Via Airmail

Tsar Nicholas II and Family

Not long ago I was sent a postcard of the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and now I have the rest of her family to add to  my collection.  Curiously it arrived yesterday along with another card from Russia, though this one took a mere 14 days (though it traveled an additional 1,500 miles).  The card description: "The last Emperor of Russia: Nicholas II with his Family".  The postcrosser who sent it lives in Kemerovo, Siberia, where she tells me in winter it is about -40C .

It had such a long way to come that it was sent in an envelope with a Kremlin series stamp.

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Postcrossing card #48

A Journey from Rotterdam

I love it when a postcard tells a story, and this one does.  I'm told by the Postcrosser who sent this to me that this is where the Pilgrim Fathers began their journey to the New World before embarking on the Mayflower.  The houses are original.  They somehow managed to escape destruction of bombardment during WWII.  That's quite amazing to think of the history that these buildings have witnessed!  And it's quite a picturesque area, too.

I've received a number of these stamps on postcards and think it must be the standard international stamp for postcards/letters in The Netherlands.

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Postcrossing card #28

Grand Duchess Anastasia

This unusual postcard showed up in my mail last week from Russia.  It is the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.  I've had an interest in Russian history and the Romanovs for a while now.  It's a bit sad to see such a pretty picture of her knowing what happened to her and her family (unless of course you believe in some of the conspiracy theories out there).  Of course it is much more preferable to think of her having survived the assassination of her family and living somewhere afterwards happily, though maybe unlikely.  In any case, I am happy to get this postcard of her, taken in 1913. 

The stamps include another from the series of Russian headdresses.  I'm not sure which stamp series the one on the left is from, but I like the little mail truck (at least that's what it looks like) on it.  Mail related stamps--cool.