Potsdam, Germany Swap

I was happily surprised to receive a large envelope in my mailbox. I was confused, however, because I had no idea who it was from. I checked the envelope and it said it was from Germany, and I had not requested or agreed to swap multiple cards with a person from Germany. I opened the envelope to find these eight cards. When I searched my e-mail for the person's Postcrossing name, I found the sender. He had favorited one of my sent postcards, and I had offered to send it to him because I had more of that particular card. In return, he sent me all of these cards! Erwin is definitely one of the sweetest Postcrossers that I have come across!

I received the cards on July 26, 2014; they are all dated July 20, 2014. All but one of the cards have stamps. At first, I thought this was because he had received them through other swaps. I believed some were sent blank, and then he wrote on them. However, after further investigation, I realized that he had take stamps that had been sent to him and attached them to the postcards! How sweet is that?! It was really interesting to see all of the stamps!

This postcard is from Germany. On this one, Erwin wrote this quote, " Life is short "- but a smile is just the trouble of a second." It was written in German, but I translated it to English...using Google, of course. 

 Erwin sent me this one from Stralsund, Germany. It was a double from Germany for him.

 Erwin wrote on this one that this is The Marksburg and that since 2002 that it has been part of the UIVESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley. He said that he wishes me happiness, success, and health. (glück, erfolg, und Gesundheit)

 On this one, he wrote that it was 37 degrees Celsius. He also wrote a quote, but unfortunately, only part of it would translate to English. It is from Berlin.

 This one Erwin sent me, because it was a double for him, from Italy. The postcard is from Rome, Italy.

 This postcard is from Berlin and it has German poetry written on it that is translated into English. It says "There is no elevator to happiness, we must take stairs."

 

This beautiful postcard is also from Berlin. It has German writing on it that I was unable to translate to English. The card description says that it is a construction site with Column of Victory. 

This postcard is from Rila, Bulgaria. It was a double for Erwin.

I had messaged Erwin on Postcrossing to thank him, and part of his response was the following German proverb:

"Will you be happy in life, 
Carrying on of others to luck, 
For the joy that we give, 
Returns to the own heart. "  
    
 or in German: 

"Willst du glücklich sein im Leben, 
Trage bei zu andrer Glück, 
Denn die Freude, die wir geben, 
Kehrt ins eigne Herz zurück."