Where is it? Novosibirsk Oblast is located, as you might have guessed from the name, in western Siberia. It is bordered by Omsk and Tomsk oblasts, Kemerovo Oblast and Altai Krai. Kazahkstan is just to the south. The Ob River cuts through the region. Though it is small, the economic importance of its largest city has merited the Novosibirsk region its own time zone, and you can find the local time here.

What's the biggest city? Novosibirsk, whose population includes 1.4 of the region's 2.7 million people, according to the 2002 census. Novosibirsk is Russia's third-largest city after Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Who lives here? Overwhelmingly, ethnic Russians.

What do they do here? Science and industry are the two key underpinnings of Novosibirsk's economy. Many factory operations were moved here during World War II to prevent them from being destroyed in the bombing of western Russian. The Soviet Academy of Sciences opened in Novosibirsk in 1943, and Akademgorodok, the part of Novosibirsk in which it is located, is now home to about three dozen research institutes and academic facilities.

Does it have any English-language news sources? None that I have found.

How do I see what it looks like? Flickr has almost 3,000 shots, showing the city's architecture and winter weather. There are also a few pictures of the Novosibirsk Metro, which locals prefer to the above-ground traffic jams.

How do I get here? Novosibirsk was founded in 1893 as stop for the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the great train still pulls in here after a 48-hour ride from Moscow. If you want to get here more quickly, Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport is served by Aeroflot, S7 Airlines and a host of smaller, regional Russian carriers. Flying time from Moscow is about 4 hours. "Way to Russia" says Novosibirsk's hotels are nothing to write home about, but that could be changing: On July 18, InterContinental Hotels Group announced that it is building a 200-room Holiday Inn near the city's exhibition center, in partnership with a Moscow-based real estate company. The new hotel should be open in 2009.

Which adoption agencies work here? Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, the World Association for Children & Parents (WACAP)

Which Russian adoption bloggers have been here? The Schneider family brought their daughter home last year. Buck and Robin at "Our 1st Trip To Russia" are just home with Leia, and Jeff and Jenny at "Our Adoption Journey" are in process. There are also two Yahoo! groups, Novosibirsk_Adoption and the Kuibychev Baby Home Group.

Truly trivia: Alexander Karelin, the Greco-Roman wrestler who was one of Russia's greatest Olympic athletes, was born here.

Need more information? "Way To Russia" has a Novosibirsk guide. Kommersant has a profile that seems short, given everything that goes on here. You can check the region's Web site, in Russian, here. Here's the current weather in Novosibirsk.

Image Credit: ldd74