Where is it? Perm Krai is located in western Russian at the foot of the Ural Mountains. It borders the Komi Republic, and the Bashkortostan, Udmurtia, Kirovskaya and Sverdlovskaya Oblasts. It has a two-hour time difference from Moscow and you can find the local time here.

What's the biggest city? Perm, whose population was recently estimated at 976,116 out of a total of 3 million for the entire region. The city's name is derived from the Ugro-Finnic language of the area's original inhabitants. From 1940 to 1957, it was re-christened Molotov after the Stalinist foreign minister who also lent his name to incendiary devices.

Who lives here? Mostly ethnic Russians. The Komi-Permyak ethnic minority once had their own Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area, but that was merged with Perm in 2005.

What do they do here? If Russia needs it, it is probably manufactured in Perm. This region is all about heavy industry, from chemicals to electrical components and aircraft parts.

Does it have any English-language news sources? The regional administration has a lot of business and investment news here.

How do I see what it looks like? Thanks to some indiscriminate keywording, there are more than a few bad hairdos shown when you search for "perm" on Flickr. There are also many shots of the Russian region.

How do I get here? Bolshoye Savino airport is served by the home-grown Perm Airlines, S7 Airlines and Aeroflot. The latter flies from Moscow via Sheremetyevo, while S7 operates from the other Moscow airport, Domodedovo.

Which adoption agencies work here? Rhode Island-based Gift of Life Adoption Services, which was accredited on July 19, 2007, as well as Adoption Center of Washington and Alliance for Children

Which Russian adoption bloggers have been here? Lisa at "Journey of Faith" lost her referrals for two girls between trips one and two after they were adopted by relatives. But she is headed back to Perm soon to meet two more children. Ctrose429 and kellypmomof3, members of Adoption.com, have been there. There is only one small Yahoo! group that I can find, adoptpermrussia.

Truly trivia: Ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev was born in Perm to a wealthy family in 1872. He founded the legendary dance company Ballets Russes in 1909, and it made stars of dancers and composers from George Balanchine to Igor Stravinsky.

Need more information? There's a U.S. consulate in Perm. Perm is a sister city of Louisville, and the Kentucky city maintains a nice site on its Russian partner The regional administration has an English-language information site. The privately owned Krasnov Tourist Agency has a detailed site with lots of travel information. "Way To Russia" hasn't been here yet, but a Kommersant has a solid Perm guide. Here's the current weather in Perm.

Image Credit: Hywel Owen