Moscow

I received great cards from my friend Tania. On the card above you see Red Square after rain. Very beautiful. Pools look like mirrors:)



And this is panorama of All-Russian Exhibition Centre and a view on the "Kosmos" hotel.



And on this multiview:
1. Novodevichiy Monastery
2. View on Novodevichiy monastery
3. The Cathedral of the Intercession and monument to Minin and Pozharsky.
4. Royal regalia of the Russian empire. Diamond Fund of Russia (in Moscow Kremlin).
5. View of the Kremlin from the Moscow-River.

And this card from another my friend Valia. View on Kremlin and the Annunciation Cathedral.



Thank you for your cards, girls:) !

Grateful Dead

And this card (from Laura) shows the band named Grateful Dead.
To be honest, I don't know anything about this band:( But I looked through Wiki and Youtube and found this:

Wiki about Grateful Dead
An official web-site
Grateful Dead - So many roads

I like cards with famous people:)

A cow

Interesting cow, eh? The card came from Michelle.
I like art cards. Because every art card is always untypical. But I have no many art-cards, just this one and a card with a picture from Russia (I've posted it earlier). Hope to improve this situation soon;)

Bratislava

This beautiful viewcard arrived from Jano. Thank you, absolutely awesome card! And +1 European capital for me:)
I really, really like this card! Can't take my eyes off of it:) So beautiful! No I want to visit Slovakia:) !

The Brandenburg Gate

Thank you very much, Helmine! Wow, I always wanted to have a card like this. I always wanted a card with the Brandenburg Gate. Especially the night view...

The Brandenburg Gate was commisioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II to represent peace. The Gate was designed by Karl Gotthard Langhans, the Court Superintendent of Buildings, and the main architectural design of this landmark hasn't changed since it was first constructed in 1791. Ironically the gate was incorporated into the Berlin wall during the years of Communist government. The Brandenburg gate is probably the most well-known landmark in Berlin, it now stands as a symbol of the reunification of the two sides of this great city.

History of the Brandenburg Gate.

Texas

This beautiful postcard with spring flowers came from Shelby. Very nice! I miss spring. You know, summer is not "my" season. I do not like hot weather, I do not like when air is standing, when the one thing you really want is go to the shower and spend there all day long. Or sit under the conditioner and don't stand up:)
Well, yes, fruits, berries, ice-cream - these are good things, but... No, I don't like summer. I prefer spring. Spring (all 3 months), autumn (basically October, whith yellow and red foliage) and winter (till New Year's holidays:)).

Suisse

And this one - from my favourite Switzerland:) Thank you, Christophe!
So, I'll continue:) I made a wish-list of countries and type of postcards I want to have. Of course, I'm still glad to receive any card. It's just something special, something I dream about. Few points:
- A card from Argentina (it's hard to find!)
- A card from Greece (I saw magnificent Greek cards!)
- A card with Le Petite Prince (like on my current avatar)
- A card from Rome, with cat(s) (there is a special seria, I think)
- A card with parrot (it must be bright)
- A card from Latvia
- A card with Le Tour de France logo (or smth related to the Tour; you even can't image how much I want it:))

etc etc etc...

Amsterdam

This card came to me from Wendy. Thank you, Wendy!
I would like to have cards from every European capital. I've already had... many:) But I still have no a card from London, from Prague, from Budapest... I have no many cards! Hope to improve this situation soon:)

Funfair from Finland

And this card - from Sini. Looks interesting! But the dragon looks kinda scary:) And the wheel is great!

My first card from Ireland

Yep, finally! Thank you, Mary!
I have many friends who dream about trip to Ireland. Just to breathe Irish air:) I can't say that I'm a fan, but this country is beautiful, no doubts.
About the view on the card: Wicklow - situated south of Dublin, is one of Ireland's most delightful counties and is commonly referred to as the Garden of Ireland. It consists mainly of a great mass of domed granite mountains penetrated by deep glens and wooded valleys, whilst the coastline is mainly sandy and provides some of the finest beaches in the country. The sportsman, the seaside holidaymaker, the motorist and the hill climber will find that endless opportunities are offered by this lovely country.

Paris...

... is incredible! *sigh*
Thank you, Elodie!

Lion Forest Garden

This card shows Lion Fores Garden in China, a very famous place. Card from Yuejiao.

Compactly yet harmoniously spaced, the Lion Forest Garden has a prominent part for series of man-made mountains with various buildings around the lake, and an artificial waterfall and cliffs at the edge of the lake on the west. Remains of the 14th century man-made mountains, covering 1,152 sq.m. and being the largest of all at Suzhou, can be still seen today. Noted for its labyrinthine mountains with winding pathways and caverns, old pines and cypress trees, awesome peaks and jogged rocks of grotesque shapes resembling dancing lions with striking and unusual poses, it possesses with pride the true delights of mountain and forest scenery in limited space with a flavor of Zen Buddhism.
The Hall of Peace and Happiness, one of the principal buildings in the garden, is a masterpiece of typical Mandarin ducks' hall at Suzhou. Divided in halves, the northern half of the hall differs from the southern half in many particular aspects, such as beam-framing systems, furnishings, pavements, carvings, window designs and so forth. With painted patterns and beam carvings and looking splendid in green and gold, the True Delight Pavilion in the royal style with the "True Delight" tablet inscribed by the Qing Emperor Qianlong is a main viewing place in the garden and differs from the other plain and elegant gardens of Suzhou. Other buildings include the Pointing at Cypress Trees Hall, the Asking Prunus Mume Pavilion and the Stone Boat, etc.
The Lion Forest Garden boasts 22 buildings of varied types, 25 tablets and plateaux, 71 steles inscribed with the famous Calligraphy Collection of the Listening to Rain Tower, 23 brick carvings, 5 carved wooden screens, and 13 valuable old trees such as ginkgo biloba L., pinus bungeana Zucc, etc., which fall into 5 catalogues.
A group of Zen Buddhist disciples of the famous Abbot Tianru had it built in the 2nd year of the reign of Zhizheng (A.D. 1342) under the Yuan Dynasty. It was then called "the Budhi Orthodox Monastery". Because there was s forest of bamboo, grotesque rocks resembling lions in the garden, and indirect reference to a Buddhist story of the Lion, it was renamed the Lion Forest Garden. Soon after its birth, the garden became a popular place for scholars at Suzhou, who came here to write poems and paint pictures. The well-known Yuan artist Ni Yunlin painted a scroll of the Lion Forest Garden. In the reign of Kangxi (the 17th century), the garden was separated from the temple. The Qing Emperor Qianlong (Hongli) visited it several times. The garden had changed hands a number of times. In 1918 it was purchased and repaired by Pei (now spelled "Bei" in China), an industrialist, becoming the garden one visits today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Peis donated it to the State. Since 1954, the Lion Forest Garden has been open to the public.

About tarsiers

Another interesting card from Asia. It's from Sherwin, from Philippines.

Do you know what's the animal in the middle of the card? Because you can see him very often - people like to make funny photos and videos with this animal. It's tarsier.

Tarsiers are small animals with enormous eyes; each eyeball is approximately 16 mm in diameter and is as large as their entire brain (!). Tarsiers also have very long hind limbs. In fact, their feet have extremely elongated tarsus bones, from which the animals get their name. The head and body range from 10 to 15 cm in length, but the hind limbs are about twice this long (including the feet), and they also have a slender tail from 20 to 25 cm long. Their fingers are also elongated, with the third finger being about the same length as the upper arm. Most of the digits have nails, but the second and third toes of the hind feet bear claws instead, which are used for grooming. Tarsiers have very soft, velvety fur, which is generally buff, beige, or ochre in color.

And new Stenvall card!

So, not duck, but cow:) Interesting:) The picture has a name "Handshake from the microcomputer" (2005) Even name is interesting:)
Thank you, marja2006 (sorry, I don't know the real name - it was written on the card and I didn't make out), for made my collection bigger:) !

New moomins

This card - from Ronja.



And this - from Johanna. Big thank you for both cards!
I love these characters:)))

Hello Kitty!

Hello Kitty cards are also very populard among the postcrossers. And not just cards (magnets and othet stuff), and not just among postcrossers:) Hello Kitty is a world superstar.
Hello Kitty is the character of Japanese pop-culture, a small white cat into a simplified drawing. Invented by the company Sanrio in 1974 and receorded in 1976, Hello Kitty is used as a brand for many products, became the main hero of the same cartoon. Hello Kitty toys are popular souvenirs in Japan and all around the world.
Kitten Kitty has been invented in 1974 by Shintaro Tsudzi, the owner of Japanese toy company Sanrio. Once he decided to create a new character, who would like to everybody. As a result of a long work Tsudzi made a perfect hero. Today brand "Hello Kitty!" has about half a million dollars of income annually.
There were doubts about the name of a kitten. Her creator chose between "Hello Kitty" and "Kitty White" (that was a name of one of the Alice's cats in "Alice in Wonderland"). But the second version, at least, was rejected.
The first product became very popular among customers. It was the simple curse with the image of Hello Kitty! This Kitten was really popular, but in the end of 80's became to slow down. Customers didn't like that Kitty always had the same look - muzzle looks at the viewers, the body turned sideways, she was dressed in blue
overall and has a black outline around her figure. Then the designer Yuko Yamaguchi decided to change the image. She deleted the black outline, painted different clothes and put different items in her... mmm... hands:)
Later Kitty found a family - mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister Mimmi and hamster Sugar.
Now there are millions goods with HK-image - from T-shirts and toys to machine guns and toasters, which bike toasts with her image:)
Here is an official site of Sanrio company, where you can read her biography (and biographies of other characters). So, she was born on November 1st, live in London with her family and has lots of hobbies.
Hello Kitty has many web-sites: this, this.



The first card is from Tomoko and the second card - from Sumie.
I love this cat:)

O Canada! Again.

This nice card - from Tonia. I have seen this card before (don't remember where; maybe, on postcrossing.com?) and wanted this card for my collection. And here we go - I have it:)
I've already told that I'm crazy sport fan, so when I say "Canada" I mean "Vancouver Olympics-2010" (it will be special event for me). Here is an official web-site of Olympic Games-2010. Visit it - maybe you'll find something interesting for you and decide to follow Olympic competitions with me:)
249 to beginning.

Jakarta

Card from Shinta (thank you!).
If you wanna visit Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, you are probably now searching not only for landmarks and interesting places in this city, but also for museums and exhibitions. So, in Jakarta you can visit National Gallery of Indonesia and National Museum of Indonesia.
About National Gallery: Indonesian National Gallery is one of functioning culture institute for protection, development, and exploiting of fine arts asset as supporting facilities for edukation-cultural and recreation and expansion of creativity and appreciation of art. Indonesian National Gallery is government institution, domiciles under and responsible to Director General of Culture Value, Arts and Film, Ministry of Culture and Tourisme of Republik of Indonesia, which is everyday to be executed by Director of Arts. National Gallery of Indonesia has duty to execute gathering, documentation, registration, research, conservancy, treatment, security, presentation, dissemination of educative tuition and information to fine art aspects. National Gallery of Indonesia has modern and contemporer art collection in paintings, drawings, prints, statues, photography and installation art. The collection were 1700 artworks of preminent Indonesia artists and International artists, such as Raden Saleh, Hendra Gunawan, Affandi S. Sudjojono, Basoeki Abdullah, Barli Sasmitawinata, Trubus, Popo Iskandar, Sudjana Kerton, Dede Eri Supria, Ivan Sagito, Lucia Hartini, Iriantine Karnaya, Hendrawan Riyanto, Nyoman Gunarsa, Made Wianta, Ida Bagus Made, I Ketut Soki, Wassily Kandinsky ( Russia), Hans Hartung ( Germany), Victor Vassarely ( Hungarian), Sonia Delauney ( Ukraina), Piere Soulages ( French), Zao Wou Ki ( China). I was surprised to know that there are pictures of Ukrainian painter in this museum. It's interesting:)
Official site
About National Museum - next time with next card;)

Bulgaria

And another similiar Balkan country - Bulgaria. Card from Anastassia.
When we lived in USSR, it was a big happines to visit Bulgaria or Hungary in your vacation. My parents dreamed about it:) (but they didn't do it, unfortunately)

Photos
And more photos

Macedonia

And one more "first" card. From Anja, from Skopje. I'm always interesting to know something new about Balkan countries. They are very similiar to our country.

Photos

And more photos

Granada

Great card from Angela. Love such views!
The city of Granada is placed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, Beiro, Darro and Genil, at an elevation of 738 metres above sea level yet only one hour from the Mediterrean coast, the Costa Tropical.
Granada is also well-known within Spain due to the prestigious University of Granada and, nowadays, vibrant night-life. In fact, it is said that it is one of the three best cities for college students (the other two are Salamanca and Santiago de Compostela).

The pomegranate (in Spanish, granada) is the heraldic device of Granada.



Photozzz

Wildelife in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania

Thank you, Ken!

Raccon, bear, deerm wild birds such as owl and pheasant, and many varieties of colorful wildflowers such as Mountain Laurel, Pennsylvania's state flower, are among the countless number of species of wild fauna and flora that can be seen and enjoyed in the Poconos of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Palanga

This is a card from Anna. Thank you, Anna! It shows famous Lithuanian town Palanga.

The town of Palanga, 29 km from Klaipeda, is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The town functioned as Lithuania's main port from the 15th to 17th centuries. By the 19th century Palanga was already a popular resort town that attracted the Lithuanian, Polish, and Jewish intelligentsia and upper classes. The resort particularly grew and became prettier after World War II. Several decades saw construction of the principal part of the town and now-functioning 150 rest houses, as well as 11 large sanatoria, and rehabilitation centres.
The Palanga Botanical Gardens, designed for Count Tiskevicius by the French architect Eduard Andre‚ and the Belgian gardener Buyssen de Coulon, boast over 300 plant species and are considered to be Lithuania's most beautiful and richest botanical gardens. Another attraction of the park is the Tiskevicius Manor House which now houses the Amber Museum. Amber, popularly known as Lithuanian gold, can still be found on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Amber Museum has a unique collection that illustrates amber's 40-million year-old story.

More about Palanga