9. "Mansikoita. Strawberries" by Albert Edelfelt, Helsinki, Finland

Hi there!

A postard which was sent on 19th April 2012 and delivered on 24th April shows a picture by Albert Edelfelt, Swedish-speaking Finnish painter. It was painted in 1890:

I like this postcard because of the painting, which shows a typical, not unique situation, just everyday life. And also the colours are interesting, I mean I like the contrast between the mostly green nature with a little touch of blue-ish  and the girls clothes. It alltogether goes great and I really enjoy the postcard. Tell me if you like "Mansikoita", too :)

Bye,

Marta :)

8. The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Moscow, Russia

Hey!

Today I'm showing you another nice postcard, which was sent on 2nd February 2012 and delivered on 24th Feb. I really like old buildings like this one. The Theatre was build in 1776 and looks gorgeous! Just take a look:

It was designed by Osip Bowe. Opera and ballet are staged in this neoclassical theatre. I like this classic style, the lights and the fountains. Indoors are incredible too, look like you were in XVIII century or so :) Simply beautiful.

source: wikipedia.org

Do you like this theatre? Let me know! 

Bye,

Marta :)

7. A fairy tale about Kolobok, Tyumen, Russia

Hello everyone!

Today's postcard is very special, unique and one of my favourite:

I have received it on 17th October 2011 and it'd been sent on 23rd July 2011. Right, it travelled 95 days! This is a postcard for which I've been waiting the longest time so far. Totally worth it though :)

The picture shows a part of a fairy tale about Kolobok, a very popular one in Russia. I also found out that this tale has its versions in other countries. On the second side of the postcard there is a shorthen version of  "Kolobok", unfortunatelly all in Russian (what a surprise :p) but anyway, I'm going to write it down here. I don't speak Russian but my parents do a little and were able to read that, and Polish and Russian are quite similliar, so I didn't have a lot of problems with understanding:

Я от дедушки ушëл,

Я от бабушки ушëл,

Я от зайца ушëл,

Я от волка ушëл:

от тебя, Медведь, полгоря уйти.

In 'fonetic way' it would sound like this:

Ya ot dedushki ushël,

 Ya ot babushki ushël,

 Ya ot zaytsa ushël, 

Ya ot volka ushël:

 ot tebya, Medvedʹ, polgorya uyti

In English it'd be something like this: I've run away from Grandpa, I've run away from Grandma, I've run away from Hare, I've run away from Wolf, and from you, Bear [I'm not sure here--], I'd also run away.

Generelly, the tale is about Kolobok (a kind of bread or bun), which was baked by Grandpa and Grandma, and run away from them, because it doesn't want to be eaten. It meets some animals on its way and everybody wants to eat it too, so he runs away :P At the end a very sly Fox manages to catch it.

A whole fairy tale can be found THERE - in English :)

Hope you enjoyed this fairy tale!

Marta

6. Animals of the Gulf of Maine, Hartford, USA

Hello there!

Long time no see, huh? I've received a few postcards, though. Today I'm showing you a very nice postcard, which was sent on 17 June 2011 (over a year ago!) but I got this on 12 July 2011. Quite fast, I guess. The postcard shows several water animals living in the Gulf of Maine:

From the upper left to right side: Queen Crab, Green Sea Urchin, Neptune Whelk and Northern Welk, Northern Sea Star, Moon Snail Northern Lobster, Atlantic Horseshoe ( :] ) Crab. At the very bottom, from the left side: Scallops and Clams, Male (on the left) and Female (on the right) Scallops, Spiney Sun Star.

My favourite pictures are the three on the right: Sea Star, Horseshoe Crab and Sun Star. Their names are so adorable! :D

I did a quick research and did you know that...:

Queen Crabs are edible?

a proper name for Green Sea Urchin is "Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis" (love you Latin)?

Whelks' shells are sometimes taken by Hermit Crab to make home :)

a real Moon Snails' name is "Naticidae"?

Atlantic Horseshoe Crab is less related to Crabs than to spiders?

If you know some more interesting facts about these or other sea water animals, let me know below this post :)

Bye!

Marta

5. Kurhaus Hotel in Schweningen, Naaldwijk, Netherlands

Hello! Today I'm showing you a postcard sent 20.06 and delivered 30.06.2011. I like it, because it's old like photo, have a climax and is just nice. Kurhaus Hotel is placed near Hague at the sea and it also has casino. I would love to come one day to Netherlands and see this hotel or even stay there! 

The postcard was sent from a town called Naaldwijk, that is near  the Hague ;)

4. Monument to Adam Mickiewicz in Minsk, Mahilyou, Belarus

Hello! Today's postcard is from Mahilyou in Belarus. The city is third by population in the country. But let me say something about the photo on the postcards - it shows the moument to Adam Mickiewicz in Minsk. Adam Mickiewicz was a very famous Polish poet. He wrote e.x 'Pan Tadeusz', 'Dziady', 'Konrad Wallenrod' and many, many more. Here in Poland students have to read his poetry, because they were and are very important to us, for example during the January Uprising etc., the poems are also very valuable in themselves. I really recommend you to read something by Adam Mickiewicz if you never have. I don't really know if you'll like it but... it's worth knowing.

The postcard itself is very nice and it's the first one which was sooo long (you probably can't see it on this picture below but the postcard is like 2,5 times longer than higher).

I got it 28.06.2011 it was sent on 21.06. I heard that postcards from Belarus are delivered very long, so it was a real surprise!

3. Iowa City, USA

Hi! Today I'm showing you guys a postcard from USA, exactly from Iowa City. It was sent 15.10.2010 and I received it on 28th October. The postcard is simple in its form. It shows the Iowa State Capitol, located in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa. It houses Iowa Senate, Iowa House of Representatives, the Office of the Governor,  and Offices of the Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State, as Wikipedia says.