Yoshkar-Ola, Russia

well, lets close this blog with a Russian card...since I mentioned Moscow in the previous post...and I realized it's been a while since I've posted something Russian here...

RU-2028259

And this is an official card I received this year...showing the Obolenskiy-Nogotkov square in the evening, in the Russian town of Yoshkar-Ola, the capital city of the Mari Republic in Russia

Pretty cool name for a town that is...Yoshkar-Ola means red city in Mari. The current name is the third to have been given to the city. It was known as Tsaryovokokshaysk before 1919 and as Krasnokokshaysk between 1919 and 1927. These names were derived from the name of the Malaya Kokshaga River, which runs through the city. The city's old Mari name was Charla. Btw..the Mari language is spoken by nearly 500,000 people, primarily in the Mari Republic. It belongs to the Uralic language family.

what I absolutely love about this stamp is how its grey colour blends into the greyness of the back of the card, that they are almost like one! Awesome!!  It was issued this year in a set of 3 stamps for the Olympic Winter Games that are going to be held in Sochi next year, from Feb 7-23. Don't miss it =)