No postmark. It was inserted in a parcel, together with Miss Igorota. This is another personalised postcard created by Fortuitous Faery showing one of Miss Igorota's favorite spots in New Jersey.

Postmarked Madrid
Dated 21 November 2008
Sender: Gorka

Puerta de Alcalá is one of the most enduring landmarks in the busy metropolis of Madrid, built originally in 1599 to welcome Doña Margarita de Austria (wife of King Felipe III) to Madrid. However the monument was torn down because King Carlos III felt it was not good enough and not worthy of such a noble entrance. It was torn down and King Carlos III commissioned an architect named Sabatini to construct a new one. Made entirely of granite, the monument features a central arch and two smaller passageways on each sides. The ornamental statues are the work of Roberto Michel and Francisco Gutiérrez.

Puerta de Alcalá's location is spectacular, as it stands on raised ground opposite another symbol of the city, Cibeles Fountain.

Additional info:
http://americanairlines.wcities.com/en/record/,23487/11/record.html

Postmarked Norway (can't read the name, it's smudged)
Dated 18 Nov 2008

Sent by Rine from Melsomvik, Norway, who wanted to show me (and the rest of the world) the amazing nature of Norway - and I have to say indeed, it is. I particularly love the mountains, snowcapped or otherwise, and the beautiful lake. The house, on the other hand, is charming, and almost looked like a Khmer house because of the similar gabled roof.


Postmarked (same as above)
Svalbard is an archipelago in the northernmost part of Norway - that is almost the North Pole - and very cold, I imagine! Svalbard, or Svalbarð, means cold shores. It was believed that the Vikings discovered Svalbard as early as the 12th century. Apart from polar bears, the severe weather conditions in Svalbard is ideal breeding ground for the Arctic fox and Svalbard reindeer.

Do you also know of the Svalbard Seed Vault? According to Wikipedia:

The Norwegian government has built a "doomsday" seed bank to store seeds from as many of the world's crop varieties and their botanical wild relatives as possible. The bank was created by hollowing out a 120-meter tunnel on Spitsbergen cut into rock with a natural temperature of −6˚C, refrigerating it to −18˚C, and then storing seeds donated by the 1,400 crop repositories maintained by countries around the world. The vault has top security blast-proof doors and two airlocks. The number of seeds stored depends on the number of countries participating in the project. The point of this project is to prevent the diversity of agricultural crops currently stored (typically in the form of seed) in seed banks from becoming extinct as a result of accident, mismanagement, equipment failure, war or natural disaster, or due to a regional or global catastrophe, such as global warming.

Postmarked Sta. Clarita, California
18 November 2008

Built on top of Mt. Hollywood, the Griffith Observatory is an icon in Los Angeles and known as the nation's leader in public astronomy. Named after Col. Griffith J. Griffith who donated the land where it stands, the structure holds an observatory, planetarium, and an exhibit hall. With a magnificent panoramic view of LA and the Hollywood sign, this is truly a great site to kick off every visitors tour of LA.

A little trivia, the observatory was featured in several Hollywood movies such as The Terminator, The People Vs. Larry Flint, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and Transformers just to name a few; it also appeared in many television shows.

Sent by Swan, she's a German expat in the USA. She lives about half an hour drive from Griffith Park.

Postmarked, München, Germany
Dated 18 November 2008

When we hear the word Oktoberfest, the first thing that ever comes to our minds is beer ... Bavarian beer!! Oktoberfest is Munich's most popular festival, and is also the world's largest public festival held every year. Millions of beer-drinkers gather in this Bavarian city and guzzle more than 6.6million Maß (one liter beer mug) of beer. Now that is probably a world record! The postcard above is a perfect picture showing us what Oktoberfest is all about.

To those who are planning to take part in the Oktoberfest fever and experience the Wiesn mood, the next Oktoberfest will be from September 14 to October 4, 2009.

This was sent to me by a nice German lady, Birgit, who recently graduated from university. Birgit, good luck on your job-hunting!!

Postmarked Kearney, New Jersey, USA
10 November 2008
Sta. Monica Church, Panay, Capiz
Philippines

Sent to me by my fellow Capiznon Fortuitous Faery who is now based in New Jersey, USA. She makes her own photos into postcards - which is a great idea! I share her frustration of having no postcards about Capiz that are available in the Philippines. So from now on, I'll take more photos of my hometown in Capiz the next time I return, and with a little Photoshop editing, send it out as postcards to friends and fellow members of Postcrossing.

These are the first two postcards I have ever received from Postcrossing (private swap). The sender, Roberta, is from Faenza, Italy. Faenza, a town about 50kms away from Bologna, a wonderful city of art noted for its exquisite pottery production, especially during the Renaissance period.


Postmarked Bologna
22 October 2008
The above place, Lugo Antica, is just a few miles away from Roberta and she says she loves to go there as a flea market opens there in the main square once a month. I love flea markets, too, Roberta! I guess we would make a good shopping partners :)


Postmarked Bologna
23 October 2008
Mountain flower, taken in Trentino Alto Adige, by Roberta herself while on holiday there. Aside from her passion for postcards, she is so much into photography. She loves taking pictures of flowers. I love it, and if I am not mistaken, it's not found here in Asia.