Secrets of the Riviera

This is one of the best Tintin adventures, “The Secret of the Unicorn”, translated to one of the smaller national languages in Europe, Monégasque, the native language of Monaco on the French Riviera. My Monégasque is unfortunately a bit rusty, but my sources tell me it’s a really a dialect of Ligurian, the regional language of Liguria (including Genua)…and the Italian Riviera! Does this mean Columbus cursed like Captain Haddock's illustrious forebears in this translation…?

An Afghan in Monte Carlo

Afghan Hounds have a classy, aristocratic reputation. This is the dog of choice of celebrities and zillionaires. It's therefore fitting that Monaco has issued a stamp showing this king of dog breeds. Let's be honest, Monaco isn't a real nation, it's more like a floating casino overseen by an American businessman who pretends to be prince. Of course, Afghan Hounds are completely impossible to really tame, so I suppose the poor servants of the rich folk down Monte Carlo has to take them out for a stroll. The rich owners can't cope with them themselves. I wonder how many stray Afghans are running around on the beaches of the French Riviera, ha ha. Somehow, it seems fitting that this independent-minded hound also has a strange "hippie" image...

Only for royalists?

A review of "Cephalopods from the Scientific Expeditions of Prince Albert I of Monaco" 

I admit that I only glanced through this obscure book very quickly. It's another Smithsonian institution special. The book is a translation of a part of a more extensive work, written by Albert I, the prince of Monaco. Apparently, the prince was a keen supporter of scientific endeavors and something of a scientist himself. This particular work deals with cephalopods (squids) caught during several scientific expeditions. It only contains a few plates, and the text seems to deal mostly with the caught specimens, rather than the species to which they belong. Sometimes, the poor squids were caught without a head or tentacles! This work is obviously of interest only to very specialized researchers, although a crazy royalist admirer of the autocratic prince Albert might perhaps also find it interesting as a collectors' item.