When Natalia in Saint Petersburg, Russia proposed a postcard swap some weeks ago, I could hardly resist.  In exchange for a handful of postcards promoting social causes, she sent me several beautiful views of her city at night.  Serendipitously, these cards fit in very nicely with Postcardy’s Postcard Scavenger Hunt for July: Night/Lights.

The backs of these cards have large, bold titles in Russian and English, with smaller titles in German, French, Spanish, and Italian.  Then the photo and publisher credits are listed in English and Russian, along with the publisher’s logo.  As you might imagine, and like many Russian cards (and Soviet cards before them), this leaves very little room for any message you might want to send along with the card.

Without further ado, please enjoy these views of Saint Petersburg at night. 

For Postcard Friendship Friday, a postcard from some new friends. This beautiful postcard arrived today from Elina, the photographer at Yaroslavl for Me.  She and Evgeny, two university students, felt that most of the information online about Russian life and culture was from an urban point of view, and decided to blog about life in the provinces.  Given that Yaroslavl is less than 200 miles from Moscow, I’m not sure how provincial it is; nevertheless, their observations, as well as the photos and the songs from local bands, are always interesting.

Elina tells me that this photo (which I presume that she took herself) is the view of Yaroslavl as seen from the bridge over the Kotorosl River.

The stamps, with a nice, clear postmark from Yaroslavl, feature the Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar’s Village), a collection of palaces outside Saint Petersburg.

Stop by yarfor.me and say hi; maybe Elina will send you a postcard and you’ll make a new friend, too. Once you’ve done that, don’t forget to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday.