Tomsk, Russia

Tomsk ( Томск ) is a city situated in Siberia located by Tom river and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast . Being one of the oldest cities in Siberia it celebrated its 400th aniversary in 2004. The statue here is really cute , I'm not sure what it is but it strongly reminds me a Russian cartoon I used to watch as a child :)) Are they the same wolves or ??? :D 

Yekaterinburg , Russia

You might wonder why I write Yekaterinburg while the card writes Sverdlovsk on it ! Well , the card is of USSR era and by that time the city was known as Sverdlovsk in honour of the communist party leader Yakov Sverdlov. After 1991 took back its old name Yekaterinburg in honour of Yekaterina , the wife of Tsar Peter the Great . It is the 4th largest city in Russia and it is situated near the "borders" between the European & Asian part of the country . It is also known as the place where the last Russian Tsar Nikolay II and his family were executed in 1918.

The building shown is Ural State University  

Moscow , Russia

This week my postman seems to ignore me bringing me only one postcard , so I'd get better back to my old ones for a while . I have removed the 2nd pile from my box and I'll randomly choose 10 out of it everytime I feel that this poor blog is neglected . Today I'm in the mood for writing so here you are the first 10 :)

I'll start with the only new one though which came last Monday from Russia. It was sent from Oksana and it is showing the most recognizable spot of Moscow ... St Basil Cathedral . Spashibo bolshoe dear 

Gelendzhik , Russia

 For all these years I have this card I used to believe that this city was situated in the North of Russia (!) . I don't know how I had that impression really until today that I googled it and found out it is in the very south of Russia in the shores of the Black Sea. To be more exact :

Gelendzhik (Russian: Геленджи́к) is a resort town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the Gelendzhik Bay of the Black Sea, between Novorossiysk and Tuapse . Greater Gelendzhik sprawls for 102 kilometers  along the coastline and covers an area of 122,754 hectares , although only 1,926 hectares  fall within the boundaries of Gelendzhik proper. Population: 54,980 (2010 Census. ( From Wikipedia as usual )

During the Soviet period, Gelendzhik was developed as a spa. It possesses sand beaches, three waterparks, two aerial tramway lines, and two Orthodox churches (from 1909 and 1913, respectively). The environs of Gelendzhik are noted for a chain of waterfalls, an outcrop of dolmens, two extremely ancient pine and juniper groves, and the Sail Rock, located 17 kilometers (11 mi) from the town's central area. The coastal village ofArkhipo-Osipovka, administrated from Gelendzhik, contains the terminus of the Blue Stream gas pipeline. An annual hydroaviasalon is held in Gelendzhik since 1996.

Moscow , Russia

An official one from Russia and its capital Moscow. After all my Asian -Siberian ones not bad for a change. I'm sure many Russian cards will follow but that country is so vast and diverse that it's hard to get bored with it !
In the picture you can see Novodevichy convent and now as usual Wiki speaks for me :

Novodevichy Convent, also known as Bogoroditse-Smolensky Monastery (Russian: Новоде́вичий монасты́рь, Богоро́дице-Смоле́нский монасты́рь), is probably the best-known cloister of Moscow. Its name, sometimes translated as the New Maidens' Monastery, was devised to differ from an ancient maidens' convent within the Moscow Kremlin. Unlike other Moscow cloisters, it has remained virtually intact since the 17th century. In 2004, it was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

spasibo Polinka

St. Petersburg , Russia

An official card from Russia , showing St Petersburg . To me it must be the most beautiful spot of the city as it combines ...bridge & cathedral , two of my fave card depictions at the moment ;)... and it is a night view what more can I ask? It is showing Peter the Great Bridge & the Smolny Cathedral . Спасибо большое, Анастасия

Altay Republic , Russia

I have posted before cards of Altay Republic and Katun River but I was lucky to receive another one thanks to Elena . So enjoy the view

Ufa, Bashkortostan Republic , Russia

Another swap made with Russia resulted to card from Bashkortostan Republic also known as Bashkiria which is a federal subject of Russia between the Volga river and Ural mountains. In short where European Russia ends and Asian begins.It is inhabited by many ethnic groups , mainly by Russians (36 %), Bashkirs  (30 % ) and Tatars (25%) as well as Chuvash , Mari , Ukrainian, Mordovian , Udmurt , Belarusians. It is considered to be the muslim center of Russia as the population there is at about 55% Muslim . Capital of the republic is the city of Ufa. One of the most popular monuments in Ufa is the Monument Druzni Narodov. It was founded in 1957 commemorating the 400 years anniversary of Bashkiria free will joining to the Russian state/ It's height is 33 mt and you can see two girls statues being there , one is Russian ,one is Bashkir symbolizing the friendship between those two nations . Большое спасибо to Alina or I guess I should say РӘХМӘТ too :)

Altay Republic , Russia

It's definite I'm in love with the impressive Russian nature! So here you are 2 cards from Altay Republic to show you why :D The snow capped mountain is Mt Belukha in the border line of Russia - Kazakhstan ! Mongolia & Xinyiang ( China ) are not very far from there either :) And the second card shows an ultra beautiful sunset over Katun river in the village of Askat , a litlle northern up :) Spasibo Aleksandr :)

Komi Republic , Russia

Not much to say here as I have remained speechless of the natural beauty of that Russian Republic :) Long live Komi Respublike as these cards were issued to celebrate the 90 years of Komi Rep. You can see :
1.The National Park of "Yugyd va"
2.The Udora district &
3.The Pechora -Ilych Nature Reserve

Aleksandr , bolshoe spashibo :)

Kamchatka , Russia

I have to consider myself lucky to receive this marvellous one from Russia ! Russia fascinates me and not only the european part of it , but also the wilderness of the vast Asian part. And this one came all way from the Russian Far East city of Chabarovsk showing the volcanoes of their "near-by" Kamchatka ! Near-by is relatively speaking as it might look "close" in the map , but the distances ae loooong :D according to Wikipedia :
The Volcanoes of Kamchatka are a large group of volcanoes situated on the Kamchatka peninsula. The Kamchatka River and the surrounding central side valley are flanked by large volcanic belts containing around 160 volcanoes, 29 of them still active. The peninsula has a high density of volcanoes and associated volcanic phenomena, with 19 active volcanoes being included in the six UNESCO World Heritage List sites in the Volcanoes of Kamchatka group, most of them on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The highest volcano is Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4,750 m or 15,584 ft), the largest active volcano in the Northern Hemisphere, while the most striking is Kronotsky, whose perfect cone was said by celebrated volcanologists Robert and Barbara Decker to be a prime candidate for the world's most beautiful volcano. Somewhat more accessible are the three volcanoes visible from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky:Koryaksky, Avachinsky, and Kozelsky. In the center of Kamchatka is Eurasia's world famous Geyser Valley which was partly destroyed by a massive mudslide in June 2007.

Owing to the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, deep-focus seismic events and tsunamis are fairly common. A pair of megathrust earthquakesoccurred off the coast on October 16, 1737, and on November 4, 1952, in the magnitude of ~9.3 and 8.2 respectively. A chain of more shallow earthquakes were recorded as recently as April 2006.

These volcanic features are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, that are capable of surviving in extremely hot environments.

It came as an official and my " spasibo " goes to Natalia :)

St Petersburg Russia

and we stay in Russia but we move up to St Petersburg or to ex - Leningrad ;-) Why do I mention Leningrad? Well the card says so , as it is an old Soviet era one , in amazing perfect condition though , not intented to complain ;-) It is showing St Isaacs Square , a major square in the city near Mariinsky Palace ... However the card is an official from Ukraine , but I will list it as Russian of course .. Thank you Anna

Moscow , Russia

.... and from Poland to their neighbours in Russia. Postcard is an official one from Moscow . Shows the V.V.C , meaning the Exposition Center of Russia . According to the sender it is a favorite spot for Russian to go for a walk or riding their bicycle or roller -skate . The fountain is called " Friendship of nations " ;-)

Spashibo bolshoe Irina