing forum, and I was really happy with it. Sonia told me a little about her fortnight trip to Berlin and all the things she did there, which made the time fly, and I definitely can relate with that, because it seems that whenever I travel, I never have enough time to do everything I wanted to!

Postcard stamp:

This stamp made me want to go and see all the castles in Germany!

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#392

Received: September 9th, 2014

From: Olga (Novosibirsk, Russia)

Depicts: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy

I absolutely loved getting this official card, because it has two of my favorite skaters in it: the German pair Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. They're kind of the greatest rivals of my favorite pair of skaters ever (who are Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov), but even though I can't really root for the Germans when they're competing against my favorite Russians, I do recognize their quality and appreciate them anyway!

Postcard stamps:

I always love these corner stamps!

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#391

Received: September 1st, 2014

From: Pavla (Prague, Czech Republic)

Depicts: Happy birthday card

This one is pretty self-explanatory: it was just another nice card to celebrate my birthday, and I was really thankful for it. Plus it has an amazing 3D sticker in the back, which I found really sweet!

Postcard stamp:

None, since it came in an envelope.

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#390

Received: September 1st, 2014
From: Pavla (Prague, Czech Republic)
Depicts: Views from Pardubice, Czech Republic

Pavla told me she lived in Pardubice for seven years, so she decided to send me a card from there, which I appreciated, because I don't have that many cards from Czech cities that are not Prague! In this card, you can see an image of Pardubice from the beginning of the 20th century, and then another that was taken in 2009 - it's a good way to see how things can change so much, and at the same time stay the same, in a matter of a century.

Postcard stamp:

None, since it came in an envelope.

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#389

Received: September 1st, 2014

From: Pavla (Prague, Czech Republic)

Depicts: Princess

Pavla and I agreed to exchange cards and letters and I couldn't have been happier when I got her package: she sent me tons of unwritten postcards, plus three written ones that I really liked too, especially because they were meant to celebrate my birthday and she decorated them with beautiful stickers!

Postcard stamp:

None, since it came in an envelope.

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#388

Received: September 1st, 2014

From: Baris (Istanbul, Turkey)

Depicts: Pamukkale (Denizli, Turkey)

I was really, really glad to get this postcard, because if there's a place in Turkey I want to visit, it's Pamukkale. The word "Pamukkale" means "cotton castle" in Turkish, and Pamukkale always does remind me of cotton candy for some reason! Pamukkale are travertines, "terraces" of carbonate minerals made of very unique chemical stones that make them look intensely and beautifully white. There are small lakes where people used to be able to bathe themselves - I really wanted to do that! - but nowadays it's forbidden, for the government wants to protect the original landscape. I love this card!

Postcard stamp:

None, since it came in an envelope.

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#387

Received: September 1st, 2014
From: Angela (Hannover, Germany)
Depicts: Reichstag (Berlin, Germany)

This beautiful postcard came from Hannover, although it shows a famous building in Berlin: the Reichstag. Like its name says, it was built (between 1884 and 1894) to house the Reichstag (the Imperial Diet, the Parliament) of the German Empire, which it did until 1933. Then, after the World War II, it stopped being used. After its 1999 reconstruction, it started being used again as the German Parliament's house, and I think it still serves that purpose. I think it's a really beautiful building!

Postcard stamp:

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#386

Received: September 1st, 2014

From: Maren (Bremen, Germany)

Depicts: Weserstadion (Bremen, Germany)

Maren lives in Bremen, hometown of Werder Bremen, a quite known German football team, and knowing I like football, she decided to send me a card with their stadium: the Weserstadion. She's been holding a season ticket for more than 20 years, which I admire! Plus, I really liked the landscape around the stadium, it seems really beautiful there! Oh, and I have zillions (not quite, but sometimes it feels like it!) of postcards from Germany already, and this is my first one from Bremen. Plus, Maren also wished me a happy birthday in the card, and I really like being remembered - or, at least, that people DO pay attention to what I write on my Postcrossing profile!

Postcard stamp:

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