Showing posts with label Madrid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madrid. Show all posts

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Purchases


I didn't come to Madrid to shop, and most of my money I have spent on food, living and such things as movies, entrance tickets etc. (Well, OK, on postcards, too...)

Anyway, there are some wonderful things I haven't been able to resist, like the rubber stamps set above. I bought it on a tiny pop up market in the barrio of Malasaña - which, by the way, is filled with gorgeous, little shops, as this piece of art shows:

En tullut Madridiin ostosmatkalle, ja olenkin käyttänyt suurimman osan rahoistani ruokaan, asumiseen ja aineettomiin iloihin, kuten elokuviin, pääsylippuihin yms. (Ja, no juu, myös postikortteihin...)

Joitain asioita en vain ole voinut vastustaa, kuten yllä olevaa leimasinsettiä. Ostin sen pieneniltä pop up -markkinoilta, jotka järjestettiin perjantaina Malasañan kaupunginosassa. Kyseinen barrio on muuten täynnä toinen toistaan ihanempia pikkupuoteja, mistä esimerkkinä olkoon tämä:


It's a bracelet, and the girl who sold it to me was making these, too. You can never guess why I chose exactly this one, ha?

Kyseessä on rannekoru, ja sen on tehnyt sama tyttö, joka sen minulle myi. Ette varmaan ikinä arvaa, miksi valitsin juuri tämän nimenomaisen korun, eh?



I also bought a couple of masking tapes - too bad they didn't have that much of options. The prices were pretty high (3 EUR / piece) as well.

Ostinpa myös pari Masking Tape -rullaa - harmi vain, että valikoima oli tosi pieni ja hinnat taivaissa (3 euroa / kappale).

Thursday, 5 February 2015

Postcards from Madrid


During these almost five weeks that I have lived in the Spanish capital city, I have already purchased... well, too many postcards. It has become a kind of a tradition to go to Gran Vía either on Saturday or on Sunday and visit all the little (souvenir) shops selling cards near to that street.

Sadly, besides touristic and football related cards there's not much to see. A local postcrosser told me that she orders all her "other" cards online, and I haven't been able to find any other postcards in stores either.

Nevertheless, I've been thrilled to send cards from Spain and already have an inventory of 50 postcards or so. The country may change but I won't...

Olen asunut Espanjassa nyt viitisen viikkoa ja ostanut... no, liian monta postikorttia. Gran Víalla vierailusta joko lauantaisin tai sunnuntaisin on tullut jo eräänlainen traditio: otan metron keskustaan ja kiertelen sitten jokaisessa pikkuriikkisessä (matkamuisto)puodissa, jotka postikortteja myyvät.

Valitettavasti tarjonta on turisti- ja jalkapallokortteja lukuunottamatta melko huonoa; paikallinen crossaajakin kertoi tilaavansa kaikki vähänkin erikoisemmat korttinsa netistä, enkä minäkään ole onnistunut löytämään mitään edellä mainituista poikkeavaa.

Espanjasta on kuitenkin tullut lähetettyä iso pino kortteja ja olen ollut tosi innoissani crossaamisesta. Minulta löytyy jo noin 50 tyhjän kortin varasto; asuinmaa voi muuttua, mutta minä näköjään en...

Tuesday, 3 February 2015

More Spanish stamps!


On Saturday I finally had a chance to visit the main post office of Madrid. I took a bus from my house that was supposed to drive by the building, but but... I ended up in the middle of a peaceful demonstration and needed to walk the rest of the way as the bus had to stop because of the crowd. Huh, I don't think I've seen as many people in one place at once!

Viime lauantaina minulla oli viimeinkin aikaa poiketa Madridin pääpostissa. Hyppäsin kotiovelta bussin kyytiin toiveissani päästä melkein ovelta ovelle, mutta mutta... Päädyinkin yllättäen keskelle (rauhanomaista) mielenosoitusta ja jouduin kävelemään loppumatkan, koska bussi ei ihmisjoukon takia päässyt enää liikkumaan. Huh-huh, en ole varmaan ikinä nähnyt yhtä paljon ihmisiä samassa paikassa kuin tuolloin lauantaina!


For a moment I had my fears of the post office not being open... Well, luckily I didn't travel and walk in vain! I actually spent 30 minutes with the post officer who very friendly showed me all the stamps they had and also told what they represent. That's what I call customer service!

The photos show you some of the gems I purchased - I must say that I was very satisfied with my visit!

Hetken aikaa ehdin jo pelätä, ettei postitoimistokaan ole auki, kun meininki keskustassa oli sen verran poikkeuksellista... Onneksi reissu ei kuitenkaan osoittautunut turhaksi; kaikkea muuta! Vietin kolmisenkymmentä minuuttia jutellen postivirkailijan kanssa, joka ei ainoastaan esitellyt minulle jokaista valikoimassa olevaa merkkiä, vaan myös kärsivällisesti kertoi, mitä ne esittävät. Vau, mitä asiakaspalvelua!

Kuvissa on osa ostamistani aarteista - lienee turhaa sanoa, että olin tosi tyytyväinen vierailuuni!


... And well, the building where the post office is located isn't that bad either. One of my favorite things here - and it looks amazing in the night!

... Ja no joo, eipä tuo postilaitoksen rakennuskaan ole hullumman näköinen. Yksi suosikkijutuistani täällä - ja varsinkin öisin todella vaikuttavan näköinen!

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Two swaps

These were the last two swap cards that I received before leaving Tampere behind...

Almost three weeks have passed by in Spain already - hu! Yesterday I celebrated my birthday and woke up to the family singing feliz cumpleaños, with cake, hats and all. One of those moments in my life when I've been ab-so-lu-te-ly speechless.

Enjoy your day!

swap from Czech Republic

swap from Hong Kong

Sunday, 18 January 2015

Arrived Christmas cards, part II

More Christmas cards, here you go!

Christmas card from Germany

Christmas card from Finland
artwork by Mauri Kunnas

Christmas card from Finland

Christmas card from Finland

Christmas card from Finland

Christmas card from Finland
artwork by Martta Wendelin

P.S. I went to the Museo Reina Sofia to see Guernica by Pablo Picasso (among others) today - very impressive piece of art!

Friday, 16 January 2015

Arrived Christmas card, part I

OK, it's Christmas time again! Try to hang in there...

The "Madrish" January has been kind to me; today was the first "bad" day which included some rain (thank god it wasn't pouring, though). Otherwise, I've really enjoyed my stay in the Spanish capital. Work related issues are quite OK at the moment as well, but I'm not at the point of planning to stay here forever... But I must say, that I hadn't realized before, how beautiful and pleasant Spain could be.

And, of course, I love the fact that every day I notice that I understand more and more about people's speeches.

Anyway, let's get back to the basics; enjoy the Christmas cards!

swap from Germany

Christmas card from Germany

Christmas card from the Netherlands
artwork by Mila Marquis

Christmas card from Germany

Christmas card from Finland

Christmas card from Lithuania

Christmas card from Finland

Christmas card from Finland

Sunday, 11 January 2015

Christmas mail, part V

Hola a todos!

Thank you so much for all the answers I have received so far for my poll! They've already helped me a lot with my thoughts about the future of this blog.

The Spanish winter has been kind - it feels like our spring, actually... I can hardly believe it's January when walking outside in the sunshine! Today I met two postcrossers and had a very, very lovely afternoon and evening - gracias, Pilar y Victor! Ha sido un gran placer conoceros.

This post is all about the Christmas mail, but that's it from my side, I promise! I just have some received Christmas items to share after these...

Wishing you a refreshing Sunday!

Christmas surprise + letter to Nanako, Taiwan

Christmas surprise + letter to Shalina, Malaysia

Christmas surprise + letter to Thomas, the USA

Christmas surprise + letter to Yasemin, Turkey

letter, Christmas surprise + birthday card to Annika, Germany

Christmas surprise to Eva, Germany

Christmas surprise to João, Brazil

letter and Christmas surprise to Nika, Slovenia

letter and Christmas surprise to Renato, Brazil

letter, Christmas surprise and birthday card to Covadonga, Spain

... And this is how it turned out:

Sunday, 4 January 2015

Here again! + Mail to Germany

Many greetings from Madrid, Spain!!

This is my 2nd (well, actually the 3rd, but as we arrived so late on Friday I don't really count that) day in the Spanish capital city, and wow, there's so much to see and explore here... Plus I need to work a lot on my Spanish, I'm afraid. I do compare my skills to my German knowledge all the time, of course, and huh, I so much suck on this at the moment. I do understand quite a lot, thank god, but I'd so much like to be a lot better on this. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

And then something related to snail mailing: here's the package that I sent for Vanessa before Christmas, and luckily it arrived right on time! Plus, the greatest part: she liked the content of the package as well.

The package included Moomin sheets, a spoon, lip balm, a bookmark and candies along with the letter and a Christmas card.

letter and Christmas surprise to Vanessa, Germany

P.S. If you have good tips for Madrid or are actually living/visiting here... don't hesitate to contact me! My mail address is laura dot animismi at gmail dot com!