Friday Stamps #2: Poland

The stamp on the right shows one of Polish manor houses. This one is called "Dwor w Janowcu k. Pulaw", or (Manor in Janowiec near Pulawy)

The stamp on the left features Castle of Sieradz, built by King Casimir the Great (during the 6th century?). Sieradz is one of the oldest towns in Poland, and known as the 3-time location for the coronation of Polish monarchs. (I also think this stamp dates back to 2005).

Postcard #19: Helsinki, Finland

Caption: The Market Square, Helsinki, Finland
Photo: Antero Vartia
Postmarked: May 27, 2011
(Ari series #6)

Here we have the last postcard that Ari sent during this trip. I was a bit surprise when I received this postcard; usually when I receive postcards from people on vacation, they feature heavily on famous attractions and other nationally iconic things. But this was actually a really nice card to receive from a series of "tourist" postcards: It gives you a sort of wound down, relaxed feeling - and it's certainly a good way to end a 2-week vacation. (And of course, the scenery is extremely European, if nothing else).

I also really enjoy the stamp; I actually really prefer to have a stamp featuring the flag of the country before I collect the other "special" stamps, so this was super nice to have in the collection. While I do have a friend in Finland (Hi Mosh!), we usually send each other packages and pay the post office for a boring little barcode sticker. Maybe I can convince Mosh to send me some used stamps (wink wink!).

Details of Helsinki can be found on Ari's travel blogs here, here, and here.

And this concludes the "Ari special" Eastern Europe postcard series! (It also concludes Ari's vacation lol). Hope you guys enjoyed it. And we'll return to the regular programming now. =)

Postcard #17: Moscow, Russia

Caption: Moscow. Red Square. Lenin Mausoleum
Photo: none credited
Postmarked: May 22, 2011
(Ari series #4)

My boyfriend described this as the "final chilling place of Comrade Lenin". It seems like a pretty good place to chill indeed. I mean, dead or alive, a fortress is always a good place to stay, right?

The... fortress-like barrier/ isolation reminds me a little bit of Great Wall of China... Just saying.

Details of Russia can be found on Ari's travel blogs: here, here, and here.

Postcard #16: Minsk, Belarus

Caption: Minsk. The National Library of Belarus
Photo: Sergey Melnik
Postmarked: May 20, 2011
(Ari series #3)

This grand library in Minsk is an extremely strange modern feel it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It seems very cool at first, but the more I look at it, the more "gimick-y" it feels. It could very well be more beautiful when seen in person.

I do, however, love the stamps. These two Belarus stamps are the only two I've shown so far because they were on all the postcards that were sent thus far - so apparently Ari had bought all of them, wrote them out, and sent them all in Belarus (insert Callie's scream of "That's cheating!" here...) On the blog, Ari mentioned that his travel companion, Sunny, was obsessed with sending postcards from the country she got them from; I think there's merits in that. (Love you Ari, I'm just giving you a hard time ^_^ )
Not to worry, there are new stamps in the following postcards. Stay tune.

Details of Minsk can be found on Ari's travel blog here, here, here and here.

Postcard #11: Havana, Cuba

Caption: Ciudad Habana, Cuba.
              Paseo del Malecon.
Received: March 11, 2012

I have a friend - a crazy friend - who decided to go to Cuba. Not only is this friend American, he decided that being American and going to Cuba alone is a good thing to do. As you've probably suspected, digital communication from Cuba isn't very good, and he was certainly without internet for the duration of his trip. I must say, those of us that know him wondered if he was still alive.

And indeed he is! The good news is that he actually returned to us before this postcard reached me, which definitely made getting the postcard a 100% happy occasion. (Instead of the 50% happy, 50% omg-is-he-still-alive??? anxious).

The stamp is also very very cool. It's the 50th anniversary of Ministerio del Interior, and feature several modes of transportation. It's also big enough to almost cover my name on the address, haha.

This is probably the one and only mail I'll ever receive from Cuba. Special might be an understatement. Enjoy!

Friday Stamps #1: Canada - White-Tailed Deer

Hi everyone, welcome to the first Friday Stamp - I will (try) to post a special stamp every Friday.

This week we have White-Tailed Deers on a Canadian $1 stamp. The image is pretty remarkable - I didn't just scan this into a big image, the stamp itself measures at 4cm x 4.75cm. In terms of stamps, this is one of the biggest I've ever seen.

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."