Three Continents in One Mailbox

When I went to the mailbox yesterday, I had four postcards. When I looked at them, I noticed that they came from three different continents. A true world view right in my mailbox!

Of course, North America was the first continent. This postcard comes from Terri in (guess where?) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She writes, "Greetings from Philly! Here's our famous guy." She went on further to say that there are something like 7 representations of old Ben around town and one man who makes a living "being Ben." I would like to see that! Thanks Terri for the wonderful card.

Further down along the east coast of the U.S. is the state of Maryland where this card originated. Maggie sent me this card. It comes from H. Jackson Brown, Jr.'s book, Life's Little Instruction Book. I always thought that life's little instruction book was the Bible. Maybe that is where he got his idea. Plagierism! Just kidding!

Now, this is interesting. I get a card from Maryland that has a stamp with greetings from Massachusetts. Then I noted the amount. $0.37! Currently, the cost of a postcard stamp is $0.27. The price for a letter stamp is $0.42. So, Maggie, did you have some "old" stamps? That's okay, I like it anyway!

Enough of North America, let's move on.

Aha! Beijing, China welcomes me next with a wonderful card commemorate the 2008 summer Olympics. Maomao Chen, with his mother's help sent me this card from the Changping District of Beijing, which is their home. Maomao and his mom are new members of postcrossing and this was their first card they sent. I feel very honored to receive such a card. Maomao is only 19 months old. His mom wants to decorate his room with the postcards from all the "magical" places of the world and hopefully, someday, she says, he might be able to go and see them for himself. She ends with "Seasons Greetings." I do truly love this card and the stamp. Thanks, Maomao and your mom.

The last contintent we visit today is the European continent. Specifically, Lisbon, Portugal. This is my second postcard from the beautiful city of Lisboa as they say in Portugese. Isabel along with her baby, Ana Catarina, sent me this card. Isabel said the picture shows some houses and the Monastery of the Hieronymites, built in the 1500's to commemorate maritime discoveries. The Monastery is the resting place of one of Portugal's discoverers, Vasco de Gama. The Monastery is near Lisbon's harbor as that is one of the "launching" places of the great maritime explorers. This Monastery along with the Tower of Belem is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

And I thought the only trolly cars were in San Francisco. You learn something new everday. This is the stamp and postmark that brought Isabel and Ana Catarina's card to me. Thanks Isabel and baby Ana for the lovely card and for the information about yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site.