OK this is not from Postcrosser at least. My dearest penpal Sonia whose letters had failed to reach me these past few years, but after over one year, she replied my letter again and with this lovely card recently. In fact, throughout our friendship, she has always remembered my birthday.. although I didnt manage to remember hers this much! :/

From Anagahan. So this is the first birthday card from a Postcrosser arrived this year, and I am glad it came from a dear friend of GTKY. Thanks Ana, if you ever read this, you know you’ve been special to me! :)

From Wilma. HAHAHA I LOVE this card for my birthday!! :D It’s a real surprise from Arja-Liisa, she’s such a sweetie! Hugs to you! See my other cards of Kaj Stenval’s art here.

From Cockie. Though it’s actually a return card of birthday card I had sent to her friend (which I found a really wonderful way to cheer a friend!!), but knowing that I was having my birthday to come, Mieko also wrote this card as a birthday wish to me. Thanks so much for this pretty card!!

From Hadassah. HAHA Essi!! Are these you and me in the picture, perhaps in our 70s, celebrating our birthday together? On a tree! LOL it doesn’t look too bad! :D :D And thanks dear for this lovely wishes that cheered me up! Big hugs!

From Lauraarual. Another sweet friend of GTKY sent me a lovely birthday wish on this colorful card :)) I can’t be happier! And Laura included some lovely gifts and Holland souvenir, thanks so much – you’re so kind!! :) *hugs!*

Oh I love this card of this happening festival! Thank you for the birthday wishes!!

From Vagirl. I gasped in excitement when I opened the envelope and saw this posh-looking card, it’s just AWESOME!! :D I just love every bit of it, and thanks Chrissy for your lovely message and wishes, it really put a big smile on my face! :))

From Carolinechia. AHAHA I’m sorry others, but I have to say this is the coolest birthday card I ever got! :P Well yeah at least for a second I really thought I was smart and popular and good-looking as the card says! :P LOL I didnt know 20th June was a lucky day either :)) but every day is a lucky day when you’re born that day! ;) Thanks Carol for your lovely thoughts! You’re great!

From Ulpa. She included many of inspiring cards along with her letter! Ula thanks for all the cards you have sent me, as well as this super delicious birthday card… you’re the best!! *hugs!!*

This is Haris. A cool kitty, can be naughty at times and likes to eat alot! No wonder he looks as if he gained weight after one month traveling to Paris last February! Well, he started his journey on behalf of imajica (who wishes so hard that she could fit an envelope to travel Europe too -___- ) and has been to Paris, Rome, Budapest recently and now is staying with Essi in Lappeenranta, Finland! He will soon probably be visiting Poland and Macedonia!

Please see Hari’s travelog on ToyVoyagers for his journey diary and loads of photos! And here’s the map showing his path (before Finland)

And what does this kitty toy have to do with Postcards, you ask? :) Now let’s take a look back at my previous postcards of Paris (and Eiffel Tower!), Budapest, Rome, and Finland all featuring Haris!! :D It’s really good to know (at least) I have some postcards with places he went to!

Happy PFF from Haris and imajica to everyone!! xx

Sent by Skrallan, 2006, via Another country tag.

Here it is what I am talking about! It does look like a floating city, doesn’t it?? :D And it’s so exciting that you have to cross many bridges to reach a place, yet the roadways don’t look very busy! (read: bridges in Malaysian cities are the most congested places! Yikes). And really, I love how well this city is structured, with awesome buildings, modern and old.

Sent by MerJade, 2009.

View above is how you see from the top of the City Hall Tower. And picture below shows the Stockholm Palace, the official residence of the Swedish Monarch. There used to be a fortress in this site and they reconstructed it to be a palace in 1697-1760.

Sent by MerJade, 2009

Here’s the City Hall and its tower! It was built in 1911-1923 and is home to the Municipal Council for the Stockholm city, and also the venue of the Nobel Prize banquet!

Sent by MerJade, 2009.

Oh yeah suddenly I have been blessed with many beautiful postcards from Sweden, if you must know ;) and this is among my favorite – as it shows a city tram! I have come to learn that trams are among the earliest public transportation in Europe which is really appealing to me. This Stockholm old tram goes to Djurgården island with many museums, zoo, and amusement park.

Sent by AKS

“Weltstadt mit Herz” or the metropolitan city with heart, is the Munich city’s motto. This view shows the New Town Hall and Marienplatz, a large open square. If you look closer at the tower there’s the Rathaus-Glockenspiel dates from 1908. Glockenspiels are exciting features in Germany, they are kind of the equivalent of huge music boxes built into the buildings and town squares, but with real bells and ancient mannequin dancers. And this particular Glockenspiel has 43 bells and 32 dancers, and it chimes everyday at 11am. I really want to see (and listen) this Glockenspiel live! :D

Sent by Miriam

Here is the pedestrian street in the old part of Munich, the arch in the middle dates from 1315 and was part of the surrounding wall. Hmm, I have come across many old cities in Europe are walled, which is interesting. And see the tulips! :) They actually change the flowers here according to seasons, and you can see tulips in Spring.

Sent by empty_mailbox

Some views of the grocery market in Munich, though I am so curious if the existance of these statutes have anything to do with the place being a market. And it does look like an exotic market!

Still I did not have a Kazakhstan postcard at that time -_____-  So how do you expect I would ever get a card from there, if it wasn’t our Jo Russianruby the traveler went to live in Kazakhstan for a while recently. And she sent me a card! Or in fact, two! But the one she sent from the country didn’t seem to reach me -____- and after months, who would have thought, Jo was in Kuala Lumpur for a few days before heading Cambodia, and she mailed again a card from KL in envelope! So I received a Kazakhstan postcard from Malaysia :P Nevermind! Here’s the finally arriving card!

Something nature and archaeological here. These images belong to the Charyn Canyon National Park and the Tamgaly Tas Nature Reserve, which is one of the 3 UNESCO heritage sites in Kazakhstan. It’s now an open air museum which is home to over 4000 cave paintings date from the 14th to 16th century BC. Those unique petrogliphs show images of ancient inhabitants of Kazakhstan, their culture, home and way of life. And there’s also the Valley of King Burial Mounds, which are the tallest in Semirechye region and still have a lot of mysteries.

This is an image reproduction from 1930. Well, I love to share some fun facts I found about Coca-cola here:

• Coca Cola was first invented by a pharmacist name John Pemberton in 1885 as a medicine to cure headaches.
• Coca-Cola is called “Coca-Cola” because of the original ingredients used in the medicine, Coca leaves and Kola seeds. Wine was also added in place of sugar similar to the coke we drink today.
• When Mentos is added to Coca-Cola, the carbon dioxide in the coke will be rapidly released, causing the coke in the bottle to burst out. Diet coke works the best.
• Coca-Cola can be used to help cure jellyfish stings.
• Coca-Cola can also be used as a cleaning solution, cleaning anything from rusty pans to dirty toilets. It can also be used to remove odor.
• If you accidentally got gum in your hair, rinse it in coca-cola and the gum will come of very easily (!)
• Coca-Cola usually have the phrase “Original Formula” near the bottom of their cans/bottles, but it is not actually “original”, since in 1985, a portion of the sugar in Coca-Cola was removed and replaced by high fructose corn syrup, causing an altered taste as well as causing the coke to become unhealthy.

And another is an official, US-367399 from Bast. LOL I love this card! It’s a reprint of Coca-cola trade card from 1910.

Oh yeah??

Shigure: “Hi! Are you talking about me??”

OK OK.. nevermind. Let’s go back to postcards!!!

From Anzuume. This is the Rokkakudo Temple in Kyoto. Rokkaku mean hexagon, and if you look from above, the roof is hexagonal. This temple is said to be founded in thr 6th century, while the main hall was rebuilt in the 19th century.

From Cockie. Another temple in Kyoto.. this is the Kenniji temple. It was founded in 1202. And these bush are tea plants! I have seen tea farm in Cameron Highlands here, but I didn’t know that they can actually blossom with flowers!

From Little_Flower. The Nikko Toshogu shrine was built in 1617, during the Edo period. And this is its Kara-mon Gate. It was made with various kinds of foreign timbers with exquisite carvings. This shrine is part of the “Shrines and Temples of Nikkō”, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Japan.

From Katjafin. This fairytale castle-like monastery is the Kiev Pechersk Lavra (Kiev Monastery of the Caves), built in 1015.. and together with the Saint-Sophia Cathedral, it’s listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The word “lavra” is used to describe high-ranking monasteries for (male) monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church. This monastery is also one of The Seven Wonders of Ukraine.. wow, I wonder if there exists such a list as Seven Wonders of Malaysia :P I will investigate on it soon…

From Meleu. Another view from another side of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.. I can’t really put the two images together.. each gives a different color and atmosphere but at least you can guess this is one of the towers with the golden domes :)

From Anna. This is also part of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra… the Great Lavra Belltower!! This belltower measures 96.5 m tall and was the highest during its construction in 1731–1745.

From Orange_dreamer. More views of Kiev. Small pics from left: 1) Princess Olga monument. 2) Kiev cable railway 3) the Bohdan Khmelnytsky monument. And picture below shows the Mychael’s square.

From Rissyrissy. I don’t have information on the card about where in Pennsylvania is this country view with cornfield is located.. but look at the balloons!! This is surely a lovely postcard that Rissy sent me for my 24th birthday! :D

From Zmrzlina. This is the Fort Roberdeau, which was constructed in 1778, under General Daniel Ruoberdeau’s supervision and sits on 47 acres near Altoona. It’s also known as the “Lead Mine Fort” as it protected mining operations for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary war. Well nowadays people like forts as there are usually places to picnic :)

From Krhocevar. After the country views, now comes the big city. Pittsburgh is the second largest city in Pennsylvania. And this is the Golden Triangle where the Allegheny and Monogahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio River, hence the largest inland port in the US! There are over 700 bridges crossing these rivers and valleys. I always love waterfront cities like this.. especially on this postcard with the reflection of those buildings in the water! And look at the fountain! Pretty, isn’t it?

From Jasmina. I just love this bridge and and its glory with the old house buildings.. they look really beautiful at night! The Stari Most (“Old bridge”) was built in the 16th century when Mostar became the chief administrative city for the Ottoman Empire in the Herzegovina region. The bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed in 1993 during the Bosnian civil war. Then the bridge was reconstructed to its current from in 2001-2004.

This is the Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge in Višegrad across the Drina River. It was built by by an Ottoman grand vizier, Mehmed Paša Sokolović in 1571 (hence the name). It was severely damaged during both World Wars and got temporary repairs and reconstructed in stone in the early 1950s. Being almost 500 years old, the bridge is fragile and now closed for traffic when it became UNESCO Heritage site.