Get to know you RR - Malta

     Writing about Maltese postcards in one of previous posts made me search which cards I've received from there - apparently at least one was with singular artefact from Maltese Archipelago series - Twin seated figure statuette found from Xagħra Circle. Text on the back says: "Discovered during the recent excavations at the Xagħra Stone Circle, the enigmatic statuette with three figures, dating to the Temple Period, is a unique masterpiece among Malta's prehistoric artefacts" [a bit confusing whether it's three figures as said on the card, or two like I see during online search, I see two seated figures, one of them is headless]. And looking at the credentials on the backside - it was from interesting RR, which I participated briefly in 2020-2021, but completely forgot about, and seems cards received under it were pretty great [sigh, another new series of posts, eh?].

received from MaybeMartha, Malta (Get to Know You RR#2)

     The stamps on the card were something like donuts - must be Qagħaq tal-Ġunġlien [Maltese Biscuit Rings with Sesame Seeds] - since RR group was Food/Cuisine themed. Sender confessed their love for Japanese food, not only sushi, but also Karaage chicken - it's fried chicken that's been marinated in soy sauce and ginger then battered and fried. Second stamp is from Maltese postcard from previous post - with Maltese dwarf elephant, whose remains were found in Għar Dalam cave.

left - stamps of received from MaybeMartha, Malta (Get to Know You RR#2); right - received from Sunnymalta, Malta (direct swap)

Museum RR [part #2] - Archaeological sites

     Besides rocks and boulders Museum RR brought a lot of archaeological sites: first, two Russian ones. Left one is located in Republic Tuva - Por-Bazhyn [=clay house in Tuvan], ruined structure on the island inside lake Tere-Khol high in the mountains. It was Uyghur palace and fortress built in 8th century AD with Tang Dynasty architectural style and technologies, converted to Manichaean monastery soon after and then abandoned and destroyed by an earthquake and fire. Right postcard shows ancient cave drawings and stelas of Khakassia [na_talie sent me Khakassian archaeological cards before too], photos by Yuri Kurochka and Yuri Kudryashov. Na_talie writes that in Khakassia those are very usual sights, stelas are pretty much everywhere, some are displayed in Khakassia National Museum, but most just stand in the steppe same as they were for centuries. Text on the backsides says: "Large expanses of Khakassia - are real archaeological Mecca. Here are more than 30 thousand of monuments of ancient cultures belonging to different centuries and epochs - Copper, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Most significant archaeological complexes are: Salbyk kurgan, Kopyonskiy and Uybatskiy chaatas [=means 'war stone', burial belonging to archaeological culture of Yenisei Kyrgyz in VI—IX centuries], Boyarskaya [Tagar_culture] and Sulekskaya pisanitsa [Russian/Siberian name for the rock with petroglyphs] etc. First expeditions and research of archaeological monuments of Khakassia were carried out by German scientist Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt in 1722".

left - received from firna, Russia (MuseumRR#2019); right - received from na_talie, Russia (MuseumRR#2019)

     Another postcard of the robin with the Prehistoric Temples of Malta, Maltese Archipelago, UNESCO World Heritage sites. Backside says: "They are recognized as the oldest free-standing buildings of the world, and are a thousand years older than the pyramids of Egypt. From top, left top right: Tarxien (c. 2400 BC); Mnajdra (c. 2800 BC); Ġgantija (c. 2800 BC); Tarxien (c. 2400 BC); Ġgantija (c. 2800 BC); Ħaġar Qim (c. 2200 BC); Ta' Ħaġrat (c. 2200 BC); Ħaġar Qim (c. 2200 BC); Mnajdra (c. 2800 BC)". That reminds me that Malta is a very special place for all history and archaeology lovers - only 320 square kilometers and hundred thousands of unique items and places - and also in form of postcards! [immediately found and made more drafts to incorporate all Maltese postcards I haven't written about yet :3] Second cards I received long ago as part of big swap is from the same series - Maltese Archipelago, Prehistoric artefacts. The backside says: "Malta's unique prehistoric heritage includes some of the most outstanding artifacts representing the human figure in the world. Dating back more than 5.000 years, they include the Malta Venus, the 'family group' and the six statuettes discovered in Gozo, and the 'Sleeping Lady'. The fossil was recovered from Għar Dalam".

left - received from mosaika, Russian (originally postcard is from Malta, MuseumRR#2019); right - received from sunnymalta, Malta (direct swap)

     And last two came from Israel, which is also obviously country full of archaeological sites. First one is vintage card which shows St. Giovanni Catacombs in Siracuse, Italy. I got more interesting archaeology-related vintage cards from same person before - French one with bones and with Israeli memorial. Last one is more traditional in a way that place of sending fits the postcard - it shows aerial view [on the right] of City of David, oldest area in ancient Jerusalem. Top center shows water canals, center middle - King David's palace, bottom center - Hezekiah's inscription, and bottom left - Warren's Shaft.

left - received from post_de_post, Israel (MuseumRR#2019); right - received from vnu4ka, Israel (MuseumRR#2019)

Berlin Wall

     Berlin Wall is significant place turned into cultural object and symbol, and I got handful of postcards related to it: Checkpoint Charlie one, the metal line on the ground left from the Wall, social fraternal kiss graffiti one [I got another one from azuregosa with slightly different angle of the photo - photo is made by Klaus Lehnartz, one of the Berlin Wall Fall famous photo-chroniclers]. But of course gem of my collection was sent to me by neff, when she was living in Germany - A Berlin Wall postcard with real Wall piece, photo of Mauerkunst [=Art on the Wall] by H. Burmeister. I searched for similar postcards online and it showed many variants of pictures for the postcard, even not Wall related ones, and I'm happy with neff's choice - the piece almost looks like authentically coming from the part of the Wall on the photo.

left - received from hedgehog_neff, Germany (direct swap); right - received from azuregosa, Germany (direct swap)

     The ultimate Berlin Wall postcard probably looks quite flat on the scan of the front side, but from the back you can see the transparent capsule better - it's quite thick [I didn't find the card to check - even though I should have a special box for special postcards like this one - but feels like it was certainly 1+cm], and filled with concrete and sand particles, but component of wall itself is not that big and heavy. I'm always skeptical about such souvenirs - usually amounts which are sold would have allowed to build hundreds walls, but maybe relying on German accuracy and order I do have the original piece =)

     The text on the back only has credentials of 'der-berlinshop.de', but also 'Kartenedition Pawlowski Souvenirs & Postkarten Berlin' [launched in 1992], the top right corner says 'Bestell Nr 750' [=Order]. According to this article, they're genuine though some have been made more appealing to tourists by spray painting them. In 2014 it was estimated that around 90% of Berlin’s gift shops are supplied by Volker Pawlowski who purchased forty segments [other sources say approximately 100 to 300 segments (roughly 300 meters)] of the wall from a construction company disposing of the concrete when it was first demolished in 1991. 

     Let's do the numbers - establishing plausibility of those souvenirs being original. Wikipedia gives the following digits: 111.9km long concrete sections [excluding wire fence, towers etc.], 3.6 meters high, 1.2 meters wide section, 15cm thick. Then the question is how much of souvenirs is sold per day: internet says one banana box of Berlin Wall pieces per day [roughly 18kg or 40 lbs, like one of the boxes behind Volker on the photo, 18 kilos is for bananas' density though], banana box holds 0.5 cubic foot = 0.014 cubic meter, multiplied by concrete density of on average 2400kg/m3, we get 34 kilos. Volume of the Wall would be 111 900m * 3.6m * 0.15m = 60 426 cubic meters. Then multiplied by density = 145 022 400kg /34kg (per day) = 4 265 364,7 days /365 = 11 685,93 years [most of the Wall was just disposed though!]. So for Volker to supply all souvenirs shops in Berlin since 1992 for 33 years it would be needed 315,9 meters of the wall - close to the maximum amount he is mentioned to buy back then [it's mentioned that he stopped his business couple years ago after 30+ years, matches the data]. So it is rather plausible - even though some numbers are guesstimates, like exact amount of what Pawlowski bought or how much is sold per day. In the end it's still pretty random piece of concrete - spray painted to be less boring, some redditors mentioned that their University professor compared verified pieces to souvenir pieces with electronic microscope and they didn't match, but considering that it took decades to build different segments it's rather weak argument [some but not all links I used: 1, 2, 3, 4].

left - backside fragment, received from hedgehog_neff, Germany (direct swap); right - photo of Volker Pawlowski with purchased Berlin Wall's fragments, photo by Hans-Christian Plambeck, Spiegel

     Two more views of the Berlin Wall came from Finland through official site [showing bricklayers in May, 1962] and from Russian part of official forum from Germany [showing Checkpoint Charlie], interesting that the right one wasn't even bought in Berlin, but somewhere in Hessen, and sender never visited East Germany. Left one has the following text on the back [google translated from German, some words might have been missing under stamps]: "Repair of a bomb hole, May 1962, Bernauer/Schwedter Strasse corner. In protest against the Berlin Wall, West Berlin police officer H.-J. Lazai, together with a colleague, carried out a bomb attack on the night of May 25-26, 1962". Interesting that sender considers card pretty terrible and awful and showing really bad taste to send to someone, but she was sure I'll survive xD Another interesting thing that when searching it's rather hard to find details of that attack and who carried it, in most sources online it's 'a group of young West Berliners' [for example, 1962 of the Wall Chronicles] and Hans-Joachim Lazai or him being a police officer is not mentioned specifically. Here second policeman, Werner Kemnitz, associated with the blast is mentioned by name, but somehow both names do not trigger search in a way to find more info [at some point most relevant link was one to a theater play!]. Just a weird narrative - make it look more like it was group of young activists [who were involved too, but they were not the ones carrying the attack] and not mentioning the policemen who probably knew weak spots etc. In any way it feels that the Berlin Wall is already perceived and treated as rather distant history, maybe that's why selling fragments as souvenirs declined xD

left - FI-3810757, from Susanna, Finland; right - received from Annushaa, Germany (direct swap)

Museum RR [part #1] - Rocks and canyons

     From time to time with penpals we met in livejournal community, we hold round robins - usually it's holidays-dedicated, like Valentines, St. Patrick's, New Year, or Halloween, but also two thematic ones - Literature one [books and reading related with book recommendations] and Museum one [postcards from/about museums]. And sets of postcards I got from those robins are quite cool - first part is rocks and boulders. First postcard shows a peak of Kamchatka's beauties - Mutnovsky Volcano, Waterfall in the Opasny Canyon, photo by Adam Kirilenko, 2012. Second card is vintage #3586 - "Kissing Camels, a much noted rock formation on top of the north gate rock in the Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak Region, Colorado", published by Sanborn Souvenir Co.,Inc., Denver.

left - received from military_jane, Russia (MuseumRR#2019); right - received from Marina_Danilova, USA (MuseumRR#2019)

     Since my wishlist for the museum robin was rather non-standard, kisunela bought the card specially for me! It shows Museum of Boulders in Uruch'ye-2 neighborhood of Minsk, Belarus. The improvised park of rocks has assortment of boulders brought by glacier to Belarus, each with unique geological history. The postcard has amazing stamp of Heracleum sosnowskyi, series of Invasive plants, the plant is quite an ecological disaster for both Russia and Belarus.

frontside (left) and stamp (right), received kisunela, Belarus (MuseumRR#2019)

Arctic from IreneBP, Norway [part#3]

     Swap was finalized with two exceptional Arctic research related cards - first one only has names of Bjørn Rasch-Tellefsen and 'Odd' Ivar Ruud on the back, seems it shows Arctic exploration with beginning of 21st century equipment. Brief internet search finds B. Rasch-Tellefsen being a photographer and member of Norwegian Photographers' Association, translation of Norwegian short bio reads: "He has photographed throughout Northern Norway and on Svalbard and the coast from Bergen and northwards. Rasch-Tellefsen has a large postcard production, including aerial photographs", so I assume he was the publisher of the postcard [and possibly photographer?]. Searching Ivar Ruud finds a book 'The Year-Long Day: One Man's Arctic' by A. E. Maxwell, Ivar Ruud is the hero of that book, living alone on Spitsbergen/Svalbard [photos in the book are also Ruud's], from description on Amazon: "Four hundred miles to the North Pole, a hundred to the nearest town. Intense wind and cold, the mountains swept clean of everything but moss, lichen, snow, and ice, the largest tree an 8-inch-high birch. Why would a young man choose to live totally alone in this unforgiving environment, hunting and trapping, never for a moment able to take his daily survival for granted?... "

both received from IreneBP, Norway (direct swap)

     Second postcard is from 2011 Nansen–Amundsen year hosted by Norwegian Polar Institute - two anniversaries with great significance for Norway: 150 years since the birth of Fridtjof Nansen and 100 years since Roald Amundsen, accompanied by four of his men, arrived as the first at the South Pole. The postcard features Fridtjof Nansen (1861 - 1930) – Polar explorer, scientist, diplomat, international humanist and celebrity, – photo by Henry van der Weyde, from collection of The National Library, and photos in collage made by Fridtjof Nansen, and unknown member of Fram expedition. Apparently Nansen didn't travel that much as I thought - basically just the amazing ski trip across Greenland and try for North Pole via frozen in pack ice, after he was more of ambassador of exploration; Amundsen on other hand on some account was the first man both on North [aerial] and South Pole [overtaking poor Scott by mere weeks]. Norwegian Polar Institute had more photos of Nansen and some about Amundsen dedicated to the 2011 year anniversaries, now in archive.

     While I was checking the cards info in the scans, since Norway became rare country I checked the stamps too - what if they were the only stamps I've ever received from there? And surprisingly [or not surprisingly?] one of them were Vikings! For checking the tariff's raise dynamic I checked prices for Norwegian post on official forum, seems domestic now is 25 NOK; Europe: 33 NOK [includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Greenland, Russia, Türkiye]; Other: 39 NOK. So back then Europe tariff was 25 NOK, quite a raise in last 8 years.

stamps on envelopes, both received from IreneBP, Norway (direct swap)

Weird and mystical from IreneBP, Norway [part#2]

     Another gem of draft swap posts, also in planned three parts with published first one, was big envelope from Norway. While 'soaking' in waiting Norwegian postcards became even more rare than before: since 2017 and this envelope, I only got two officials in 2018; single official per year in 2020, 2023 and 2025; none in 2019, 2021-2022, and 2024, so it seems from 1-2 Norwegian cards per year after 2018 the frequency dropped to about 1 Norwegian card every two year. First card is New Year's Lord Cthulhu, my first one of him [now I actually have almost a collection of these thanks to Lera, mondschein, and Yulia, azuregosa], illustration is called 'Happy Holidays' by Egle Zioma [daywish@deviantart]. Irene writes that one of the best things about all fantastic creatures is 'that we can all choose to believe or not' and then next card says BELIEVE xD I loved 'South Park' series especially during first seasons when they were more absurd than satire, and feels like it was first and maybe one of very few with these heroes.

both received from IreneBP, Norway (direct swap)

     Then since in big swaps there is no need to choose which line from wishlist to fulfill there is also anthropomorphic cat and advertisement erotic card. First one is 'Unspeakable fortune' painted by Stephen Mackey printed in UK by lipinternational.com [found his works here], second one is an ad from H&M. Funny coincidence through years: Irene writes on the back about her daughter having a loose front tooth, and that "it will fall out any second now" and my oldest just had that - we went to dentist though because expecting very loose tooth to fall out any second was so exhausting, he asked for it.

both received from IreneBP, Norway (direct swap)

     And the default Norwegian card with troll was also there - compared to Swedish ones which are homely and cute, Norwegians are way scarier and down to Earth literally. It's illustration 'Vådeskuddet' [=the dangerous shot] by Ivar Rødningen [www.rodningen.com], he did special effects for 'Troll hunter' movie, 2010. Irene writes that 'trolls are very popular and important part of Norwegian fairy tales and folklore'. The traditional trolls are the large, stupid ones that turn into stone when the sun shines on them. But there are different types: some are smarter, some are ugly, some are attractive, but all are considered very 'natural', a part of nature. Some belong to the mountains, some to the forests, some can be found in the lakes and waterfalls, and some also live underground. Many trolls can be appeased with a sacrifice usually food, it used to be a tradition that before you build a home, you put out food for the underground trolls, otherwise they might interfere with the building and the house will become 'unlucky'.

received from IreneBP, Norway (direct swap)

Big swap with gar_de_marine, Russia [part#3]

     This post continues the set but with black and white illustrations. Only now I noticed that printed 'cancellation' on the flag on the backside has different dates: for example, 19.04.17 for Türkiye, 28.09.17 for Armenia, 09.01.17 for Lithuania, 25.03.17 for Spain, 12.06.17 for Azerbaijan, 11.12.17 for China etc., I don't think they mean anything seem rather random. First postcard shows Persian saying by Ferdowsi "The one who has knowledge is strong" from Iran. Second card shows Egypt and has a saying by pharaoh Amenemope "God like ones the most who respects the poor rather than ones who worships the rich". Card (3) looks very British and shares one of UK wisdoms: "We never know how precious is the water till our well is dry". Last postcard shows one of less recognized countries - Abkhasia and says "With sweet speeches one can open fortress gates". 

(1)                                             (2)

(3)                                             (4)

received from gar_de_marine, Russia (direct swap)

     Along with sweet slightly weird country-postcards swap was in two wonderful handmade envelopes - one from Italian touristic map and one from American advertisement journal page [or it's what I can guess from the text on them] and sweet New Year bonus postcard. Interesting that looking at envelope sending price - 27 rubles [I guess it was below 40 grams] in 2018, it doesn't feel like that huge price raise [now it's 33 rubles per 20 gram plus 4 rubles for each additional 20 grams, so 37 rubles] compared to international tariffs raise even though in percentage it's same. 

two envelopes (front and back side), both received from gar_de_marine, Russia (direct swap)

received from gar_de_marine, Russia (direct swap)

Big swap with gar_de_marine, Russia [part#2]

     Scrolling through all 900+ drafts in the searches to write quick post brought me one of posts in parts [part #1] - and seeing familiar nickname, means originally met in Russian livejournal community and then in the Russian part of official forum, - eager to finish them. This post features cards which are part of interesting set, issued by media company 'Rossiya Segodnya' [=Russia today, also known as RT] back in 2017 - dedicated to countries of the World [there was USA in White post, and China in part #1]. On the back in top right corner there is the flag of country and in the message part - traditional saying of the country, usually illustration is inspired by it.

     Word on card (1) which woman is pronouncing is 'Halva' [traditional Turkish confectionery, also spread anywhere where Ottoman Empire was] and saying on the back is: "Doesn't matter how many times you say 'halva', it will not taste sweet in your mouth", traditional saying from Azerbaijan. Interesting that saying is very well known in Russian-speaking culture, for example, when someone is repeatedly saying something which is not true, but more like a wish how reality should look like, the opponent may disregard the saying in an argument [not very polite argument of course!] - saying 'halva-halva-halva', implying that saying something doesn't make it real. Card (2) fits my pomegranate wishlist, and has tips of how to peel it [which is similar to mine and I share it in the next appropriate only-pomegranates-related post], with saying from Armenia on the back: "If you're going to dig a hole for somebody, dig it no deeper than your own height".

(1)                                             (2)

both received from gar_de_marine, Russia (direct swap)

     Card (3) seemed Dutch [at least I thought it was Dutch when I chose it in swap offer xD], but actually is about Hungary [flags are similar with their blue and green lower stripe, also bike was confusing!] - saying says "The one who believes - is a lucky man, the one who doubts - is a wise one". Card number (4) has saying "Give your son happiness, and throw him to the sea" from Spain. Very confusing saying - throwing your son in the sea? Maybe it means that you just make your kids happy and then let them go when they are ready for adult life?! Card (5) with birches and kid making a snow angel almost look Russian, but it has saying by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis from Lithuania on the back: "The wider wings are spread, the wider is the circle drawn, the happier is the human" [now I start thinking I'm not that good in translating sayings, lol]. And the last card (6) has oriental piece of wisdom: "When the wind of changes is blowing, don't build walls, make sails" from Türkiye. That was all with colourful cards, only black-and-white left for the next part ^___^

(3)                                             (4)

(5)                                             (6)

all received from gar_de_marine, Russia (direct swap)

Learning Dutch - M - Molen

     Even though molen [=mills] are default objects for Dutch postcard [and for the Netherlands in general], I haven't got many postcards with them [one of first received Dutch cards and one with Royal family on it]. So here is the third one and some molen and characteristic buildings of Amsterdam on postcards we got from Dutch relatives [we have 'mills' in our last name so it's an obvious choice xD].

left - NL-3486762, from joycedjois, Netherlands; right - received as New Year greetings from family, Netherlands

Art through postcrossing - Alyona Dergileva [post received 2024.02.08 - part#2]

     One of my favourite graphical illustrations for Moscow is Alyona Dergileva's sketches [her website blog, her page on Russian Academy of Arts website] and batch of postcards received on 2024.02.08 had quite a few of her works. Seeing Moscow in her eyes is fantastic, even though when you go to google street view the streets and corners might change unrecognizably already [most bright facade advertisement removed, buildings renewed with new paint, roads redone, cafes and shops closed and new opened etc.]. For getting a feeling of how Alyona Dergileva's artistic process works, let me translate some of Alyona Dergileva master-class which I found on one of the sites which sells her postcards a bit lower, but first let's find the coordinates!

• (1) "House of E.K.Nirnzee" (78x50), watercolours, 2017, - the house was built on Novoslobodskaya street, 33, by project of Moscow architect Ernst Richard Nirnzee; coordinates: 55.78226883767722, 37.59806288714763.
• (2) "Excursion. Big Levshinsky Alley" (78x58), watercolours, 2017; coordinates: 55.742424548113824, 37.5882614000325.
• (3) "In Eropkinsky alley" (58x38), watercolours, 2017; coordinates: 55.74071673236686, 37.59188380464833.
• (4) "Pelmeni cafe on Krasin street" (40x58), watercolours, 2010; coordinates: 55.767427665919676, 37.58777477339888.

(1)                         (2)                         (3)

all received from mondschein, Russia (direct swap)

       Alyona Dergileva says [google translated with editing by me]: "Walking through old Moscow, my eyes unerringly catch glimpses of bits and corners untouched by "perestroika", still bearing a century of history. I love the walls, wrinkled into their own peculiar grimaces, laced here and there with wires, riddled with a network of cracks, pockmarks, moles, and warts. I often come across facades with elements which look like eyes, noses, and mouths, smiling, yawning, or screaming. Nowadays, they often undergo "cosmetic surgery." It's painful for an artist to see the result: as if they've been injected with fashionable Botox, essentially a poison that smooths out facial muscles, killing them. And instead of a face fashioned by life itself, we get a dead mask, albeit a smooth one. When conceiving a plot, I spend a long time gathering material. I try to see this house or section of street at different times of day, in different seasons, on weekends and weekdays, in rain or snow, on a sunny day. All sorts of details and accessories on the house appear and disappear, like jewelry on a woman. The mood of the house, the expression on its face, changes. I value details that help convey the intended meaning as accurately as possible. Gradually, the diverse characteristics of a single house or section of street accumulate. Changes are especially rapid now. A year later, it's impossible to recognize the place I've depicted so meticulously. Old signs are torn down from stores, the corners of houses at intersections are chipped away to make doors, the windows are replaced with plastic ones..."

     I have to disagree with the artist in one point - even though old buildings with cracks and peeling paint, covered in dust and dirt, with bumpy roads and piles of snow, might seem picturesque and show history, I'd rather have them clean and 'killed'. I wouldn't want to live in the dirty ruins with dysfunctional infrastructure for the sake of couple creative people thinking it's beautiful. Quoting Lera, mondschein, from one of the cards: 'On Kazakov street near Kurskaya metro station in 1990-2000s there was abandoned Razumovsky estate. It was slowly decaying behind the fence, unauthorized excursions were trespassing to see the architecture and inside homeless people were spending nights. And now it's restored and it's Museum of Sport there. It's nice that all ended well'. I guess the artist would rather like half burned building with collapsed floors than 'poisoned one' rebuilt and repainted which is now used again. Same goes for residential apartment buildings - 1960s historical 4-5 stories brick khrushchevka might look nicer than glass and concrete paneled 15+ stories modern building, but people living with 6 square meters kitchen with deteriorated waterpipes and old electrical wires would disagree.

     Further read about Alyona Dergileva's whole illustration-creating process from choosing paper to final touches can be found [in Russian] here.

fourth card (4), received from mondschein, Russia (direct swap)

Moscow in winter - My Russia series [post received 2024.02.08 - part#1]

     I thought that writing about some exceptional days of received mail is a good idea [see all 26 parts of post received on 2023.07.14, links are in the bottom], and when it's couple of postcards day - they go under #little-drop label. So welcoming a day of February, 8th 2024 - if I go to folder of scanned items of that day, select all shows 115 files with backsides and envelopes and goodies from envelopes [without all these it's 49 cards]. Let's start somewhat where we finished - part #26 of 2023.07.14 post ended with My Russia winter series received from Lera, mondschein, so let me start part #1 of 2024.02.08 also with My Russia series of Moscow in winter, also received from Lera, mondschein [we supply each other with cards we want to receive written and stamps and do so for each other - it's quite a relief from pressure of finding more favourite cards for each other, since that part already prepared].

both received from mondschein, Russia (direct swap)

     On left card is Pokrovsky Boulevard, Moscow, photo by Andrey Belavin [IG: ted.ns], on the back - The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters building stamp of 2015 and special cancellation of Moscow's Gardens and Parks of February 01, 2024. On right card is Spasskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin, Red Square, photo by Anastasia Mazureva [IG: mazurevanasta], on the back Moscow stamp from joint issue with Azerbaijan in 2015 and special cancellation with Kremlin - History of Russia on postcards of February 01, 2024. First message is about bats which sometimes in autumn fly in windows in Moscow, stuck in curtains or cactuses on the windowsill. In the case one gets a bat in the apartment, it needs to be brought to Moscow Zoo where they check its health and put for winter hibernation to the special fridge. Second message is about Polytechnical Museum in Moscow [www.polymus.ru] being reconstructed and how nowadays we stopped worrying that instead of museum there will be offices like it happened a lot with historical building in the 1990s because it's center of Moscow prime location.