Where is it? Tver Oblast is located in northwestern Russia. The Moscow region is its immediate neighbor to the east, so it is in the Moscow time zone. On its other borders are the regions of Smolensk, Novgorod and Vogograd. The Volga River flows through the region and its main city.

What's the biggest city? Tver, whose population includes 408,903 of the region's 1,471,459 million people, according to the 2002 census. From 1931 to 1990, the city was known as Kalinin, after the Bolshevik revolutionary Mikhail Kalinin. Half of the city's Duma, or legislature, are now on trial for a far-reaching corruption case that accuses them of accepting 4.3 million roubles in bribes.

Who lives here? Primarily ethnic Russians.

What do they do here? Tver has a highly diversified industrial economy, making everything from excavators to textiles. Several nuclear power plants furnish energy for all these opeations.

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

How do I see what it looks like? Flickr has over 1,000 shots, showing the Volga River's banks and many historic buildings. I'm particularly intrigued by the old embroidery in the historical museum.

How do I get here? By train or highway from Moscow. Tver is only about a two-hour drive from Sheremetyevo Airport.

Which adoption agencies work here? Adoption Options and Children's Hope International.

Which Russian adoption bloggers have been here? Kelly at the appropriately named "Tver Adoption Journey", Deborah at "God's Miraculous Gifts" and Jeana Davis at "Russian Adoption Journey". Ryan and Amy at "Riley Adoption" are waiting for a referral, as are Carrie and Michael at "It's A Small World After All" There is a huge Yahoo! group, AdoptTver.

Truly trivia: Andrei Tupolev, the father of Russian aviation, was born in the region.

Need more information? Despite its rich history Tver hasn't yet made the guides at "Way To Russia". A better choice is Kommersant. Here's the current weather. Before you panic: This is a British weather site and the temperature is given in Centigrade. The region's official Web site, in Russian, is here.

Image Credit: Dona Juanita