Nice, France

What a nice card! LOL I know that's a dumb joke but I couldn't resist saying it. But it's true, I love this card, the colors are amazing. I wish I could live in a place like that!

Idyllwild, CA

Idyllwild is a very popular resort/retreat area in the mountains, located in California about 180 kilometers from Los Angeles to east. Thanks again for the nice card Abran :)

Minsk, Belarus

This is a part of Independence Avenue in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The avenue was formed mostly in 20th century. Some buildings survived the World War II, some were built later. Thanks for the nice card and information Helena!

Route 66

What an amazing Route 66 card! I can so feel the nostalgia... lol. It was a nice coincidence that just yesterday I favorited this exact card on Flickr and today I got it. It's also my first card from Oklahoma!

Ice Age 3

My first Ice Age card, I'm so happy about it :) Ice Age movies are my favorite computer animation movies along with Cars. I love all 3 movies but the sequel (The Meltdown) is my biggest favorite. If anybody has Ice Age 2 themed postcards and wants to swap, please contact me :)

This card was a little bit damaged, there are some scratches but it's ok. It happens sometimes, and in the end the card in its entirety is the most important part!

Super cute Winnie The Pooh card!

I got this SUPER CUTE Winnie The Pooh card from my friend Ana from Macedonia! I was told these can't be found in stores anymore so I was lucky to get it. Thanks again so much Ana! :)

On Friday I got these 2 direct swaps and also my first official card from Italy. The first card shows Bohinj, which is the largest lake in Slovenia. In the 2nd card you can see the flying keys from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone... remember them? ;D

One word: AMAZING.

I gotta say I got the most amazing postcards today! And just if that wasn't enough, they all also arrived in perfect condition.

^ My first card from Estonia. An official one, but I just needed to mention it here!

^ Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan, USA. This same Postcrosser already sent me a postcard of the upper falls, and told me he had kept this one for me. Thanks so much!

^ from Wroclaw, Poland. What an amazing view!!! These colors make it look very mysterious. Wroclaw is the 4th largest city and located in south-western Poland.

^ from Hong Kong. I love skyscrapers, especially the Bank of China Tower. The sender told me she lives in a building which has 63 floors. I just dream about living in a building like that!

Canada

Another beautiful card from my friend Linda! Here you can see all the flags of Canadian provinces. I think these would be interesting to learn even for someone who lives on the other side of the world. I already recognize some USA state flags but I gotta admit these are a little more unknown to me.

Portugal

Got these cards from Portugal for exchange of used stamps. The football related is definitely my favorite!

Sanibel Island, Florida

"This lighthouse at Sanibel takes you back to old time Florida" says the text in the postcard. I'm sure that's very true! This lighthouse was built in 1880's and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Thanks Katya!

China

I got these amazing cards from China for exchange of some used stamps. I sent about 60 stamps and chose these 10 cards to get in return. It may sound a lot, but I didn't need those stamps myself and that's why I wanted to trade them. Thanks Haomin!

Warsaw, Poland

A beautiful view of the Lazienki Park in Warsaw, Poland. I love it how the lights are reflected in the water. Thanks again Iwona!

Harry Potter cards

^ from Netherlands. Some nasty damage in the middle of the card, but that's something what happens every now and then... Otherwise it's really beautiful and colorful. Thanks again Elisabeth!

^ from Oulu, Finland. Thanks Suvi!

A Krtek card from Czech Republic

My first Krtek card from abroad! I love it, it's so colorful. Thanks Katerina!!

Okay, I said I quit Postcrossing temporarily, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't still get mail. So I guess I can't stay away from blogging ;) Yesterday I got a letter from my penpal in Italy. But it wasn't just a typical letter! She has traveled around Europe this summer and sent me lots of different brochures! These are from Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia. She also visited Helsinki!

She's a Postcrosser too so of course she sent me some postcards. You can see one another card from her when you click the "Austria" label in my blog - it's such a cool card sent from Vienna. This also means that I got my first postcards from Estonia and Latvia :)

But yeah, here comes the best part: she sent me the latest album from an Italian pop punk band Vanilla Sky!!! I found this band a while ago, I fell in love with their cover of Rihanna's song "Umbrella" but also listened their other songs. I've been struggling with the fact that I can't find their CDs anywhere, especially in Finland, and hardly even from Amazon. This CD was released a month ago and it's a special "Italian version" where half of the songs are in Italian! I gotta admit I haven't got time to listen to this CD so precisely yet - I fell in love with another cover song. The last song on this album is called "Just Dance" and it's a cover of Lady Gaga's song. I don't like Lady Gaga or Rihanna at all, but these covers are just something so perfect!

There's an amazing (and funny!) music video for this song, you can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOeHeDgi4Qo

Also if you haven't heard their cover of Umbrella yet, you can find it right next to that video (it's the one which has been watched over 15 million times), I bet you will like it if you just have some sense of humor! xD

Thanks again Alessia for sending all these!!!

Hi everybody.

Just wanted to let you know I'm gonna quit Postcrossing temporarily. I already set my account "inactive" and will also be away from the Postcrossing forum - I don't know why, but I always get a feeling I'm not welcome there and everybody (especially Finns) always have something against me. I've definitely had enough with that.

I'll still continue swapping cards with my facebook friends (those who I've been swapping regularly with). At least they're nice and respect others.

I may start again some time this year, but right now I'm so sick of the fact how disrespectful people are. I know this is a thing everybody's gonna face during their Postcrossing career. I've seen it now and really don't wanna make things worse. You can call me a person without a sense of humor, but I guess that's what I am.

- Salla / Dubbis

Harry Potter en de Steen der Wijzen

I usually prefer Harry Potter art postcards but this is an exception since it's from the Philosopher's Stone, which is my favorite movie. I really love it how everything was so new and happy in the first 2 movies.

This card is sent from Netherlands and in Dutch it's called "Harry Potter en de Steen der Wijzen", while in Finnish it's "Harry Potter ja viisasten kivi".