[Postcrossing] Maxi-card from Australia

I really love to get maxi-cards. They are so pretty with a matching stamp. It is the second time that I got one with Postcrossing. Amazing. 

I would like to send out also some cards like this but I have no idea how to get such cards in Austria. There are no official issues except one of modern art and it's not very pretty. 

It shows the most known plant of Australia- the Eucalyptus

[Postcrossing] Russia - the paintings of Konstantin Makovsky

I got only 3 cards of Russia- ever. And two of them are from the same artist. One I received 2009 and the other one, a few days ago. Another thing special is the stamp. The stamp of the Russian card in 2009 shows nearly the same photo like the card in 2014. And also the little stamps are of the same kind, even as today Russia uses normally the new animal stamps. It is like the sender knew, that I will receive this card in future.

Isn't it amazing that this stamp looks like the second card, which I got 5 years later from another random person?

 I am in love with Russian stamps. To be honest, I like animals but the stamps of architecture are a little bit more special to me. I always think about a collection of architecture stamps, but as there are so many, I think that would be impossible.

The artist of the two postcards is  Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915), he seems to be very known in Russia for his talent to paint the Russian life in high detailed art. His paintings always seems to be a little bit dreamily and affirmative.

[Postcrossing] German Stilt Houses

I found this amazing card in my letterbox. Another UNESCO whs, I am always happy to find one of these cultural and historical gems in the postbox. These are the prehistoric stilt houses in Germany.  It is always a little bit strange to imagine how the life could have been in this time. It was constructed around 4000 B.C. The same architecture can be found in different places and different countrys around the alps. 

Also some pretty stamps. One of the common flower issue and the Nuremberg castle. It was constructed about 1000 years ago. The municipal buildings are now used as a youth hostel. I would like to spend a night there. That would be great. Living in a castle- every little girl's dream.

[Postcrossing] Finland official

Another card from Finland. I love this card because I like to collect cards of special plants with a connection to the country.  The plant is called Yarrow and was the finnish plant of the year in 2012. But you can find it nearly all over the world (Amazing fact). I liked so much that Gunnel wrote about the usage of this plant. I saw this plant sometimes in Austria, but I never thought about it. After receiving the card, I collected some of these plants. A few weeks later, after pressing in a big old book (Don Quixote), it looks like this:

[Postcrossing] Tunisia official

I was so happy when I found this card from Tunisia. I really really love arabian culture, but still there are not many postcrossers. So I never thought that I would receive such a wonderful arabian card in the beginning as there are so many other country that it is really luck to get one of Tunisia. 

Here you can see the city of Kairouan and the Mosque Okba. I love the calligraphy in the mosque and also on the stamp.

[Postcrossing] Official Italy

This card was send by a young russian girl who was on her vacation trip to Italy. What is this stamp? I am curious about the stamp. Seems to be a GPS video message. But I was not able to figure out how it works. I tried the code at the website, but nothing happened. I am not sure if there is a massage in general. If anybody knows more about this postal service, let me know. It seems to be a nice idea to connect media and postcards.

I like the card. It shows the famous UNESCO world heritage site "The Colosseum" in Rome. I am even more happy about it, because I was there. It was an amazing trip. Italy is amazing if you like historical heritage sites. I can highly recommend a trip.

[Postcrossing] Japan official

A card with a beautiful waterfall from Japan. It has some cute stamps on it. I like the round stamp. 

The waterfall is near to the city Sendai. It is written on the card, that Sendai is called "the forest city". I think I would love this place. It looks very calm and natural. But also it reminds us that peace and beauty are not for eternity. Sendai suffered from the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The woman who send this cards, wrote in her profile that she is now working as a social worker to help the people who were or still are suffering from this catastrophe. She is my hero! 

And that's a wonderful thing about postcrossing, to get to know amazing people  all over the world.

[Postcrossing] Netherlands official

I got mail from the Netherlands. A beautiful vintage card with two lovely kids. This card reminds me a little bit of some old photos of my grandparents. 

The stamp has a priority sticker included,  I never saw this before. It shows the king Willem- Alexander of Netherland. 

[Postcrossing] Belarus official

I received this beautiful card from Belarus. What I love the most about the card, is that on the stamp is the same flower like on the card. Also the stamp is very clean and pretty.
It is the first time, that I received a card with a stamp on the front. Seems to be a little bit unusual for me but looks very nice.
You can find these flowers in the central gardens of Belarus.  This kind of rose is called Rosa Peace.

[Postcrossing] Finland official

This card comes from Jani. He is 12 years old and lives in Finland. It's such a cute card and it makes it even more cute, that it is send by a child, who loves it. Postcrossing is a great way to teach children about our world and to improve their English skills.