Short Track

I like the lighting on this card;  the last race of the day and a cup to be won?   Two riders competing in short track racing on mountain bikes.  This is a speed event taking place on a ¾ mile track. It is exciting to watch and apparently to compete in, I wouldn't know my cycling is much more sedate

My sender, Sasha, says she loves bicycles I would imagine Russia has a lot of open country to enjoy from a saddle. The card came with two contrasting stamps, the

one on the right with a different type of track on its wheels, looks as though the tank is about to roll out of the stamp.  This  is one of the "Weapons of Victory - Tanks" set  issued in 2010 to commemorate the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.  The vehicle is one of the Soviet Cavalry tanks, the BT-7M (BT means bystrokhadny tank or fast tank). Its nickname was Betka after the initials, these were lightly armoured but very mobile tanks.

The Palace on the left is the  Aleksandrovsky Palace, one of a set issued in June 2010 to celebrate the 300th Anniversary of the Foundation of Tsarskoye Selo, now know as Pushkin. A town on the outskirts of St Petersburg which has two palaces, this is the lesser known so not as visited. Built by Giacomo Quarenghi on order of Catherine the Great for her favourite godson Alexander (later Tzar Alexander I).  Its interesting short history and for what is happening to it now see the St Petersburg site  here  The stamp is from an attractive miniature sheet

with the writer and poet Alexander Pushkin's statue featured in the middle. 

Thank you Sasha for both the interesting stamps and card