Peeking into the Travel Journal

RUSSIAN PAGES
Here are some peeks into the travel journal. I make one for every (big) trip I take and they are among my favorite souvenirs. 

RUSSIAN PAGES
I like to put everything I can get my hands on inside...you know...brochures, business cards, stamps, menus, napkins, train, plane, tram and bus tickets....
Packaging, ads torn from poles, maps, postcards, photos...

RUSSIA
I never saw a cocktail like this one before!

RUSSIA (left) & HELSINKI AIRPORT (right)

KRAKOW PAGE

KRAKOW page

BUDAPEST
Don't these look like little stamps on this postcard?

BUDAPEST PAGES

BUDAPEST PAGES
(hello to Monika at the Stamp Museum)

BUDAPEST PAGES

BUDAPEST PAGES
I cut open a package of paprika and poured the paprika into a jar and added the package to the journal -- along with a goulash recipe on a postcard.
Smells pretty good too.

TRANSFER DAY -- rail tickets and forms and a lunch on the train photo...

I like adding LISTS to the journals. This is a list of what I saw out the train windows.
In France I made a list of what was in my frigo. And in Istanbul and France I made lists of the sounds I heard outside my window.

PRAGUE
Tickets from the boat ride on the Danube along with the "gingerbread" wrapper they gave us along with "free beer". There was a lot of beer in Prague. (But I don't drink beer).

                                                                                 

PRAGUE PAGES
Tram and subway map and tickets..

THE END

Budapest seems to have a lot of pages but actually I divided up the journal into equal sections before I left so each city has the same number of pages. Anything that wouldn't fit I just found another way to add it inside. I'm still working on this one...I do most of the work on them during the trip, adding in the photos after I get back home. A great way to extend the fun of the trip is to work on the travel journal before and after.

Have I missed anything? You guys have any other ideas? What do you stick in your travel journals?
I am always looking for new ideas.

You Asked For It!

Ok, this is going to make you a little crazy -- but you asked for it. I photographed some of the vintage ephemera I found at the flea markets on my trip.
Look at that bird?
Who knew money could be so beautiful?

Packets of money....I never see anything like this here in the USA. I guess it is old, out of circulation bills....

I wonder why this one has a stamp? Any ideas?

Of course I looked for anything "postal" that I could find....and there was a lot...

I just loved this little book with that stamp and the handwriting.

This is a school kid's notebook -- more lovely writing. (And to think they aren't teaching cursive writing in school anymore here).

Commemorative stamps on pretty sheets...I know I will think of something special to do with these.

An old cookbook with cake and sweets recipes.

From the flea market in St Petersburg

Old envelopes....

I love paper...

Old letters with lovely writing. I sure wish I could read them. Someday I guess my letters will end up at a flea market too. I hope someone will find them and make art out of them.

These are sealed for security. I saw examples of this with the exact same method of sealing wax and string at the Postal Museum in Budapest. Pretty cool. But what kept someone from just stealing the entire letter while en-route?

My Favorite Find
I got two complete books of stamps for about $12 each. The guy selling them said his father collected them but he didn't know anything about stamps. I am kicking myself for only buying the two. I just sit and page through the books looking at all the amazing stamps.

From Russia -- I think these are booklets for school kids homework or lessons. Found in a bookshop.

And then there are all the free postal forms to play with. Love the Cyrillic writing on these. 

More postal forms....see why my suitcase was heavy?

I am thinking of making booklets and Postal ATC's using these postal forms. Sound like a plan?
What would you do with them?
My husband said if I carted all that ephemera home I had better USE it.
So....any suggestions?

Everything was very inexpensive but I did have to buy the plane tickets so don't feel bad.

SEND GOOD MAIL --- GET GOOD MAIL

Postal in Prague

Fall was an especially nice time to be in Prague and seeing all the gold and orange leaves and the orange postboxes.
This one was outside the Prague Postal Museum.
No, they didn't allow photos and everyone was watching me closely. (I can't imagine why. Do I look sneaky?)
Yes, they did have a shop.

Some Prague Post Boxes came in pairs like this...

And here are some triplets.

If you're going out all day to hunt down post boxes and Postal Museums and go to the flea market, it is a good idea to have a BIG breakfast first.
They don't mess around when it comes to breakfast at the Cafe Louvre in Prague.
If three eggs with bacon and OJ isn't enough, you get apple cake with meringue on top too.
And, no, I did not eat all that...
But really, cake for breakfast? What's wrong with that?

Prague seemed to have more graffiti than the others places we visited.  I liked that bird.

I love the pink of this old stone with the the grey and the orange pop of the PO box.

I can't read Czech but I do know what posta means.....

Indeed.
Another PO that doesn't allow photos. This is killing me.

Well, there is always the outside to photograph.

The PO boxes are orange but the Postal trucks are blue. This one pulled up in front of a little PO and there was a frenzy of picture taking, much to the amusement of the driver. I amuse quite a number of people.
Even myself.

Nice. 

Lunch time!
Loads of outdoor food venders all over Prague. Very tempting.  

I jumped out of order with this post -- after Russia, we went to Krakow, but since that post isn't ready I thought I'd show you this one instead.
And I didn't have time to photograph the haul of ephemera from the flea market in Prague either......do you want to see it?
I'll work on all that next.

The worktable is covered with stuff, the food frenzy (here in the US) has begun, the travel journal is being worked on, I have about a million projects going on...
And, what are all of you guys doing?
Do Tell.

Happy Thanksgiving to the USA readers
and
Happy Mail Day to all.

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL
(and eat pie)

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.
SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL