Liechtenstein: The Last Remaining Part of the Austrian Monarchy...

…of sorts. At the beginning of this month I attended a religious ceremony (my brother was made a Deacon of archbishop Haas) in that old and once useless and barren strip of land encircled by snow-capped Swiss mountains and the Rhine, frequented by kitschy sports-cars and suspicious banker-types. The ruling Prince being educated in Austria’s capital talks with a broad Viennese accent and has a couple of years ago received his people’s renewed vote (confirmation) to rule his country absolutely. His subjects are basically farmers who all got suddenly immensely rich by lending their addresses to foreign investors. Some- like 'farmer Ernst'- got a knack for it, and now he owns a bank called 'The Bank of Ernst'.

My mother and I had a blast- first we took some elegant cocktails basking in the sun enjoying the green-white-blue panorama and then we went to the museum where we were received with due ceremony by its obedient employees. Next day we attended said ecclesiastic rite and afterwards had a fun and drunken dinner with friends and relatives who had congregated there from all the neighbouring countries.