Season greetings

In December and January I got more season greetings. The last one arrived on 17th January from the Netherlands. It is a folded old style card.

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The stamp was known for me.

On 14th December I received this black and white card from Austria.

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On the stamp is the "Museum der Moderne Salzburg". This museum hastwo buildings at two truly spectacular locations. On the stamp is the building of the "Museum on the Mönchsberg". In this is modern art in a contemporary setting.

Two Christmas greetings came from Finland. The both are nice. This bouquet with poinsettia and Hungarian tricolour around was sent from Lahti. The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is member of the Euphorbiaceae plant family. This plant family is in the focus of my phytochemical research, because these plants contain specific chemical constituents.

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I think there is an anemone on the stamp. It looks like to Anemone nemorosa. Anemone is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to the temperate zones.

The other Finish greetings came from Savonlinna. It is a lovely vintage card. The Finish sentence means: "The school is filled with warm thoughts." The picture was painted by Mabel Lucie Attwell (1879-1964). She was a British illustrator. She was known for her cute, nostalgic drawings of children, based on her daughter, Peggy.

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 There are three different cross-shaped stamps and a lovely one on the card.

On 19th January I received a card fro a Finish little girl. It was painted also by a children's book illustrator, by Elsa Beskow (1874–1953). She was a Swedish author and illustrator. Many of her books became classics and are continually reprinted. Beskow also illustrated ABC books and songbooks for Swedish schools. On this card is "January" from the book "Årets saga" was published in 1927.

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Finish stamps are so beautiful! On this card is also a flower. I seems to be a sunflower (Helianthus annuus).

Two beautiful view cards

Yesterday I received two cards.  I was very sleepy and I registered them only today. The first one cam from Toruń, Poland. I didn't hear the name of Toruń before. I have searched it in Wikipedia. It is a city (bigger than Szeged) in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Toruń, unlike many other historic cities in Poland, escaped substantial destruction in World War II. Particularly left intact was the Old Town, all of whose important architectural monuments are originals, not reconstructions. In 1997 the medieval part of the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is famous for having preserved almost intact its medieval spatial layout and many Gothic buildings, all built from brick, including monumental churches, the Town Hall and many burgher houses. Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. A lovely Christmas stamp was on this card.

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The second card was sent from Italy. The Oropa Sanctuary was also unknown to me before. It must be a beautiful place too. This Sanctuary in the Alps (at 1200 m) is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The Sanctuary was founded in the 4th century by St. Eusebio, the first bishop of Vercelli. On the card is the Museum of the Treasures. In this building gold pieces, jewels, liturgical vestments and documents are exhibited. I need some minutes to understand the picture on the stamp. It is a great suggestive dawning! Two embracing people symbolise the European Year of Volunteering (2011). 

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Tonic, like herbal tea and "winged" like a bird!

On Friday I received the 199th postcard. It is from Russia. The sender is a ballet dancer in a musical theater in Yekaterinburg. She sent me one of her first five cards. I hope she will love Postcrossing like I do. The card is really lovely. On the glittering Christmas stamp is written: "C Новым Годом!" (Happy New Year!). On the back-side is a sentence in Russian: "Тонизирующева, как чай с травами, и крылатога, как птица!" It means:  Tonic, like herbal tea and "winged" like a bird! (Winged means here that you can fly like a bird.) There is printed a greeting on the back side: "Я телаю тебе счастьа!" (I wish you happiness!)

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I like the fabulous pictures of Victoria Kirda (Кирдий Виктория Эрнестовна). It is my second card painted by her. She is a Russian artist. I'm sorry that I found information about her only in Russian. I hope she will be more known in short time in other countries too. My first Kirda-card was sent by a 9 years old Russian girl from Barnaul in August 2012. It is also beautiful. On the back-side are two quotation: "Angels hear thoughts and demons – words. Therefore, a good enough thought." by Andrei Makarevich ("Ангелы слышат мысли, а бесы - слова. Поэтому о хорошем достаточно подумать." Андрей Макаревич) "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible." Antoine de Saint-Exupery. ("Зорко одно лишь сердце. Самого главного глазами не увидишь." Антуан де Сент-Экзюпери). I like the two big colourful stamps.

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My foremost sent card was introduced in my blog yesterday. Today I would like show the four other of my first fives. The second card was written in German and was sent to Haan, Germany. It is a multiview about Szeged. Int the small pictures you can see: Móra Ferenc Musem, City Hall, Anna Thermal Bath, Tisza River and the main building (rectorate) of the University of Szeged. it is my first received card. It traveled 6 days.     

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My third card was also a multiview. In the middle is the fresco of the cupola of Cathedral of Szeged. On the four small pictures are different views of the cathedral. I sent it to Moscow. Its travel time was 18 days. 

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The multiple card (below) is my most popular postcard favoured by 25 postcrossers. The dolls are dressed in costumes typical for a small ethnographic region of Hungary "Sárköz". Sárköz includes only four villages: Alsónyék, Decs, Őcsény and Sárpilis. Colours and ornaments of dresses show the age, civil status and pecuniary standing of the women. 

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The last card presented today is one of my favourites. íit is an aerial view of my town, Szeged. It is so beautiful! The Tisza River divides the city in two parts. In the middle is the Cathedral and near of the church are the buildings of the University of Szeged. I marked wit an  X my work place, the Faculty of Pharmacy.

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