Last cards of February

Even though today is March 2nd, I want to show the last cards received in February. First is a card sent from Saint Petersburg, Russia by Alexander Karmanovsky . His card shows The Hermitage from The Palace Bridge. The Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art. And, works of art they are, including pieces by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rubens, Rembrandt, Rodin, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse. The who's who of art. Alexander mailed this card from a post office located in The Hermitage itself. The cards bears a special cancellation to this effect.

The other card is from Namibia, my second from this country. It shows the inside pool at The GocheGanas, a nature reserve and wellness village located 29 km from Windhoek, Namibia. The card was sent by Albie Oelofse, who commented that it had been quite a while since going into a post office and described it as quite an experience, actually buying a postcard and mailing it. Thanks Albie and I hope you enjoyed this recent experience of yours.
The stamp used on this card is in my opinion a very beautiful stamp. It is one of a set of 18 issued in 1997, featuring the flora and fauna of Namibia. The one on my card shows a Leopard and sports a wonderful SON (socked on the nose ) cancel.

Just a note with regard to Albie's experience. Even though most of us think it's not a big deal , buying a postcard and then going to mail it off somewhere, for some people , apparently it is a big and strange deal. I have come across similar comments from people I have had contact with in Angola, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, and most recently Haiti. They describe either finding a postcard to buy, or finding a post office open with stamps as the difficult part. Like I said, this seems quite easy to most of us, but it is a difficult thing to do in some places.

One more note- I started collecting postcards on March 08, 2006 , just about 2 years ago. The next card I receive will be # 500. I wonder where it will be from. I'll let you know.
Cheers.