Postcard #2: Rome

Caption: Roma. Il Tevere con San Pietro (The Tiber with St. Peters)
Photo: Alberto Cecchi

This was a postcard I sent to my parents when I traveled to Rome a few years back, during my college spring break. So naturally, I (temporarily) stole it back from my parents to scan it for your entertainment. Unfortunately, there are a few scuffs from whatever machine it went through at the postal services.

In regards to the postcard... I will tell you that my friends and I walked all the way to the top of the St. Peters dome. Yes, that really tall dome you see in the postcard. We went all the way up there, 323 steps up, then 323 steps down. Going up was surprisingly fine; I remember being extremely excited and probably fueled by such. And honestly, even if you're tired, the sights from the top of that basilica will have you forget it in a heartbeat.

Coming down though, nearly killed my knees. (Funny that you don't notice the stress on walking down steps until you repeat it like, 323 times). I remembered having purposely worn my comfy old tennis shoes for this trip, knowing that we'll be doing a lot of walking and that those shoes are well broken into. And by the time we rested in the lobby, my poor shoes were destroyed - on both shoes the creases near the front where your toes curled were split wide open. I had to throw them away that night at our hostel, haha.

The stamp features the Vatican, says "Il Perugino del Papa la Pala della Resurrezione" - which is "Perugia, the Pope of the altarpiece of the Resurrection."

Postcard #1: Chicago - The Windy City

Caption: Chicago's Water Tower shines brightly surrounded by a blanket of new-fallen snow
Photo: D. Maenza

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new blog!

For my first post I would like to pay homage to this city that's close to my current home: It's about a 3-hour drive from where I live, but I like driving so I don't mind frequent visits. My favorite Chicago thing to do is probably the Field Museum (I suspect I will upload some Field Museum postcards in the future). My mandatory routine, however, is Santoka ramen at Mitsuwa Market in Arlington, and then cupcakes at Molly's Cupcakes. I am convinced that Molly's Cupcakes are the best cupcakes in the world, but my boyfriend will probably beg to differ.

This is also the first postcard I'm sending through Postcrossing - It is going to Belarus! A bit about Postcrossing: It's a project that lets you send a postcard so you can receive a postcard back from someone somewhere in the world. I'm extremely excited - I suspect that postcrossing will provide me with ample material (both postcards and stamps!) to blog about.

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Since this is my first post, I'm inserting a little bit about the blog here:
My friends can tell you that I like to randomly send out snail-mail. I think postcards (and other non-special-occasion cards) are a very special form of art, and they are underrated in this digital age where emails and messages are instant, unlimited, text-based. There is a warmth in the foresight and planning required to select, write, and post a birthday card so that it can arrive precisely on your friend's special day. And there is a certain cleveness needed to contain all you want to say to the little patch of space on the left side of the postcard - especially when the picture on the postcard might be worth 1000 words already. With calligraphy all but gone, it would be sad to have art leave this delayed but satisfying communication.

I don't really have concrete plans for this blog yet. I believe it will be mainly composed of postcards and stamps. (I will have to retrieve my old stamp collection from my parents' home, so perhaps stamps will arrive later.)