Card from Lübeck

My mailbox has been pretty sad lately, but I'm expecting some tag-cards to come home soon! Meanwhile, i got this awesome card with a view of Lübeck in Germany! This was a private swap with Grit, who sent us a baby-fox card in official Postcrossing recently. She really wanted to receive a bunny card, so we gladly accepted the trade) I love the old towns in Germany - they are so beautiful, so neat and tidy! We've been to Germany several times, and we want more!

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They say China is in the Postcrossing's "Top 5" countries, with the biggest sending ratio. Well, it's not like that for us - we have only sent 2 cards to China so far, and received one. caolvchong84 from Beijing sent us this great view of Mount Tai, one of Chinese Five sacred mountains. On the back of the card there is a description: "Archway of Paradise street". I googled like crazy, and the only info I got comes from here, and says:

The Gate to Mid-heaven
It's located at the mid-point of the mountain path to the top, where one has a splendid view of the vertical steps to the summit, the Wen River like a ribbon in the south, Zhongxi Mountain in the east, and the Fenghuang Ridge in the west. 

I guess it's the same thing?..

Anyway, here's the card.

Oh, and I forgot about another cool card we got from a private swap with Zhang. He asked for a bunny stamp, which our post-office issued this year, and sent us the National stadium ("Bird's nest"), where 2008 Olympics took place! 

Moomin cards

To be honest, I wasn't a Moomin fan when I was a kid. But when me and Lio discussed a Postcrossing wishlist, she insisted on adding Moomins. And also made me read the book - which I found lovely now. =) My favorites are Snufkin and Moomin. The stories are really heartwarming, and again! Postcrossing makes me wish for another trip - now to Tampere, Finland, to visit Moomin museum.
We received three Moomin cards so far - one from Mirella, an 8-years old girl from Kokkola:

Second was a direct swap with Viivi - and her choice was so perfect! I adore the art of the cartoon Muumilaakson tarinoita!

And the third one we recently got from Eva - I don't remember the character's name in English, but doesn't matter - so nice! 

What will be the next one, I wonder?)

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Today's a lucky day! We got an absolutely amazing card with a castle from Sara. She's from Switzerland, and that's a new country for us! Sara said she didn't have a card with Switzerland's castle, but she's sure we'll love this one - Vaduz castle in Liechtenstein. And oh dear god, we DO! I love it when we get a card with a place we never heard of before. I really wish we can visit Liechtenstein one day! :3

Some stats

So, it's been 157 days since we joined Postcrossing, and it's time for some statistics. :3

61 cards sent and 61 card received.

We have eight cards travelling to: Taiwan, Portugal, Australia, Japan, Russia, Malaysia, USA and Philippines.

Our first card was sent to the Netherlands.

Our 50th card was sent to Russia.

Our 60th card, which allowed us to send 8 cards at a time, was sent to Canada.

Top 5 countries with biggest sent-received ratio for us are: USA (18), Finland (18), Germany (13), the Netherlands (12) and Russia (11).

The most "rare" countries in our list are: Iceland and Macau.

Sent distance: 225,807 km
Received distance: 166, 369 km

That's it for now. We continue the journey through the postcard world)

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Again, the first postcard for our new wishlist point - 'mystical-looking forest'. And the one to send it was Gea from Netherlands. This is such an awesome postcard, I love it! It looks even better in real life, because it has square form. The colours are so good, and the fogs adds this atmosphere... One of my favourite "find-something-awesome-in-a-simple-thing" experiences is driving to the local airport early in the summer morning, when the sun is still rising (3 or 4 AM), and watching the foggy fields. Love it. Thank you, Gea!

Wild cuteness

Today we got these cute fox-babies from Grit! Me and Lio love watching Animal Planet, we love wild animals and foxes are always a wonder to watch at. Grit also made a cute Internetstamp with a white tiger for us - lovely, thank you!

Also some time ago we received a baby-seal card from Monic! Baby-seals are extremely cute, and my heart aches at the thought that some freaks might still kill this adorable creature. I will never understand this pointless killing. I wish I could help in protecting seals somehow...

Cutie pie pets!

Two cards with adorable pets received! This one was sent by lovely Ulla, who's exactly same card I favourited. These two are adorable! I wish my two cats would get along that nicely... And this was also the first card from France we got.

And these cute fluffy guys came from Elvira of Germany. Awwww...

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Recently I added a new point in the Postcrossing wishlist - Manga-style drawings from users. Me and Lio love reading manga, and we also try to draw (not very successfully), so it would be really nice to see what other people created. ^.^
Heidi from Finland prints her card herself - and she does a wonderful job! She sent us a drawing made and signed by her sister. This is so awesome! :D A lovely bishounen for our collection. :3 I wish I could draw this nicely!

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That was one long vacation I took from my blog... Life's been so busy lately. Sometimes I feel so tired - even beloved hobbies do not bring any pleasure. But anyway, I'm back now)

This beautiful card from Moscow shows the Novodevichy convent (New Maidens' Monastery in translation). It belongs to UNESCO WHS. Sveta writes this monastery has a very peaceful, holy feeling. I can't call myself a very religious person, but I like temples and holy places because of that wonderful peaceful feeling you get while visiting. I've been to Aglona, one of the sacred places in Latvia, and also to Puhtitsa Convent in Estonia - it was really educating and, how to put this?.. Relaxing. I also took note, that I can't really pray while there are a lot of people around. I prefer solitude. I don't really care about official rituals and hate to take part. But I like to light candles - both in Catholic and Orthodox churches - without praying, just like a sign of me being there and appreciating the moment.
..Um.. On with the card)) I hope to visit Moscow one day - without usual haste, and thoroughly examine all the beautiful places!