A monastery, a church and a castle

Three cards this time,

with some of my favorite themes on cards.

The first one is from

Portugal

A view on the "Capelas Imperfeitas"

of the Batalha Monastery

Northern Ireland 

The Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer and 

the Medieval High Cross in Dromore

Italy

Miramare Castle in Trieste

I was surprised to learn there is a small connection

between Belgium (my home country) and this 

castle. I love history. 

Three shoes and catching up on "old" mail

Some of this mail I received a while ago already, 

but I still felt it should be shared here now that 

I finally have a scanner. 

This greeting card was a nice surprise in the mail. 

It comes from the U.K.

"The first World War - 1917 special stamps"

artwork by Edward Wadsworth

I love these kittens! 

They were send to me from Russia.

"Treasures of Russia"

The Orlov diamond

The Diamond Fund of Russia forms a part of the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation. The fund houses one of the most renowned and largest collections of unique precious stones, noble metals and pieces of jewelry art, which have great historic, artistic, scientific and material value.

This envelope came from Portugal.

My pen-friend kept it for me because she knows

I love Pucca! 

The stamp matches quite well. 

A swap from the U.S.A. 

I am a Trekkie and proud of it. 

 I can't show any stamps with these cards from the Netherlands,

simply because they don't have any! 

They were send with the "niet plakken maar smakken"

event by PostNL. On the 13th of February you

can send mail with a kiss instead of a stamp, 

which will be delivered on Valentine's day. 

Actually it is supposed to be only for inside the country,

but I got some here in Ireland! 

Postcards from every corner of the world (kind of)

Let's enjoy...

There are various swaps on the Postcrossing forum

and this one caught my eye, "Free (NOT ad) card swap".

I have several free cards, so I wanted to give it a try.

This card landed in my mailbox from China

Stamp:

Jing tai lan series:

set of 6, 2013

“Jing Tai Lan (the Chinese for cloisonné) is a unique form of art with the combination of sculpture, painting, copper smithing and porcelain making. “Jing Tai” being the name of a Ming Dynasty emperor during whose reign mass production of such articles began. And “Lan” means blue, which is the background color of Jing Tai Lan in most cases. Cloisonné enamel techniques were brought from Persia into China’s Yunnan Province during the Yuan Dynasty. These were improved during the Ming Dynasty by incorporating them with some of the traditional techniques for metal inlaying and porcelain making, which eventually gave birth to a new kind of cloisonné called Jing Tai Lan.”

Holiday postcard from the Netherlands, Julianadorp

A sweet cat card from Portugal!

 

Loppem Castle, Belgium

Since it is open to the public, I hope to visit

it some day. 

Queen Astrid from Belgium

born 1905, sadly passed away in a car accident 1935

View on the spa at Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia

Rogaška Slatina is a synonym for health-resort tourism in Slovenia. For centuries the curative mineral water rich in magnesium (branded as Donat Mg), the picturesque countryside, and other local attractions have attracted visitors to the area. Roman inscriptions referring to the spa waters have been found. The spa’s true prosperity starts in the second half of 19th century, when this fashionable tourist destination was visited by imperial families and nobility from all of Europe. Today it advertises to be the “only spa in Slovenia which focuses on disease prevention, continued treatment and the rehabilitation of patients with diseases of the digestive system.”

Lesser kestrel

set of 5, 2014

 The cards which arrived with this stamp are already decorating the door, 

but I can't not show it. 

Europa stamp Austria, 2015

Old toys

For the love of postcards

So I sent a few Postcrossing cards again

and these came in return

A nice view on Cobh, Ireland

A very pretty card called "Spring" from

the Netherlands

William II of the Netherlands

200 years of Waterloo

This beautiful card came from Poland,

from another Studio Ghibli fan

She also decorated the envelope and back of the card

with Ghibli themed washi tape

And look at all those stamps! 

Holiday card from Portugal,

Azores

50 Years Sanctuary of Christ the King

Christ the King Sanctuary (Santuário do Cristo Rei) was built in 1959

on the south bank of River Tagus, the 110 meter high statue of Christ offers

a magnificent panoramic view over Lisbon and River Tagus.

2009

It is raining postcards!

My friends are spoiling me with cards from

their holiday destinations!

This nice multi-view comes from the Azores 

"Extreme Sports" series

Portugal 2016

This is an Instagram swap! 

I am far from an Instagram expert,

so I am really happy I managed to do this. 

The sender is a fellow Postcrossing member too

Look at all the stamps! And special cancellation!

Another holdiay card from a friend, 

this time from Russia

This beauty comes from a postcard pen-friend

who wants to practise her Dutch. 

I am ashamed to say, my reply to her is 

way overdue. 

Long overdue update

 Yes, birthday mail from last month! 

My birthday was on the 12th of March

and I received lovely mail to celebrate.

These cards come from fellow postcrossers in 

Belgium and The Netherlands

From my sweet pen-friend in The Netherlands

with more Japanse candy! 

From another dear (pen-)friend in the Netherlands

She spoiled me! 

Harry Potter letter paper!!! from my pen-friend in Portugal

She included a sweet homemade birthday card 

which I of course forgot to include in the photo

And look how she decorated the back of the envelope!

I have to get my hands on such stamps as well!

This letter has nothing to do with my birthday,

but my Japanese pen-friend always spoils me.

More mail from Asia, Taiwan

My pen-friend thought of me when she saw

the cat cards, haha. They are really cute indeed!

Mail from Turkey! I hope I'll hear from this girl again.

She just started sending mail via sendsomething and 

I was one of the lucky people who got a surprise package from her:

coffee (way too strong for my taste, but so happy I could try it),

tea, a little panda chocolate (which looked really cute, I still ate it though),

a postcard and a letter! 

These Christmas stamps come from the Netherlands!

Postcrossers are kind people, we help each other out,

stamps for me, tea for the lady who collected them 

from her mail. Works perfect!

Mail from Portugal and the Netherlands

Mail is slow these days, sending and receiving,

it is summer after all and yes, I am lazy. 

But! I got some nice cards and other things I should blog about asap!

I received this card form Portugal

with a view on Cascais

This card came from a Postcrossing meeting in the Netherlands

It was a "bake meeting" so the cake is really on topic.

Mail update

A nice letter from Japan, thanks Takeo!

With postcards from Kyoto and Tokyo

A holiday postcard from Suzanne.

Madeira, Portugal

With some nice stamps