France -Crown Jewels

 July 3, 2026

Mik sent me this card from France....I believe that the crown on the front is part of the British Crown Jewels. 

He said that he had an aunt with the same first name as me, and wished me the best with a Japanese man. [What does that even mean? We've been together for almost 25 years.] And then mentioned that his son nearly married a Japanese woman! (Shades of Bridget Jones' Diary?)

He sends his best!

St. Edward's Crown with which the Sovereign is crowned.

The stamps he used were rather interesting as well. Apologies for putting it on sideways, I just wanted to show off the stamp more!

France - Greeting Card

September 29, 2020

Melanie from France sent me a gorgeous greeting card (not postcard) with a long and lovely message on the inside.  I won't reproduce it here as it fairly personal, but she says that the movie of her life is Dirty Dancing: The Havana Night (ha ha).  She also loves all of the Pirates of the Carribean films. She wrote that she likes US or Latin American authors like Sherman Alexie, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

 

France

March 11, 2020

This card came from Emmanuelle in France. She wrote a lovely message on the back about her area of France and her work. I like finding out about people in other places!

She wrote,
"Hello, Bonjour Helen,
Best greeting from France. I am 34 years old and I live in Chateaunova[?]. There is at 250km of Paris, it is center of country. Region of good wine, castles and goat of cheese. I love travel but I work a lot. I take care of disabled persons.

Have a great day

Emmanuelle"

Sadly, there was no title to tell me where this is.  Also, it has cancellation marks on the card. 

France

June 22, 2019

Francoise sent me a card of Japan, although she lives in France.  I would say it is a bit like sending coals to Newcastle though!

It's a lovely card and she put a friendly note on the back.

She wrote,

I send you a card of your country, fun is not it, I like this series a lot: as a travel, I wish you a beautiful summer wear well.

Francoise

Toshodai-ji, Honshu island, Japan

The big stamp on the right depicts a view from the cave paintings at Lascaux.

France - Actor in Black & White

May 2, 2019

This black & white card came to me from Thierry in France.  He wrote a nice note on the back too.

He wrote;

Hello Helen, for you, I found and choose this postcard with the actor Leonardo Di Caprio, it's one of my favorite.  Hope you like it. I'm Thierry, 54 old from Cogolin, in the southeast of France.

All the best,
Thierry


This card was scratched on the surface. The scan doesn't show too much of it, except a little in the upper left side of the picture.  It arrived with another card that was more damaged, so it was a bad day at the post office!

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 I really like the flamingos on the stamp. They're lovely!

France

December 27, 2018

This pretty card came from Stephanie in France. She wrote a nice note and decorated the back of the card with stickers, so it was a nice piece of mail to receive in my mailbox.

She wrote,

Hello Helen!

I'm Stephanie from France. I live in a small city near the sea with my 2 children Keva 10, Nicoles 8) and my husband Thierry. I love swimming, sailing, walking on the beach, cooking and reading. I like Harry Potter film.

Happy Postcrossing!

 The stamp below celebrates a short film festival, so it was a great choice for me!

France - Food

July 6, 2018

This card came to me from Fanny in France, but it was bought in Portugal.  I'll let Fanny explain further.

She wrote;
hello!
I'm french but my parents visited Lisboa, portugal and brought me back some cards. You can see 'pastel de natal' on this one. It's typical pastry from here. My parents said it's really good! Have a great day!

Fanny💖

I've had similar pastries when I was in Macao.  They were delish!

I just read up on Lucie and Raymond Aubrac. They were heroes of the French Resistance during the second world war.  Their exploits were rather amazing.

France

June 11, 2018

This card was sent by Valy in France.  She wrote a friendly note on the back, used lovely stamps and even put a sticker on the card.  Nice!

She wrote,

Hello
i was born in brittany west of the France, i am 100 kilometers from Paris

Bise de France

Valy

Greetings From...
La Normandie - France

I'm not too sure what these stamps represent, but they are not ones that I see all the time.  Hurray!

France

December 25, 2017

This pretty card arrived on Christmas day all the way from France.  It was sent by Sylvie and she wrote a nice and friendly note on the back of the card.

She said,

"Hello, Bonjour, greetings from France where I live in a little town just about one hour from Paris where I work.

Have a good day!! Bye, au revoir,

Sylvie"

This interesting stamp was on the card too.  I like the black and white and gold colours of it.

Thanks Sylvie!

France

August 4, 2017

This card came from Anne in France.  She wrote a friendly message and gave me some info on the place that is on the card.  Yay!

She wrote,

"Bonjour Helen!  I'm Anne and I live in Nantes, France.
On the postcard you can see the Fountain on La Place Royale
and La Tour LU (on the right).  La Tour LU represents the LU
(biscuits of Nantes).  It means Lefevre Utile (The 2 people who
invented the biscuits). Around the postcard it's Les Berlingols Nantais,
the speciality of Nantes.  It's sweets with different perfumes.
I love eating Le Gauteau Nantais (with Rhum and sugar),
my favourite specialty of Nantes.

Happy Postcrossing!   Anne"

NANTES

The stamp is rather interesting.  It looks like it is celebrating something with France and The Philippines.  

Thank you for the card Anne! 

France

February 13, 2017

Sylvana sent this card from France and wrote a nice note on the back of the card too.  She wrote about her hobbies and the area that she lives in.

Village classified among the "more beautiful
villages of France"

She wrote,

"Hello Helen,
I am Sylvana and I live near Paris.  I am married
and we have 2 girls. I like reading and knitting.
This card is from a beautiful place in north of France
= Normandie
The houses are typical and the nature is so green
(because of the rain!!!)
My family and me, we dream to travel to Japan.
It's a so attractive country!
                          Best wishes.
                                             Sylvana"


These are rather interesting stamps.  I haven't seen these ones before.

Love Related Cards

February 11, 2017

Warning: Lots of long expository paragraphs here today.  Feel free to skip and just look at the pretty cards if you are in a hurry!

Apologies for the lengthy gap in posting.  I took a week off to celebrate my birthday and travel to another city which is generally a little warmer and has a lot less snow than my city does.  It was a bit of a winter break, except it was cold and snowy there too for a change!

Today's Blog Linky Party's Theme is Love. I am not always the biggest fan of "Love" because sometimes my definition of love doesn't agree with other people's definition of love.  However, Valentine's Day is just around the corner so it is seasonally appropriate!

As an aside, I thought I might mention the difference between Valentine's Day in Japan and most other countries.  In Japan, women give chocolates to the men in their lives.  They give "Giri-choco" or obligation chocolates to male co-workers, male friends or anyone close to them with whom they do not have a romantic relationship.  Women give "Honmei-choco" to their boyfriends or husbands. The Honmei-choco is often handmade or very gorgeous.

There is quite a lot of information about this tradition on the internet, I am referring my readers to a blog that I follow if interested.

Men are obliged to respond in March on White Day (March 14th) when they give something back to the women that showered them with chocolates.  Unfortunately, they usually don't give back chocolate, they give cookies.  Cookies are nice, but they aren't chocolate!

Here in my family in Japan we do things just a little bit differently!  My husband and I exchange presents on Valentine's Day and on White Day.  Sometimes we give chocolates, sometimes more creative presents.  One of my favourite gifts was a fishing rod so that I could join my husband in one of his favourite hobbies! I think we have the best of both traditions this way 😍

But, you came here for the postcards not a Social Studies lesson.  Here we go...

I received this card from France in 2015.  I like the happy fun vibe of the card, but as I originally noted in my blog entry, I'm a tad worried about the "Punch" like puppet that the man is holding.  What does that mean?

Rob Cochrane
Gay Couple 1986

My next two cards are both from movies.  The first one, which I received in 2014 is from a movie that I haven't heard of and have no information about either.  IMDb lists it as being from 1947, but there is no plot summary at all.  However, it looks very fiery and romantic! The card was sent from Australia in 2014.

Romeo and Juliet is one of those movies that probably soured me on romance.  They were such pretty people, fell in love with each other and died.  (I hope I didn't need a spoiler alert there!) During my Shakespeare class in University, we watched the movie.  The man sitting next to me was a Star Trek fan and at a point in the movie when Romeo's page says to him, "Live and Prosper," the man made Spock's Vulcan salute.  I wish I could say that I smiled politely.  I wish I could.  

Unfortunately I started howling with laughter to the point of tears running down my face and even leaving the room didn't help much.  This was just before the two lovers met their fate so at my college I am known forever as the girl who laughed at Romeo and Juliet. 

This card arrived in 2016 from Germany.  I actually like the card and the film, despite my story.  Olivia Hussey is quite popular in Japan as she had a Japanese husband at one time. 

 I do like this card below and how it shows the couple wrapped up in each other.  It was sent to me from Russia in 2014.

Valentine - Vladimir Kamaev

Thank you so much for visiting my postcard blog.  I love that you visited me, and I would LOVE it even more if you left a friendly comment. Please share the LOVE with the other members of the Blog Linky Party too and see what kind of cards they posted.

Until next time....

France

January 16, 2017 Received//January 18, 2017 Registered

I had sort of an oops when this card arrived.  I was having a very bad day and looked at the card which was written in French.  The writing looked exactly like one I had received a few weeks before, so for some reason I just assumed the previous sender had sent me a friendship card because I had written to him in French.

Two days later when I was trying to scan the card I realized that it was a REAL Postcrossing and registered it right away with an apology to the sender.  By the way, I am 98% sure that it was the previous sender as the first account was closed and the wording on this card was almost the same.

Anyway, here's the card's message and the translation...thanks to Google!

 This is a really quite cool stamp.  I haven't seen it before.  Wikipedia says that Léo Ferré was a poet, composer and performer.

France

November 28, 2016

This lovely card came from France and has a lovely friendly note on the back. It talks about books and movies so you know that I like it!

Mary wrote,
"hello Helen,
I'm Mary, 31 years old.  I work as a guide in an ancient Roman amphitheatic. During my free time I like read books, watching movies.  One of my favorite is : you've got mail (not really a new one, but for me is a classic of romantic comedy).

I lived 1 year in Tokyo a few years ago and I really liked it. and you?  Do you like live in Japan?

happy postcrossing

mary"

La cathedrale gothique Saint-Pierre au bord de la Charente.

France

November 26, 2016

I had a little bit of a challenge with this card.  The sender wrote it entirely in French.  My French is terribly rusty and completely confused with my feeble Japanese ability, so I had to turn to Google Translate for an explanation.  Please don't blame me if the translation isn't correct!

Loïc wrote,

Bien le bon jour de brumaire ma chere Helen.  De prime abord j'espere que hi te portes comme un charme en, cette periode automnale et que celle-ci te sied aisément.  Je me present, je m'applle Loïc S. et suis enchanté de faire ta connaissance via ce canal ce communication un soupcon dèsuet mais ò combien agréable..N'est-ce pas?! Sur cette missive succinete, je te salue bien bas..Bons baisers des Hauts - de- france

Emoticone

Well the good day of brumaire my dear Helen. At first glance I hope that you are charmed in this autumn period and that it suits you easily. I introduce myself, I call Loïc S. and am delighted to meet you via this channel this communication a suspicion soon but ò how agreeable..Isn't ?! On this succinct missive, I greet you low .. Good kisses of the Hauts - de - france

Emoticon

A beautiful stamp too...

Japan...No,...France! No, Japan!

November 25, 2016

I received this French postcard from a postcrosser in Japan.  There is a reason she sent it though...

Nadine wrote,

"Hello Helen from Kyoto!
Here is a view of my hometown in France (near Switzerland) a beautiful place.  All the best, Nadine."

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 Nadine used the special International Letter Writing Week postcard stamp, which is actually worth more than she had to pay for a within Japan postcard.  However, I very rarely receive this stamp so I appreciate it.

France

October 27, 2016

This card with gorgeous views arrived last month from France.  Christelle sent it to me with a friendly note.

She wrote,

"I'm Christelle from France.  I'm 46 year old.  It's my little town in the middle of FRANCE 'LA SOLOGNE' hill of castle forest.  I love live here.  I love take full of photo.  I'm on Instagram - CRICRIWUL" if you know that--follow me :-)
Friendly, Christelle"

 The pink stamp is quite interesting.  There's a woman in a kimono and a lion.  Hmmm.  What does it mean?

France - Food

September 6, 2016

Annie sent this interesting card from France to me. Her note was friendly so I was quite pleased with it.

She wrote,
"Hello.  I read you love food, so I send you a postcard about a recipe of pork.  I'm sorry, I've not the details, it's just to look at.  Happy Postcrossing, Annie"

Tripe Fertoise Skewers

This is a very cool stamp, it shows an amethyst, which coincidentally is my birthstone!

France - Food Related

July 23, 2016

Today's card arrived from Manuela.  She wrote what seems like a friendly note on the back, but she wrote it all in French.  I got the general gist of the card because I like French even though I'm a bit rusty these days.  Please feel free to test yourself and see how you do!

She wrote,
"Bonjour
Je m'appelle Manuela.  J'ai 35 ans et 3 enfants. J'adore les années 70, la music rock psyche'délic et les plantes grasses. Ici il fait 27℃ et il y à grand soleil.  Happy Postcrossing!! 😃  Manuela"

How did you do?  My transcription is likely to blame for any problems in her writing...blame me, not her!

Google Translate came up with this...

"Hello
My name is Manuela. I am 35 years old and 3 children. I love the 70s, the music rock psyche'délic and succulents. Here it is 27 ℃ and there in the sun."

Merci beaucoup Manuela!

France - Food

April 18, 2016

This yummy looking card came to me from France.  The sender wrote a friendly note on the back and even put a few stickers on it for added fun.

Françoise wrote, "Hello!  You can see here the typical aperitive from the south of France: olives (olive trees on the top) and pastis to drink.  But I don't like alcohol :-)

I'm teacher, very enthusiastic for Postcrossing and discovering new people.  Best greetings Françoise"

Surprisingly, there was no stamp on the back of the card.  I asked Françoise about it when I thanked her and she said that she put one on it before she sent it!  It's rather interesting isn't it?  I believe it is my second postcard from France to have a missing stamp!