Postcards for the weekend 82: Retro/vintage

For the theme retro/vintage for this weekend, here's a reproduction postcard of Jean Boisseau's first rare double hemisphere map of the world. The title on top reads Nouvelle et Exacte Description de la Terre Universelle. The map was first issued in Paris, France in 1636.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the scan for the back side of this postcard. I checked my postcrossing.com account and it wasn't in my received postcards wall. Given how rare and beautiful this postcard is, I reckon I might have received it from a direct swap.

Happy weekend everyone! 

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 57: Anything you wish

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from North Houston, Texas
Sent 2 Dec 2013, Traveled 13,241 km in 10 days

For our theme this weekend, anything you wish, I'm sharing an anecdote, facts, and trivia about the United States of America and the states that I'm visiting during this 3-week business trip.

CA-669234, Sent from Montreal, Quebec
Sent 11 Oct 2016, Traveled 14, 644 km in 15 days

According to a report published by Instituto Cervantes, the United States of America has more Spanish speakers as compared to Spain. My first conversation after getting out of my 13 hours flight from Tokyo to Washington, DC was with a gentleman, whom I asked for directions. My un poquito Español was put to the test. Good thing some Spanish words are incorporated in my native tongue, Filipino. Evidently, one needs more than English to efficiently get by in the USA.

RU-1711183, Sent from Yekaterinburg, Russia
Sent 29 Apr 2013, Traveled 6,872 km in 37 days

My flight from Tokyo (I flew in first from Singapore to Japan) landed at Washington Dulles International Airport. I wish I budgeted a couple of days for sightseeing. I could have seen the Lincoln Memorial in the capital. 

Direct Swap, Sent from Vienna, VA
Sent 22 Nov 2016, Traveled 15,685 km

From Washington DC, I flew here to Cleveland, Ohio. This is my first main destination for my 3-week business trip here in the USA. When I came to the office yesterday, I was given a goodie bag, containing several items and a paper with a Did You Know? header. As you can imagine, it's the inspiration for my choice of postcards for this post. I learned that Ohio is the Birthplace of Aviation, as the Wright brothers were born in Dayton, Ohio.

TW-1056264, Sent from Taiwan
Sent 25 Oct 2013, Traveled 1,171 km in 13 days

On Sunday, I will fly from Cleveland to Seattle, with a connection via Chicago. The Ferris wheel was invented in Chicago in 1893.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Seattle, WA
Sent 19 June 2015, Traveled 12,970 km

The state of Washington is my second and last main destination for this trip. Washington state produces more apples than any other states. I'm pretty curious if I'll have the chance to see apple orchards while I'm there. Moreover, I also hope to see one of our blogging friends, John.

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 52: Monochrome

I have good and bad news to share this weekend. Let's start with the bad news. My linkytools subscription is still yet to be sorted out despite the fact that PayPal already has my money transferred to linkytools. This is starting to push me to the edge of frustration! But, I'm reminded of another fact. I reckon most of my blogger friends and participants to the Postcards for the Weekend won't really be troubled by this and we'll still find a way to visit each other's contribution to the weekend's theme. Hurray! Well, that's part of the good news ...

The other part is -- I just got promoted!! It was totally unexpected. Especially that it was announced right after I came back from my 2 weeks holidays. I'm very grateful to the leadership team of my company for recognizing all the efforts I've put into my work for the past 2.7 years. 

And so, for the monochrome theme this weekend, here are postcards from the USA state where the head office of my company is located: Washington.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: John
Sent 13 Jan 2016, Traveled 12,970 km

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: John
Sent 23 Jan 2016, Traveled 12,970 km

John and I have kept in touch and we've planned to meet for a coffee at the original Starbucks in Pike St if and when I can visit Seattle. We've been talking about this for almost 3 years now! I might go to Seattle next month which is excellent timing as I've been worried about the lack of updates at John's Island. I sincerely hope my friend John is well and just taking a hiatus from blogging.

Happy weekend everyone, 

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 40: Country map(s)

My interest with Ireland started when I saw a very entertaining animated film with a leprechaun when I was a little girl. I always thought Ireland is Ireland ...

IE-33070, sent from Dublin, Ireland
Sent 13 March 2012, Traveled 10,959 km in 13 days

... But when I traveled to Scotland back in 2012, I learned that Ireland has two parts: one being the Republic of Ireland, and another being North Ireland, part of United Kingdom.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Oxfordshire, UK
Sent: 13 Nov 2013, Traveled 10,777 km

That was my very first out of Asian continent trip. I visited a relative in Edinburgh after attending a conference in Glasgow and he asked me whether I plan to see Ireland as well. I was very surprised as I thought, "How can I go there when I only have UK visa and no Schengen visa." Then, I was educated on the two Irelands ... Ah, the things I couldn't have learned if not for actually making a trip to somewhere!

What are some of the memorable unexpected learnings from your travel(s) abroad?

Happy weekend,

~maria

Sunday Stamps: Dia Del Galeon Festival 2010 Commemorative Stamps

The theme this weekend for the Sunday Stamps is maps. I'm stretching out the theme a bit with this sheet since only a portion of the land mass outlines are actually within the perforations of the stamps.

This commemorative sheet was issued by the Philippine Postal Corporation on 8 October 2010. Galleon is a Spanish word that means a sailing ship. Originally the purpose of these ships are for war but later on these were used for trade. Dia means day. The entire phrase translated to English is Day of the Galleon.On these stamps are images of the Manila galleons. In October 2009, UNESCO recognized the unique part played by the Manila galleons in conducting trade and cultural exchange between the Philippines and Europe. 

More information about the galleon trade can be found here and here.

Hop over to See it on a postcard for more stamps featuring maps this weekend.

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 27: Philippines

For this month of March is pretty much theme inclusive. However, the objective is to give a focus for a specific country of your origin, previous destination, and dream destinations. Given the possibility that there's a wish to split the postcards from your own country into two weekends' postings, this is possible for the weekend of March 4 and 11.

As some of you may know, I visited my home country last weekend -- Philippines: 

My hometown is in the turtle-shaped island, south of the mainland Luzon. If you look closely, you will see marked on the island of Mindoro is a coastal town of Puerto Galera. I spent the weekend there with my family hoping to enjoy the sea, the sun, and the beach. I was looking forward into visiting nearby islets for snorkeling as the area is known to be among the best coral snorkeling sites in the country. Alas! The weather was uncooperative.

I really longed for a similar experience from Feb 2013 in another island, Palawan. It is an island that resembles the shape of a closed umbrella, southwest of Mindoro.

It's a great destination for island-hopping ...

... and I really missed a good ride with the waves on a small boat (banca) like this:

I'm very curious on what postcards each of the participants for our Postcards for the Weekend linky party are sharing this weekend. Let's please take a moment to appreciate one another's effort to pick and share postcards by leaving even just a short comment when we view the pages of each of the participants. 

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

A blogger friend from England

My postcards and blogging hobby have rewarded me with many friends from all over the world. From the recent April A-Z Blogging Challenge that I participated this year, I met a few more new friends. One of them is Hilary, author of the page Positive Letters ... Inspirational Stories.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Hilary
Sent from East Sussex, England

Hilary wrote about Aspects of British Cornish for the April challenge. We followed and cheered each other all throughout those 26 days and in the end -- we both survived! What I'm sharing for today is a well fitting contribution for Postcard Friendship Friday. I'm so pleased to receive from Hilary after we finished the challenge, a multi-view postcard that shows some of the places featured on her A-Z posts. For example, Z is for Zennor, with the view found on the upper left of the postcard.

Blame my memory lapse! I promised to send her a card from my Japan trip. I'm not sure if I actually was able to send her one or not. But then, I wish the Singapore Skyline that I sent her way and recently shared here in my blog made her smile :)

I wish we're all remembering our friends (both near and far) each step of the way and keeping the promises we made to them. We might have been delayed in fulfilling a promise, but better delayed than nothing at all! Have a nice weekend ahead, blogging folks!

~maria

Järvi-Suomi

Here are two cards that I received from late August and mid September last year. Both cards are from eastern Finland. Most of the east and central Finland is known as the Järvi Suomi or the Finnish Lakeland. This is the largest among the 4 landscape regions to which Finland is divided.

FI-1170093, Sender: Kirsi
Sent from Kuopio, Finland, Sent on 10 August 2011
Received on 28 August 2011, Traveled 9,552 km in 18 days

Hello from eastern Finland, area called Lakeland. There are over 10,000 lakes in Finland, most of them are in east. During summertime, sun doesn't go down at all so we don't get real sunsets. With happy wishes, Kirsi.

FI-1199790, Sender: Jaana
Sent from Mikkeli, Finland, Sent on 13 Sep 2012
Received on 26 Sep 2011, Traveled 9,391 km in 14 days

Greetings from Ristiina, Finland! Ristiina is a small village in eastern Finland, by the lake Saimaa. It is the biggest lake in Finland. If you find Mikkeli from the map, our village is about 20 kilometers to south-east from it...Best regards, Jaana

A sun that doesn't go down at all at summertime, wow! A sun that stays up until 9PM was already bothersome for me when I was in Edinburgh, Scotland. Now how much more is a midnight sun? But I think it would also be awesome for an experience! 

Looking into the map from Jaana... during summer, the Helsinki region gets up to 19 hours of sun and the Ivalo region up to 24 hours of sun in one day. 

I wish I can get a postcard with the midnight sun from Finland...it would be a Postcard Perfect addition to these two pretty cards that I already have. :D

~maria

Cards from Yuki of Japan

There's a nice story behind these cards. 

I saw the first card with the dancing girls of Japan from my random browsing of the postcrossing website. I contacted the sender of the card, Yuki. We agreed for a swap and I got the card on 22 Nov 2011.

The Maiko, or dancing girls of Japan preserve the traditional feminine charm of the kimono. In the card above, they are standing in front of a Buddhist pagoda at the Daikakuji Temple, Kyoto.

Two months after, I received an official postcrossing card...and to my nice surprise, the sender is the same Yuki who sent me the Maiko card from Nov 2011.

If you examine the map closely, you will see that the pictorial marker for Kyoto is a woman wearing a kimono. I was curious whether the cards were from the same printer, but no. The Maiko card was printed by NBC Inc. and the map card was by Asahi card. I guess Kyoto is really famous for the Maiko and the Daikakuji Temple, then!

Thank you so much Yuki for sending these cards to me.

Happy weekend everyone!

Pardon me,  Beth. This is a late post also for your Postcard Friendship Friday. 

~maria

Postcard ID: JP-233339

Traveled 2,659 km in 19 days