Via Airmail

Jane Austen Commemorative Stamps

I've been hoping to get a few of the recently issued Royal Mail stamps commemorating the two hundred year anniversary of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  Over the course of the last week I've lucked out three times now! 

"Mansfield Park"

"Sense and Sensibility"

"Emma"

You can see the entire set of stamps here.

Old Library at Wuhan University

Libraries are one of my favorite subjects when it comes to postcards, so I am always pleased to get them and this one is unusual.  The Postcrosser tells me it is the Old Library of his university, which is Wuhan University.  You can see a photo of it here, though the only information on it they offer is the date it was built in 1935.  I love the little book in the lower left corner.  Any help on translating the words on the front of the card would be much appreciated.

I like the simplicity of the stamp.

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Postcrossing card #98

Kelimutu, Flores Island, Indonesia

This is Kelimutu on the island of Flores in Indonesia.  These unusual crater lakes are the result of volcanic activity.  There are actually three lakes and each contains different colored water. 

"Tiwu Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) is usually blue and is the westernmost of the three lakes. The other two lakes, Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched or Enchanted Lake) are separated by a shared crater wall and are typically green or red respectively. The lake colors vary on a periodic basis."

Apparently the color changes are due to chemical reactions from the minerals in the volcano.  These lakes are a popular tourist destination in Indonesia.  I think I need to create a bucket list and on it I am going to add a visit to at least one volcano somewhere in the world.

The stamp is a "Greeting Stamp" with a lovely floral centerpiece and candles.

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Postcrossing card #97

Holy Spirit Cathedral

This postcard of the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Belarus is from the "Legends of Old Minsk" series.  The postcrosser who sent it kindly translated the card (the back gives all sorts of historical information) and she mentions that the most valuable treasure of the church is an icon of the Mother of God.  It is said to be miraculous.  You can see the icon here.  The cathedral dates from the mid-17th century.  

I don't think I've seen this stamp before.  It looks a bit like a fortress.  A quick search didn't net any better information, but it looks like an interesting building.

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Postcrossing card #96

The Capitoline Wolf in Rome

Here's a roundabout postcard.  The sculpture is the famous Capitoline Wolf (La Lupa Capitolina) inspired by the legend of the founding of Rome.  It came from a Postcrosser living in Spain but originally from St. Petersburg, Russia.  It truly is a global world!

 

The stamp shows King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

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Postcrossing card #95

Views of Sydney, Australia

Beautiful views of Sydney Harbour and Bondi Beach.  You can see the famous Sydney Opera House, which seems to almost be floating out on the Bay, and also the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The stamp is a super cute baby Dingo.  I think this must be part of a series.  You can see a baby kangaroo (one of the other animals in the series) here.

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Postcrossing card #91

Jaipur Museum, India

I've completely fallen behind in sharin my postcrossing cards, so I think I'm going to have to try an step things up and scan more quickly!  I've only been sharing Postcrossing cards of late (hoping to get them all scanned first), but I've also been receiving lots of great postcards through personal swaps as well.  I may have to share several of those at once as soon as I get around to them.  In the interim I'm going to try and catch up on my official postcrossing cards.

This came from Jaipur, India and shows the Jaipur Museum.

"Famous also as Albert Hall is situated in the Ram Niswas garden.  Contains colourful huge portraits of Maharajas of Jaipur, many other miniatures of art, costumes and wood work and many articles of old armoury & curious, etc."

The stamps include one in honor of Children's Day and one showing C.V. Raman (Novel Prize winner for physics).

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Postcrossing card #89

Sunset: Alberta, Canada

This striking photo is of the sunset in Alberta, Canada.  I've yet to travel to Canada, but the more I see and the more books I read, makes me want to travel there someday soon.  A few interesting facts about Alberta:  It is one of only two provinces which are landlocked, is one of three provinces to border only a single US state (Montana), and it was named after Queen Victoria's fourth daughter--Princess Louise Caroline Alberta.

I think these little guys must be from the Baby Wildlife series.

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Postcrossing card #88

Many Views of Holland

I do love these viewcards.  To be honest, when I first started Postcrossing I was hoping to get more artsy postcards than the typical tourist cards, but I've changed  my mind about them.  The more I get the more I like them.  It's a glimpse into another place, another culture.  And while these tourist cards definitely show off just one aspect (the prettiest surely) of any country, you can still learn an amazing lot about the place. 

I'm getting quite a collection from The Netherlands.  There is not a description of the photos, but I think I recognize what's more significant in them (top left to bottom right): cheese, tulip field, lovely and very recognizable architecture along the canal, beaches (am not all that familiar with Dutch beaches), dairy cows (!), ice skating on the canal, windmills, bicycles (isn't The Netherlands known for the number of people who ride bikes?), and traditional Dutch costumes. 

Very cool, and very pretty indeed!

And a new (well, new to me) stamp--a 2011 Penguin stamp.

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Postcrossing card #85

University of Tempere Library

I once had a penpal from Tempere, Finland, so it was very cool when I found this postcard in my mailbox which shows the main library of the University of Tempere.  Alas, it did not come from my former penpal, but it did bring back happy memories.  And with the hot weather we've been having the piles of snow in the photo look kind of refreshing to me!

And is this not the coolest stamp?  I don't see many round ones, but this one is quite nice. 

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Postcrossing card #84