Novosibirsk, located on the banks of the Ob River, is Russia’s third-largest city and the unofficial capital of Siberia—a place where summers are warm enough to swim and sunbathe (Novosibirsk has its own man-made beach on the shores of a reservoir) and winters can reach -45 degrees Celsius.
The city has a lot to offer visitors, including the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater, several universities, and several museums. The outdoor Museum for Railway Technology is especially interesting, as it houses many diesel and steam locomotives, electric trains, snowplows, and a variety of unusual carriages, including tank cars, hospital and prison cars, and even fire engines.
The Novosibirsk Trans-Siberian railway station is one of the largest in the country, and it was once at the centre of prisoner transport to gulags (Soviet forced labour camps). Today, it serves as the main departure point for train excursions to nearby cities, including the town of Berdsk on the shores of the Ob Sea—which is actually a man-made reservoir, not a sea.