And now to France...

It is nice being in France because at least I can communicate a little....I am always happy being in la belle France and it feels very comfortable being there....let's have coffee and then go out and see what's out there, d'accord?

A few blocks out and I spy a flea market...let's have a look...

I always MUST look thru the old postcards...

Old coins, old currency, postcards, stamps, letters.....
what's not to like?

If you see this guy, follow him....trust me....he knows ALL the best places to go...

Inspiration is everywhere....even the soap looks beautiful...

La Poste has bikes all over...I was tempted to take one for a spin but I thought better of it..

It wasn't easy to keep up the travel journal with all the excitement but I did it.
Needed a pastry for energy after all that walking...

Feeding the La Poste mailbox...

This was just a brief look at Strasbourg -- a really lovely city in France -- lots to see and do and much fun to be had.  Museums, great restaurants and bakeries, beautiful old buildings, outdoor food markets, flea markets, cafes, amazing churches....You might want to put it on your list!

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T is for (Mint) Tea

Breakfast  on the roof overlooking Fes....
A great way to start off the day before heading out to the medina (or souk) and exploring.
Mint tea is the drink of choice in Morocco but I managed to avoid it.
The riad we stayed in served really good coffee (maybe because the owner is from Italy).
Mint tea...or coffee....but good luck finding anything alcoholic to drink ion Morocco.

Today I'm playing along with
Bleubeard and Elizabeth
with a T is For.....post. It is kind to have a little theme -- well, besides mail art of course -- and the theme for the Tuesday posts are to include a DRINK.
Being that my blog has Cappuccino in the title, that is no problem for me. 

I set out every day in Fes keeping my eye out for things that interest me...and you know....being a mail artist and all....I like mail slots..

And, I love post boxes. This one is sitting in a rather exotic (to me) locale but I am wondering what that message is on the post box?

Here's a cleaner version of a PO box....no graffiti on this one...

LETTERS
In two languages....French is the wide spread second language in Fes...not English. My pathetic French came in handy since both my Spanish and Arabic is limited to saying thank you.

I rather like it when I can't read anything....

I picked up quite a few earrings in the souk -- going to remove the ear wires and try to use them as charms in my travel journal. I love the Fatima's Hands ....

I got Henna stencils of the hands too...I just know I am going to think of something interesting to do with those...

Here's another lovely spot to catch up on working on my journal. I took the photo before messing it up with all my art supplies and paper ephemera...

Now, here is a BIG QUESTION for all of you out there -- Seth Apter -- a wonderful artist whom many of you already know -- posted a question on his blog's FaceBook page and asked "What is your preferred platform (to follow) -- Blog? Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest?"
The results showed Facebook and Pinterest and Instagram all more popular than blogs....
sigh...
But, I think, since Seth asked the question on FaceBook the results were skewed toward FB .... so, now I am asking YOU GUYS the question (and so is another wonderful artist and blogger)
Caterina Giglio
Inquiring minds want to know -- do you want to see this blog continue? Or is everyone on to FB, Pinterest and Instagram.
Blogging takes a lot of time and effort and what most bloggers want from that is just to know that there are like-minded folks out there actually reading the blog.
The best way to let me know, is to leave a comment.
But maybe you are on to other things. Personally, I don't care for Instagram much...and really don't look at Pinterest much either...I do like FB but for me, it doesn't replace reading wonderful blogs like Elizabeth's, Seth's and Caterina's....

So, something to ponder. Please do let me know what you think. And I hope you enjoy this post with some mint tea or coffee or adult beverage of your choice...
See you all soon....well, maybe...
and
Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate.

A PO in Poland

The Post Office in Krakow -- I think I'll have to go inside.
Want to come along?

Guess what? I could take photos at the Main Post Office in Krakow, Poland.
Yes!
Poland and Russia are postal-photo friendly.

Want to come inside with me? Looks promising, doesn't it. And I have a couple of secret weapons. I took my Postal Love zine with the Polish translation asking to get airmail stickers (for free) and buy local stamps. But just in case that didn't work.....
A very special friend of mine lives in Krakow and she escorted me to the PO and was my official translator.

OooOoo this was a really nice post office, as you can see...there was a special section for postal supplies and a whole room for philatelists.  I explored the whole place.

You just take a number and wait your turn....

We didn't have to wait for very long. US Post Offices would do well to have you take a number and have a place to sit to wait. I just stood in a very long line waiting to mail some Xmas boxes here in San Francisco.

Poczta Polska shopping bags? I might need one. 

Actually, I just might need two or three....

Besides buying the regular, local Polish stamps there were displays of special stamp-collecting stamps to ogle. And of course there were all those free postal forms I like to load up on for booklet-making and Postal ATC's. I think you knew that already.

This Polish Postal worker really didn't know what hit her when I showed up. At first she was kind of mystified but with the help of my zine, my pal's translations and of course, my charm, she really got into the spirit and started pulling out stamps for me to buy. And she let us tear up the sheets to get however many I wanted (picture that in a USA post office). And she gave me a bunch of (free) air mail stickers -- in Polish. Maybe she'll see this post. Wouldn't that be nice?

She didn't seem to mind me snapping photos like crazy. And she took my zine!

Thank you to my special friend. You know who you are.

This is the old main post office right down the street....I kind of wish they kept that one but the new modern one is pretty nice too.

  

And, here is another little PO right around the corner from our hotel.

Post a letter and buy a Pretzel -- one stop shopping.

If the day wasn't great enough already, after the PO tour and stamp excitement , my friend gifted me with her childhood stamp collection album.
How lucky am I?
I will certainly treasure it and think of her every time I page through it.

I think these are stamps commemorating the Polish Postal Service --  with post office building on them.

I have lots of happy Postal Memories from Poland!

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From Russia with Love

St. Petersburg Main Post Office

I don't think it was a coincidence that our hotel was just  about one and half blocks from the Main PO in St. Petersburg.
And get this -- the post offices in Russia are open SEVEN days a week and twenty-four hours a day.
Take THAT-- USPS!
I could go in the middle of the night!

Take a peek....looks promising.

Like many of the buildings in St Petersburg, the post office was vast and  quite busy too.
I was particularly partial to the green walls. And the wooden trim.

You can sit on a nice wooden bench to wait for your turn...

People were filling out forms and writing letters and mailing parcels and buying phone cards....and some people were walking around taking lots of photos and picking up as many free postal forms as she possibly could.....just sayin".......

They had a really nice display of stamps, first day covers and envelopes.

Love those blue post boxes!

See the guard sitting there on the left? He gave me carte blanche to photograph. Can you believe it?
I have been kicked out of so many PO's for taking photos and in Russian the guard said
"no problem".
And next to him is a door where all the stamp collectors hang out and buy stamps...I mustered up my courage and walked up to the woman working there and handed her my little "Postal Love" zine and the request to buy stamps all printed out thanks to Google-translate...
and it worked!
She helped me pick out some real beauties using a lot of sign language and now I am the proud owner of some great Russian postage stamps.

After the PO, my intrepid husband took me on the subway to a flea market. And a very out-of-the-way flea market I assure you...absolutely NO tourists to be seen...

After the subway we walked some streets, saw some delightful street vendors selling  food and I might have torn off off a bunch of those ads on that pole in Cyrillic....my travel journal needed to be filled....

It is kind of fun not being able to read anything...I loved the way the writing looked.

It rained the night before and the ground was muddy and it was freezing cold -- about 30 degrees.
Really not the most pleasant conditions to be at the flea market but it was worth it!

Too bad I couldn't fit this old typewriter in my suitcase....you don't see too many typers with Cyrillic  keys here in San Francisco...

Look at those keys!

After all that we needed a nice hot bowl of borscht and some pickled cabbage and beets to warm us up...you would too if you had been outside freezing to death. And getting a little over-excited. (hence, the glass of wine)

Russian Ephemera
You might be over-excited too if you found all this paper ephemera -- photos, identity cards,
homework.....

                                        Envelopes with letters inside (too bad I can't read them)

Packs of old currency
(that is going to be fun to collage with!)

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with all the ephemera, stamps, postal forms etc I picked up....
Any ideas? I am thinking of little booklets using the postal forms and Postal ATC's for each country I visited.
I am slowly catching up on my out-going mail. It hasn't been a great incoming week for me but I am hoping things improve soon.
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