Cuba

Received from: Cuba
Category: from a friend
Date: December 2011

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Completely amazing surprise from my Panamanian friend who went for holidays to Cuba. She knows that I love postcard so she thought it would look nice in my collection, and it definitely is so :))

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"Cocotaxis" in Havana.
A popular form of transport for tourist sightseers. Due to the rapid growth of tourism in Cuba, taxi drivers can earn more than lawyers and doctors.

/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Cuba /

Finland

Received from: Finland
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 1012 km
Time of travelling: 7 days

Wrocław

From: Poland
Category: My collection
Date: November 2011

Taiwan

Received from: Taiwan
Category: ??? - I got this card without any ID...
Date: December 2011

The Spirit of China - When Taiwan was back in the arms of the Republic of China in the 35th year of China, the government printed the book The Spirit of China, with a spectacular cover of national flag, in order to enhance ordinary people's understanding of China.

Kyoto

Received from: Japan
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 8291 km
Time of travelling: 11 days

Nijō Castle is a flatland castle located in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is 275,000 square meters, of which 8000 square meters is occupied by buildings.

Poznań

From: Poland
Category: My collection
Date: November 2011
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be the first capital of the kingdom of Poland. Poznań is now Poland's fifth largest city. It is the historical capital of the Wielkopolska ("Greater Poland") region, and is currently the administrative capital of the province called Greater Poland Voivodeship.

North Carolina

Received from: the USA
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 7563 km
Time of travelling: 39 days

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 10th most populous of the 50 United States. North Carolina comprises 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte. In the past five decades, North Carolina's economy has undergone a transition from heavy reliance upon tobacco and furniture making to a more diversified economy with engineering, biotechnology, and finance sectors.

Belgium

From: Belgium
Category: My collection
Date: November 2011

Leuven

From: Belgium
Category: My collection
Date: November 2011
Leuven (Dutch; French: Louvain, often used in English, German: Löwen) is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium. It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre.

Szczecin

Received from: Poland
Category: 6-miesięczny RR
Date: November 2011

Szczecin is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. In the vicinity of the Baltic Sea, it is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427. Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. Szczecin borders with the town of Police, the seat of Police County, situated on an estuary of the Oder River.

Mosar

Received from: Belarus
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 611 km
Time of travelling: 6 days

Russia

Received from: Russia
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 1030 km
Time of travelling: 75 days

Warsaw

Received from: Poland
Category: 6-miesięczny RR
Date: November 2011

Warsaw's Old Town Market Place (Polish: Rynek Starego Miasta) is the center and oldest part of the Old Town of Warsaw, capital of Poland. Immediately after the Warsaw Uprising, it was systematically blown up by the German Army. After World War II, the Old Town Market Place was restored to its prewar appearance.

Antwerp

From: Belgium
Category: My collection
Date: November 2011
Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp province of Flanders. Antwerp's total population is 472,071 (as of 1 January 2008), making it the largest municipality in both Flanders and Belgium in terms of its population. Its total area is 204.51 km2 (78.96 sq mi), giving a population density of 2,308 inhabitants per km². The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,449 km2 (559 sq mi) with a total of 1,190,769 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008. The nickname of inhabitants of Antwerp is Sinjoren, after the Spanish word señor, which means 'mister' or 'gent'. It refers to the leading Spanish noblemen who ruled the city during the 17th century.

St Petersburg

Received from: Russia
Category: Thank You Card
Date: December 2011

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Beautiful card sent together with a small metro-scheme (amazing :) ) in an envelope with beautiful stamps. Card presents the Palace Square with the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, Russia. Additionally it was completely written, a very long, such a nice message. Definitely this Thank You Card made my day! :)
It was sent as an answer to this card - what's more - it was first hand made
card I had ever done, so it was even nicer to know it was appreciated :D.

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Palace Square, connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. It was the setting of many events of worldwide significance, including the Bloody Sunday (1905) and the October Revolution of 1917.

Chi-chia-wan River

Received from: Taiwan
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 8537 km
Time of travelling: 23 days

Chi-chia-wan River, Wuling, Taichung

Taichung County was a county in central Taiwan, the Republic of China, that surrounded but did not include Taichung City. The name Taichung means "central Taiwan". On December 25, 2010, the county and city merged to form a single special municipality.

Slovenia

Received from: Slovenia
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 878 km
Time of travelling: 4 days

Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea. It covers an area of 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana.

Moscow

Received from: Russia
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 1174 km
Time of travelling: 14 days

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent. Moscow is the northernmost city on Earth to have a population above 10,000,000, the most populous city in Europe, and the sixth largest city proper in the world. Its population, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 census, is 11,514,330. Based on Forbes 2011, Moscow had 79 billionaires, displacing New York as the city with the greatest number of billionaires.

Zamość

Received from: Poland
Category: 6-miesięczny RR
Date: December 2011

In the view of UNESCO, "Zamość is a unique example of a Renaissance town in Central Europe, consistently designed and built in accordance with the Italian theories of the "ideal town," on the basis of a plan which was the result of perfect cooperation between the open-minded founder, Jan Zamoyski, and the outstanding architect, Bernardo Morando. Zamość is an outstanding example of an innovative approach to town planning, combining the functions of an urban ensemble, a residence, and a fortress in accordance with a consistently implemented Renaissance concept. The result of this is a stylistically homogeneous urban composition with a high level of architectural and landscape values. A real asset of this great construction was its creative enhancement with local artistic architectural achievements. Zamość is spoken of as a Renaissance town."

Itsukushima

Received from: Japan
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 8416 km
Time of travelling: 7 days

Itsukushima Shrine (Japanese: 厳島神社 Itsukushima-jinja) is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima) in the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. The shrine complex is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Japanese government has designated several buildings and possessions as National Treasures.

Holland

Received from: the Netherlands
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 1115 km
Time of travelling: 7 days

and my first Postcrossing stamp! :)

Istanbul

Received from: Turkey
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 1389 km
Time of travelling: 10 days

Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.

France

Received from: France
Category: private swap
Date: December 2011

Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes 41° and 51° N (Dunkirk is just north of 51°), and longitudes 6° W and 10° E, on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern temperate zone. While Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe, France also has a number of territories in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the southern Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica.These territories have varying forms of government ranging from overseas department to overseas collectivity. France's overseas departments and collectivities share land borders with Brazil, and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and Sint Maarten (bordering Saint-Martin). The Exclusive Economic Zone of France extends over 11,000,000 km2 (4,200,000 sq mi) of ocean across the world. Metropolitan France covers 547,030 square kilometres (211,209 sq mi), having the largest area among European Union members. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the south-east, the Massif Central in the south-central and Pyrenees in the south-west.

Brick Well

Received from: China
Category: Postcrossing - official card
Date: December 2011
Distance: 8261 km
Time of travelling: 26 days

With an inner diameter of 1,98m and a remaining depth of 5,54m, the casing of the well is built with bricks which are laid vertically and horizontally in alternate order in different layers. There are square footholds on the wall by which people can climb down to clean the well regularly.