Postcrossing Blog

Today we have a different sort of postman interview! Petr (aka Trainpostman) used to be a postman… for the a Czech Train Post Office! Petr worked there for 8 years, between 1990–1998 until the service closed in the end of the 90s.

Petr loved and missed his old job… so in 2009 he decided to put his design and photography skills to good use. He made a website called “The Museum of Czechoslovakian Train Post Office” to share his memories of his years working for it, inviting his former colleagues to contribute.

In 2011, Petr took it a step further, and organized a real exhibition with the information he collected, on a railway mail carriage from 1971, parked in Bratislava. He recreated the experience of working on a Train Post Office, so that visitors could see and enjoy it as well!

He has been doing it ever since for special events (Day of Railways, Night of Museums, …) on different railway cars from different owners. Transferring such an exhibition is quite tricky but it gives him the unique opportunity to bring life back to these historical cars. They’ve been held in several different carriages, some of which were over 100 years old!

Railway post offices have been discontinued in most countries in the past decades, slowly replaced by modern sorting machines in sorting centers and trucks. Petr is bringing them alive now and then with his awe-inspiring recreations — and sharing his memories with those who visit his museum.

For more information about the Czech Train Post Office, lots of interesting photos and to be updated about upcoming activities, visit his website at muzeumvlakoveposty.com.

February is over and the results from 2014's Postcrossing & Deutsche Post’s campaign are in!

Curious to find out how many postcards were sent from Germany last December? Think of a number and scroll down!

Postcrossers in Germany sent 83,824 postcards during December, raising a total of €8,382.40 for Stiftung Lesen! Hurray! :D

Congratulations to all the postcrossers and a big thank you to Deutsche Post, for making this possible! What a fantastic achievement — we are so, so proud of all of you!

We are still sorting out the prizes and will be in touch with the winners via email soon.

Hi guys! While Paulo and Ana (the big ones) are busy setting up their new home, we’re here to tell you all about the adventures we had in Canada last fall!

Calgary is a large city of 1.2 million people, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. It is a beautiful city in Southern Alberta and we came at the perfect time — the splashes of color can be spectacular this time of the year!

The first thing we noticed was this big pile or rocks on CDNLib's front yard. She explained to us that they were called Inuksuks, and were possibly used as symbols of direction, navigation or to mark a food cache by the Inuit of Canada’s North. In recent years they have become an international symbol of Canada — and were even featured on the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which took place in Vancouver!

A trip to Canada had to include some French-Canadian poutine—hot french fries topped with fresh cheese curd and hot gravy… so yummy! And we also had some amazingly fresh-made truffles from a local chocolatier… the pumpkin one was especially scrumptious and perfect for autumn.

And naturally, we had to try a “Double Double” (coffee, or in this case steeped tea, with two cream and two sugar) from world famous Tim Hortons!

We were lucky enough to be in Calgary for the first ever Postcrossing meet-up and we attended with CDNLib. While we were there we chatted with other postcrossers, exchanged some postcards, admired cards that others had received, heard some great Postcrossing stories, signed and wrote out some cards…

… and then posed for a group photo with everyone! Here is the whole group: die-dusche, Stormarela, CDNLib, herchelle, Angelamermaid, ButtonsandTins, salamadzer and Fracula. The meeting went so well, there are plans to do again in 6 months! Check out the meetups posts in the forum and join us if you are in the area!

Below is Calgary’s Public Library — with 18 locations across the city, it is a wonderful place to get together with friends, find some books and be entertained and informed. We were lucky enough to be there during a very special event.

The event is called “A Taste of Cultures” and participants celebrate the different cultures of the world, dressing up and performing in their traditional costumes and serving ethnic food.

It was great! We met these lovely ladies from Pakistan, Mexico and Cameroon.

CDNLib works at a school and one of the best parts of her job is reading stories to the children. The children LOVE to come to their school library and hear the stories and we were invited to listen to a few of them. What a great way to spend the day…visiting with children and hearing stories all day long!

As Halloween was fast approaching pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns were popping up all over the place.

CDNLib even made us costumes so that we could participate in the celebrations and have some more fun with the children! :)

But while we were in Canada, the country suffered two tragedies, as two Canadian soldiers were killed on home soil. The first was killed in a hit-and-run incident in Montreal, Quebec and the second was a reservist who was killed while acting as a Ceremonial Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, Ontario. The entire country mourned these two men and you could see the signs of the emotion and loss everywhere.

On Remembrance Day, poppies were worn on people’s lapels. Calgary has its own Field of Crosses Memorial Project that serves as a tribute to those who have served and died for our country from Southern Alberta, dating back to WWI. To date there are over 3000 crosses.

This year they included crosses for the two soldiers killed on Canadian soil in the previous weeks.

The day before we were going to leave, we were out enjoying the sunshine, with some clouds and a temperature of 17°C (62°F), when, within minutes, a change occurred and we could see the storm coming in from the Rocky Mountains—the wind picked up and the temperature dropped more than ten degrees…

… and the next morning, there was snow! Wow! Temperatures can surely change quickly in Southern Alberta!

Ok — time we get back inside our cozy envelope and fly to our next adventure!

Thanks for the great visit, CDNLib — that was a lot of fun!

Did you know that the oldest (unofficial) post box in South Africa is not an actual box… but a tree?

It’s true! In 1500, Pêro de Ataíde, captain of a Portuguese ship returning from the East, left a letter under a tree in Mossel Bay. The letter detailed the loss of some of the ships on their fleet and warned of troubles in the eastern seas. It was customary for passing ships to stop on the bay to take on food and fresh water, and so some years later, the letter was discovered and delivered to Portugal by another sea captain.

This was the start of the South African postal service, as seamen often left correspondence there, in the hopes of it being delivered by passing ships.

The impressive milkwood tree is said to be over 600 years old, and still stands there overlooking the bay. It has been declared a national monument, and a postbox was set up under it with its own special cancellation mark and everything! The postbox sits on what is now the Bartolomeu Dias Museum complex.

A big thank you to Cathy, the South African member who pointed out this tree for us and took the nice photos above. That is her auntie Chris on the left, mailing a postcard home!

Have you ever thanked your mail carrier for bringing you all those postcards to your doorstep, day after day, rain or shine? Now is your opportunity: February 4th is Thank a Mailman Day! :)

Leave your mail carrier a note, a treat, or just open the door and say thank you if you’re around… I’m sure they’ll appreciate the gesture!

And if you’re planning to do something special, do share — we’d love to hear about it!