A postcard from Russia! The postcard shows ice cube curling center. The center was opened in 2012, and it is the main venue for holding all the competition of curling during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The venue has 3000 seats. And it is a portable building so that could be relocated to other area.

The stamp is also related to the winter Olympic Games. I guess the stamp shows Fisht Olympic Stadium. This 40,000-person-capacity open-air stadium is the venue for the opening and the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

A postcard from Russia! This postcard shows second agura waterfall, which is a waterfall in Sochi. The waterfall is about 30 meters tall.

here comes the stamps. The right hand side is a stamp from 2004, from a series called “Safe Conduct of Children on the Roads”. And it reflects the meaning of “Study the road traffic rules”. The second stamp is from 2009, as to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Strategic Rocket Forces, which is something a part of the army and military forces in Russia and former USSR. And really thanks to the sender as she also gave me a big sticker of one of the mascots of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games – the polar bear!

A postcard from Russia. It shows the Alexander Column and the Presentation Church. The stamp was released in 2011, due to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

A very nice postcard received from Russia, with beautiful and tranquil painting of a nature scenery! The stamp was released in 2012 and is related to Sochi Winter Olympic Games in 2014. This stamp shows a railway station in Sochi. It was built in 1952 by an architect A.N. Dushkin. The clock tower of the railway station is 55 meters high.

A postcard from Russia! The theme of the postcard is the 22nd Winter Olympic Games. The event will be held from 6 to 23 February 2014, in Sochi, Russia. Sochi was elected as the city to hold the games in 2007. And the stamp shows one of the mascots of the Olympic Games. It is actually a polar bear. The other two mascots are a hare and a leopard. Some news says that the three mascots were elected via a popular public vote through phones and the result was announced on a TV show. The stamp was released in 2013 and it was released as to celebrate the coming of new year 2014.

A postcard from St Petersburg, Russia.

Here comes a postcard from Russia! The illustration is “Mail for You” from Tania Samoshkina. And the writer also tries to give some translation on the back. It says “Though all of the cities and avenues, hurrying somewhere and afraid of not having enough time, someone has a letter for you.” Don’t know whether she gives a correct translation, I guess, the meaning would be similar to this.

And here comes the stamps. The purple one is the fifth issue of definitive stamp in Russia, released in 2008. And the blue one is the definitive stamps issued in 2009. And all the stamps are about Kremlins(克里姆林), meaning those complex castles found inside historic Russian cities. And the most famous one is from Moscow, therefore people often use this name to refer that one. And the last one was released in January 2013 from the series of Wild Goats(野山羊).

Here comes a lovely postcard from Russia. The postcard shows a scene of Autumn from Katun River and Mount Lukovka. There are 4 stamps together with the postcard. The first stamp was released in 2005. It is celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Lomonosov Moscow State University. It is the largest and the oldest university in Russia.

The second stamp is an Europa stamp in 2005. Europa stamp means special stamps issued by European postal administrations/ enterprises under the aegis of PostEurop, an association of European public postal operators, in which Europe is the central theme. In 2005,the main theme of the stamp is Gastronomy. I guess different European countries will release stamps related to this topic together.The stamp shows the food when Russian welcomes guests, mainly bread and pancakes. “Bread and Salt!” – Guests are welcomed in Russia with these words for centuries.

The third stamp was released in 2012. The stamp is celebrating the 1150th Anniversary of the Russian Statehood.

The fourth stamp was released in 2003, from a series called Beetles. The stamp shows Calosoma sycophanta, which is a large, bright green, metallic ground beetle that is native to Europe.

Thanks 4ajka from Russia very much! It is really a nice postcard, with nice stamps! The picture is from Vladivostok(海參崴), a city not far away from China and North Korea. The postcard shows Basargin Lighthouse at the Ussuri Bay. The lighthouse is one of the symbols of this city. The first lighthouse at that place was built in 1937, and in 1958 it was replaced by a newer stone structure.

Here comes three stamps. The first one, with red and yellow color, was released in 2006. The stamp is about the 250th Anniversary of entry of Altai to Russia. Altai is now a federal subject of Russia.

The next one, which was released in 2008, is from a series called Decorative-Aplied Arts of Dagestan. Dagestan (達吉斯坦) is federal subject of Russia.

The last stamp was released in 2009, about the astronomy of Europe.

A postcard from Moscow, Russia! It takes 21 days to travel to Hong Kong. It is really a nice postcard, showing different types of Russian mushrooms and their English names. The sender says her family loves picking up mushrooms. I guess is for cooking? That’s really interesting! After google, seems mushroom plays an important part in Russian diet. Therefore mushroom hunting is a famous activity there, involving family members to share the joy in the nature.

On the back are two stunning stamps! The one released in 2012 shows a killer whale(殺人鯨). It is from a series “The Marine Life”. The second one, released in 2011, is from a series called “Pedestrian Bridges”. This one shows a bridge over Vezelka(a river name)in Belgorod(a city name I guess?). The bridge was built in 2002.