All kinds of mail

Got some nice mail to share. 

I am a big fan of Cardcaptor Sakura, 

and when I saw these cards from my favorite characters,

I had to have them. 

The sender put some extra decoration on the backs, I just love it. 

This beautiful mini sheet from China was on the envelope.

Any information about this mini sheet is welcome.

 I received this card from a friend who went on vacation to Japan.

I love that Japan issues a stamp for

the International Letter Writing Week 

every year. This one is from 2017.

 This postcard arrived via swap-bot. 

It was a mail art swap with a theme, 

can you guess which one? 

A while ago I read something about youvegotmail.club 

on another blog (I am sorry I don't remeber which one).

And I decided to take a look, as I am always curious

to try new snail mail related things. 

It is a bit like Postcrossing, but you send envelopes instead. 

I sent a "surprise" to Italy and got one from Sweden in return.

The photos don't do it justice, there was so much in the envelope!  

I guess this is fun to do once in a while. 

Some members of the Royal family from Belgium

A new post already! But then again,

I don't receive four cards with 

Belgian royals every day. 

King Boudewijn and queen Fabiola. 

They had no children, so when king Boudewijn

passed away unexpectedly, the king's brother,

King Albert II

and his wife, queen Paola took the throne.

 This is their only daughter (they have two sons)

Princess Astrid 

and her husband, archduke Lorenz.

With three of their children, 

prince Amedeo, prince Joachim and princess Maria Laura.

They have five children, the youngest born in 2003.

King Albert II gave up the throne in favor of his son,

king Filip in 2013.

Small update

I am pretty sure I received more postcards,

but the cat decided to sleep on my writing table

and these are the ones I managed to get from 

under her behind.

Postcrossing meeting in Gouda, the Netherlands

Two cards from the Czech Republic

Kokorin Castle

Prague astronomical clock 

I actually saw this clock in action 

when I was 18, that's 12 years ago already...

Next in line:

 A viking bracelet (ca. 800-850 AD), 

found in the Netherlands, Wijk bij Duurstede

The name 'Wijk bij Duurstede' means 'Neighbourhood by Duurstede'. Duurstede is the name of the nearby castle/ruin, also called Dorestad, where the bishop of Utrecht used to live. Wijk bij Duurstede is located at the place where Dorestad used to be, an important Frisian trade settlement during Carolingian times, that was pillaged around 850 by the Vikings.

York, UK

I have no information about this

stamp, but wanted to share anyway.

Swaps and meeting cards

I am more into swapping postcards than sending them

through the official Postcrossing system lately, 

and I seem to have a bit of a theme going on. 

Can you guess what it is? 

Isn't this a cutie? 

 Beautiful, traditional Chinese themes

I love these stamps, but I am having some trouble

finding more information about them. 

Help is always welcomed. 

 I got a lot of meeting postcards lately! 

Two more to add to my growing collection, 

the first from Charleroi, Belgium

Left:

Eurasian hoopoe

Right:

Eurasian oystercatcher

And the second from Lisbon, Portugal

The thing that excited me the most about this card

was the cancellation mark. A special Postcrossing

mark for the meeting! 

Battle of the Lys (1918)

2018

This nice postcard from Prague, Czech Republic was 

sent to me through a project 

to write and receive a postcard from a child.

I love this type of projects, where children

are learning about and through the mail. 

 Franz Kafka

2013

This postcard was sent to me by a friend from her 

vacation in Uelsen, Germany

All illustrations... except for one

Let's start with the Easter card I received 

and never managed to show here till now.

This card from Russia is absolutely gorgeous!

Unfortunately my scan doesn't show 

the beautiful golden shiny details.

I also added the back of the card here, 

as it is just too pretty.

I love Japanese/Chinese style art.

A kitty with a fishy

The best advice! 

Another truth.

These are not postcards, but the sender was so kind

to add them to our swap when she noticed I love anime.

These are the postcards I swapped with her,

six in total! 

The only real photo in this post, 

but such a cute one.