On 1 May, the 'Ob Sea', close to Novosibirsk, was completely clear of ice.
You may be bang smack in the middle of old Imperial Russia, and so about as far from the sea as you can get, but Novosibirsk boasts several notable beaches.
One is in the city, called Nautilus, on the west bank of the Ob River near the Tube Bridge - and gets crowded on hot summer days.
Or venture to the Ob Sea, a vast artificial lake created in 1957, and filled in 1959 near Akademgorodok, where university students chill out between lectures.
Tyva republic registers Saudi-like heat but is also hit by wildfires.
'If we die, I love you,' says one bather struck by bullet-like giant hail stones.
So far the only hotel in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk's educational and scientific satellite community. Its name in Russian is 'Zolotaya Dolina', with locals quite often referring to it as 'ZD'.
The Golden Valley is ideally located for more than 20 research institutes and the House of Scientists which are all in walking distance. Ob sea beach on the bank of the reservoir filled in 1959 is also just a walk away through some stunningly beautiful pine and birth tree forests.
Unpretentious, The Golden Valley hotel offers ‘an excellent possibility for inexpensive but comfortable shelter for travellers’.
In the rest of the world, people are sure about one thing: Siberia = cold.
Once I managed to make the Kremlin inhabitants to talk like human beings. But this time it was a wall far stronger than the Kremlin’s.
Once I managed to make the Kremlin inhabitants to talk like human beings. But this time it was a wall far stronger than the Kremlin’s.
Mysterious 'gigantic' hole in remote region spotted by helicopters over gas-rich Yamal peninsula.