Tromsø, Norway

This AWESOME card arrived in a swap earlier this year. I totally adore it, it looks like something out of a fairytale with all those lights and snow, and the amazing northern lights. Thank you so much, Sissel! Oh, and... I'm always looking for more postcards from Norway so if you are reading this and want to swap, get it touch!



Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.

Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population. It is the largest city and the largest urban area in Northern Norway, and the second largest city and urban area in Sápmi (following Murmansk). Most of Tromsø, including the city centre, is located on the small island of Tromsøya in the county of Troms, 350 kilometres inside the arctic circle. Substantial parts of the urban area are also situated on the mainland to the east, and on parts of Kvaløya - a large island to the west. Tromsøya is connected to the mainland by the Tromsø Bridge and the Tromsøysund Tunnel, and to the island of Kvaløya by the Sandnessund Bridge. The city is warmer than most other places located on the same latitude, due to the warming effect of the Gulf Stream.

The city centre of Tromsø contains the highest number of old wooden houses in Northern Norway, the oldest house dating from 1789. The Arctic Cathedral, a modern church from 1965, is probably the most famous landmark in Tromsø. The city is a cultural centre for its region, several festivals taking place in the summer. Some of Norways most known musicians, Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge of the electronica duo Röyksopp, both grew up and started their careers in Tromsø.

The Khibiny Mountains, Russia

Today's last card is one of the many beautiful postcards I received from Andrey in Russia from a swap earlier this year. It's so difficult to choose which Russian postcards to post in this blog because I have SO many absolutely gorgeous views from there. I picked this one as it's slightly different to most Russian views - I don't tend to associate northern lights with Russia!



The Khibiny Mountains (or The Khibiny Massif) is one of the two main mountain ranges of the Kola Peninsula, Russia, within the Arctic Circle, located between Imandra and Umbozero lakes.

The massif is of oval shape of about 1,300 km2. and occupies the central part of the peninsula at a relative elevation of 900-1000 m above the surrounding plain. The mountains are not particularly high; the two highest peaks are the Yudytchvumtchchorr, which stands 1,201 metres, and the Chasnachorr, which stands 1,191 metres. The average elevation is 1,116 metres. The mountains form the shape of a horseshoe topped by a high plateau, drained by a series of deep canyons. The peaks are of plateau type, with steep slopes, with glaciers, icefields and snowfields in some places. The overall terrain is alpine tundra.

The massif is extremely rich in various minerals, mainly apatite and nepheline ores. 477 valid minerals have been reported and 108 of those are type localities or minerals first described in the Khibiny.

The Khibinskys are mostly uninhabited, except for one of the world's richest mineral quarries, with approximately 10% of all new minerals discovered there, including one that can potentially absorb radioactivity from nuclear waste. The cities of Apatity and Kirovsk are situated at the foot of the massif.

northern lights, Finland

Another card from the Finnish Summer RR...



I really, really love the colours in this one! Such lovely shades of pink and purple. ^_^ There's nothing on the card about where the picture was taken, but I'm assuming it was somewhere in Lapland.



And what made the card even better was that it came with a northern lights stamp. :) It's from a set of 3 stamps issued in 2009, representing northern lights (d'oh :P).