United Kingdom

GB-609129

Lancaster Castle - Scolds Bridle

This card, mailed from Lancaster, is of a Scolds Bridle, an object previously used as a punishment for gossiping women.  The website for Lancaster Castle has a website page dedicated to the device.  

Germany

DE-3618731

Speicerstadt Hamburg

A photo of the port of the German city of Hamburg

USA - Iowa

Jewel Cave National Monument, Black Hills, South Dakota

Sent from Iowa, this WPA-style card is a poster for the Jewel Cave National Monument in nearby South Dakota

Belarus

BY-1457381

Welcome to Belarus

This card shows the Minsk Arena and celebrates the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship played in Belarus.  

Russia

RU-2983348.

The card also features a large number of stamps and a "NO WAR!" message, along with a call for peace.  The card, as you can see from the photo below, was mailed on September 1, 2014 which is apparently the Day of Knoweldge in Russia.  The writer sent the card from the relatively new town of Desnogorsk, Russia.

South Africa

The Big Five - South Africa

This direct swap card is my first card from that nation.  It is actually a card sent from another postcrossing user who I sent my first official card to the continent of Africa.  The card shows five of the largest animals of the country, including an elephant, lion, and rino.  

Special Post: 300th-302nd Cards Received

Today is not one, not two, but three postcards to celebrate the The 300th Postcard(s) received!

DE-4168261

Sasbachwalden, Germany

TW-1586610

Alishan, Chiayi

CN-1605469

Football Club Barcelona, Poster celebrating the 75th anniversary of the club in 1974

The 300th Postcard(s): 

Sometimes postcards come in groups.  That was the case on May 4, 2015 when I received my 300th, 301st, and 302nd official postcards on Postcrossing.  

The cards came from Germany, Taiwan, and China and come from users  and , 

The top card was sent by happymailbox came from Hamm, Germany traveling 4,250 miles in 9 days.

The middle card was mailed by Miranda1116 from Taiwan traveling 7,666 miles in 13 days.  This was also this users first card to arrive to a user!  

The final card was sent by Postcrossing user danielwagz traveling 6,660 miles in 26 days.

Denmark

DK- 37721

Copenhagen

This is my second official card from Denmark.  The country still has a fairly low postcrossing number (427 users as of January 2015) so it is a moderately rare country.  

I received my first Danish official card back in January 2014 and received this one in early December 2014.  For illustration, in retrospect, during that same time period I had received probably at least a dozen cards from some of the more active Postcrossing countries (China, Russia, the US, Taiwan, etc.

With the way that the Postcrossing numbers work, there were about 5,819 postcards sent from Denmark between the time it took for my first Danish card (DK-31902) to be sent to me until this card (DK-37721) was mailed out.

USA - Florida

St. Augustine, Lighthouse

This card of the St. Augustine, Florida lighthouse was sent by my friend Val.  St. Augustine is, according to the card, the oldest continual occupied European settlement in the US. 

France

Draguignan, France

Photo featuring what appears to be the clock tower of Draguignan, France, located not far from Nice in the south of the country.  The card is a direct swap from the Postcrossing Facebook page.

Hong Kong

HK-295184

V is for Vulture

This rather unusual card looks like it may be from a set of postcards highlighting the alphabet.  The writer doesn't give any context for the card.  

United Kingdom

GB-604698

The Colosseum

You can never judge a postcard's sent location by its image.  This postcard is of the interior of the famous Colosseum in Rome, Italy, so it would make sense that this card would be sent from Rome; however, thecard was sent from the UK by someone who had just returned to a trip from Rome.  Either way, it is a stunning site especially when one thinks of all of the contests preformed there in antiquity. 

Germany

DE-3566757

This photo of a women holding a US ten dollar bill in her mouth with what appears to be a yellow school bus in the background is among the weirder of the photos I've received. The sender saw that I don't mind the occasional "WTF is this?" postcard and sent it to me.

From what I can piece together from the info on the printed part of the card, this photo the photo was taken by photographer Jeff Mermelstein, who this website describes as:

 Jeff Mermelstein has a unique affinity for capturing people in moments of distinctly human idiosyncrasy. He has published numerous books on street photography, and now holds a teaching position at The International Center for Photography. Often called an absurdist, Mermelstein is touted as the author of the best New York novel, Sidewalk, an assertion that implies his photos truly tell the story of the street. He lives and works in New York City.

The postcard appears to also be advertising the 19th International Leica photo exhibit taking place in Berlin back in July and August 2006.  The website given on the card has long lapsed and now instead leads a person to an unrelated Vapour company's website.

Special Post: The 300th Postcard Sent: USA to Hong Kong

The 300th Postcard: The Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago!

US-3323578

My 300th postcard sent via the official Postcrossing website was registered!  The card was registered by Postcrossing member angusjai on  22 April, 2015 and traveled a distance of 7,824 miles to travel to Hong Kong in 14 days.  The card had been sent on 8 April, 2015.

The card is an extra-large postcard featuring The Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago.  The Modern Wing has only been open since 2009.  The Art Institute was recently named the #1 museum in the world by TripAdvisor.  It is notable that this card arrived on the day that the Art Institute of Chicago announced the largest donation in the museum's history!

Russia

RU-2949157

The Monument to Astronauts A.B. Vasenko, P.F. Fedoseenko, and I.D. Usinkin

This interesting card was sent in November by postcrossing user Irina who lives in the small Russian town Saransk.  The monument (link to Russian-language Wikipedia page) is to three Soviet pioneers.  Their high-altitude balloon, Osoaviakhim-1, crashed descending from a height of 72,000 feet on January 30, 1934 killing all three of the passangers.

This card currently holds the record for the longest time it took a card to arrive to me.  Mailed on August 19, 2014 the card didn't arrive until December 17, 2014 for a period of 119 days traveling!

Germany

DE-34493

Deutsches Museum Munchen

The German Museum in Munich, Germany.

USA - Illinois

US-3104087

Rockford, Illinois

This card showing a photo of the Rock River at sunset taken near the city of Rockford, Illinois is one of the shortest distance official postcards I've received.  It traveled only just over 100 miles to get to me.   

Russia

RU-3073932

Ivan Shishkin's Morning in a Pine Forrest 1889, housed at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow

If this card seems somewhat familiar, that's because it is the second time I have received the same card.  The first was a direct swap which I published on June 6, 2014.  This card was set to me in October of last year.    

This is apparently the second most beloved painting in Russia, according to the painting's Wikipedia page.  The landscape was painted by Ivan Shishkin; however, the bears were added by an additional Russian painter, Konstantin Savitsky.  

Turkey

TR-205297

Istanbul

This card sent by a 14- year old high school student from Turkey is probably pretty luck o have arrived.  It was canceled on the back, but there appears to be no stamp on the card! 

Poland

Wieliczka, Poland

This is a card of the Wieliczka Salt Mine, specifically Saint Kinga's Chapel.  The salt mine famously includes various statues and an entire cathedral made out of salt.  Pictured is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper made in the rock salt.  A picture of that can be found on wikipedia here.

This site was named one to the original UNESCO list of the World Heritage Sites in 1978.

Netherlands

NL-2799475

Groningen

This peaceful and literally square postcard shows a few boats in Groningen, Netherlands.

Germany

DE-3753687

Sent from Bavaria, this card shows the Audience Chamber of Linderhof Palace.  Linderhof was built by King Ludwig II, better known for the construction of Neuschwanstein Castle

USA - California

San Francisco

This card of Victorian homes lining Steiner Street in San Francisco, California was sent by my friend Chanele on during her unplanned for stop over in San Francisco during the Christmas season in 2014.

Netherlands

NL-2410110

A fox, from the Netherlands.

Finland

FI-2198061

This card is of a travel poster published in the 1950s for the sender's hometown of Rovaniemi, in Finland and comes from a book called Come to Finland.  Rovaniemi is in the far north of the country.

It is really a beautiful card with lovely colors.  The sender also sent it with the lovely stamp below by Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck called Sikkikenka (a silk shoe), 1938.

Australia

AU-379946

This card, mailed from Melbourne, Australia, celebrates a century of military aviation.  It features a very old-fashioned plane on a Maxicard and was stamped on the first day of issue, August 5, 2014.

A Maxicard is described here on postcrossing and this is one of only a few that I've received.  From the Postcrossing website:

What are Maxicards? These maximum cards, as they are often known, are postcards that feature an image (a monument, animal, event, etc) along with a stamp of a very similar or related image on the picture side of the card. 

This card interestingly enough lists on the back that the postage was pre-paid for post posting in Australia and delivery anywhere in the world.  

Ukraine

Borscht 

This card was sent to me in a direct swap in 2014 from Ukraine.  It was mailed twice to me since the first time the card was returned to sender after a number of months trying to get to my address in the US.  

The postcrossing user even sent her recipe for how to make a good bowl of Ukrainian borscht with the card! 

Italy

IT-284319

Langhe

This panoramic postcard of the city of the Langhe region of Italy and features a beautiful old city with a background of snow-capped hills.

Poland

PL-948669

Folklor podhalanski

This card is another of my favorites by and done in a style similar to the designs of Polish paper cutting or Wycinanki.

Today also marks the anniversary of the Poland's May 3rd Constitution of 1791, which was the second formal written constitution of its type in the world after the American Constitution and the first of its kind in Europe.

Germany

DE-3538381

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

The city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (literally translated apparently as "red fortress about the Tauber (River)").

Ukraine

Keep Calm and Go to Europe

This card, a play on the popular Keep Calm and Carry On logo dating back to the Second World War, was sent as a direct swap from Ukraine in 2014.  It references the Euromaiden protests as well as the subsequent invasion by Russian of Crimea and eastern Ukraine.  I companion card that I've seen on Postcrossing says "I am Ukrainian and I cannot keep calm!"  

The card was actually sent to me twice!  The first time it was sent, it was returned to sender despite having the correct address.