"STOLBY" NATIONAL PARK

Well, that didn't really take long. An English-Russian dictionary. a few googles, and voila. Outside, it was raining, and while I waited for my poor computer to execute my searches, I looked at these things: a newspaper slowly dissolving against the signpost by the bus stop, umbrellas of lovers moving like pairs of mushrooms underneath my balcony (my own response to the St. Petersburg postcard), a streetlight coming to life, seagulls settling on a rooftop but sliding down towards the drain because of the wet surface. Now, I sit here knowing where Ira has been.

Ok, "Stolby" is a nature reserve in the heart of Russia, near the Western border of Mongolia and the Eastern border of Kazakhstan. Funny how these borders form an X on the map; Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and China in a perfect cross. And just north of this x-shape lies Stolby, near the city of Krasnoyarsk, where the Trans-Siberian railway crosses the mighty river Yensei. Stolby is home to a famous rock called Taknak, which may or may not be these very postcard rocks. As yet I am unsure of - and my computer is too slow to - tell you more about that one. The mountains - the Eastern Sayan mountains - were formed by pulses of magma pushed up from the ground. (Pimple mountains! Ira with her foot on the pimple mountains. Ira of the pimple mountains!)

I think the rock looks more like a thumb.