Postcard from Tuvalu

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The other day I was lucky to receive this nice postcard from the remote Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean showing Funafala Lagoon in Funafuti, as part of a project organised on the occasion of Earth Day called "Send Tuvalu to the world", consisting in sending 422 postcards to all over the world sharing thoughts of local students about Tuvalu. A special stamp was made for this purpose, with the text "40th Anniversary Earth Day" (which fell on 22 April 2010). More about this interesting environmental issue is here.

Cover from Finland no. 7

Two colourful and cheerful 0.80 euro stamps on this great cover from Finland, sent from the town of Mikkeli on 4 May 2010, the very day these stamps were issued, in the EUROPA project, this year with children's books as the main theme. The fantastic illustrations are by Leena Lumme. Thank you, Liisa:)

New Czech stamps - May 2010 - II.

Here's a continuation of the presentation of new Czech stamps. Let's go back to May where I left off... before these two self adhesive stamps were issued on 26 May, both in booklets of six, as part of the new strategy of the Czech post to produce stamps in new, attractive, ease-to-handle formats. And I love these stamps! They show the famous works by Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and graphic designer, Gismonda - originally a poster for a Sarah Bernhard theatre production (E type = Europe rate), and the Zodiac (Z type - Zámoří = Overseas rate). Europe rate is now 17 Kč (20 Kč from 1 September 2001), Overseas rate is 18 Kč, and from tomorrow 1 September 2010 it goes up to 21 Kč.

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Always on 26 May the Czech Post issued this 10 Kč stamp in the For Children series, showing an elf by Helena Zmatlíková (1923 - 2005), a leading Czech illustrator of children's books with a very distinctive style, known to everyone here also due to her television work.

Cover from Italy no. 8

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And another greeting from Giovanni, this time from Umbria, from the town of Foligno, where the knight historical ring jousting tournament Giostra della Quintana has been held annually since 1946. This event has been commemorated in 2010 by a special postmark, used here together with a stamp of the Roman Odeon in Patras (Greece) taken from the booklet issued on 25 October 2009 on the occasion of "The Day of Europe" (Giornata dell'Europa). Grazie, Giovanni:)

Postcard from Italy no. 5

Hello again! After a summer pause, I am back...

... with this splendid postcard and stamp celebrating the victory of Inter Milan in the Serie A 2009-2010, issued on 24 June 2010. There are two special postmarks: the first "Giorno di emissione" (first day of issue) with a footballer reflecting the footballer in the stamp and the other one, cancelling definitives, of a philatelic counter in Milan. Thank you, Giovanni, for this great souvenir!

Cover from Spain no. 5

A fantastic cover received a few days ago from Carballo, Galicia, Spain, with three brand new Spanish stamps. The 0.34 eurocent stamps (issued on 20 April 2010 in 320,000 copies) shows Carlos María de Castro (1810 - 1893), Spanish architect and urbanist, responsible for planning the regulated expansion of the city of Madrid in the 19th century. The stamp has a map of this expansion (ensanche) in its background.

The two nice photographic stamps with the nominal value of 0.45 eurocent, issued on 15 April 2010, feature important sights of the towns in Baeza (Palacio de Jabalquinto) and Úbeda (Casa de las Torres), in the province of Jaén, Andalusia. Both were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2003 thanks to the many well-preserved examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in Spain.

Gracias, José-Luis!

Cover from French Polynesia

A lovely cover received this week from Pirae, Tahiti, French Polynesia, sent on 8 June 2010. The blue stamp (Megaptera novaeangliae) is part of a series dedicated to marine life, issued on 10 January 2008 in 200,000 copies, the self-adhesive no-nominal-value definite is a mystery to me, since I could not find any info about it:) The postmarks are great, classic French school!

Thank you, Magali!

Postcard from Chropyne, Czech Republic

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A postcard I sent home from a trip with our daughter to a nearby town of Chropyne (5,200 inhabitants, 10 km from Kromeriz) famous for its hunting chateau and a protected pond with the largest colony of black-headed gulls in the Czech Republic (the noise was awesome!).
The coat of arms of the town features an otter holding a fish, another reminder of the watery, swampy, flatland character of our region.
The stamp I used is the most common definitive available (together with a 10 Kč rose) with the portrait of the Czech president Václav Klaus (known for his unenthusiastic approach to the EU). The stamp was issued on 2 April 2008. Interestingly, even if I dropped the card to a post-box in Chropyne, it was machine cancelled here in Kroměříž, and what is even more interesting, mail dropped in the post boxes in Kroměříž receives machine cancellation in Olomouc, 40 km away. Crazy! I try to avoid post boxes whenever possible, especially if the cancellation is so unappetizing, uninspired, almost aggresive...

Postcard from Peru

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A postcard from Peru, showing the historic centre of the city of Arequipa (Arequipa Region), in the Andes in the south of the country. In the picture there is the Plaza de Arms and the cathedral, overshadowed by the "El Misti" volcano. The historic centre of Arequipa is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The single stamp of 5.50 Peruvian nuevos soles, postmarked on 26 May 2010 in Arequipa, is taken from a sheet of four stamps issued in 2007 (even if the stamp bears the year 2006) dedicated to viceregal architecture. The viceregal period (periodo virreinal) lasted from 1542 to 1824 when Peru was part of the Spanish empire.

Thank you, Teresa!

Cover from Italy no. 7

I am back after a hectic week or so, with another fantastic registered cover from Giovanni! With the set of two engraved stamps issued on 31 October 2008, in a series dedicated to the Italian UNESCO protected sites... in this case, it is Val d'Orcia (0.60 euro), Tuscan landscape modified in Renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and celebrated by many painters of that period, and the historic centre of Urbino (2.80 euro) in the Marche region, a walled city, another Renaissance place of independent culture and education. I find this light blue Urbino stamp magnificent!

Grazie, Giovanni:-)