Nyon, the home of Professor Calculus
That's when we run into the sketches of a bathyscaphe , a device with a name as strange as it looks, whose mission was to dive to great depths, withstanding extremely high pressures, to serve as "spy" on military or scientific missions . The father of the creature was Auguste Piccard, who managed to lower it to more than 10,000 meters in the waters of the Cape Verde archipelago in the 1950s. Before that, he already had several epic achievements, including ascending to the stratosphere with the sweet company of his wife, with whom, between invention and invention, he would give birth to a prolific saga of Swiss scientists and explorers: his son, Jacques, and his grandson, Bertrand, who just 14 years ago was the first to go around the world in a non-stop aerostat.
With everything and with this it is very possible that, at first, Piccard's surname does not give neither cold nor heat to most readers; but just by seeing a photo of him, many of those who grew up devouring Tintin books will be surprised by a face that will be very familiar to them. The robot portrait of him is as follows: elongated face, shiny bald with wild manes on the sides and round glasses. We have it. You just have to add a bowler hat, a green raincoat and his inseparable umbrella, to have the vivid image of Professor Calculus . It is not a matter of chance. Hergé was inspired by his genius and figure for the creation of the protagonist of El Affair Tronasol, something that, as it is to suppose, has been from the cradle cause of preening of his grandson (yes, Bertrand himself), a true fan of the bandee dessinée in general, and of the Belgian pencil in particular.
But the links between this beautiful little town of Roman origin on the shores of the lake, between Geneva and Lausanne, and this album do not end here. Nor the pilgrimage reasons of his admirers . In fact, according to the cartoonist himself, for his preparation, it was the first time that he traveled and took photographs with which to document his vignettes. Comic book in hand, tintin lovers can follow in the footsteps of Captain Hadock and Tintin on their quest to find Professor Calculus. in various locations that have hardly changed since 1956, the year of its creation, and that range from Geneva to Cervens, on the French coast of Lake Leman. The protagonists fly to Cointrin airport in Geneva (by the way, with Swiss), following the trail of a pack of cigarettes that takes them to the Cornavin hotel, and from there, informed by the concierge, they head to Nyon, where the professor has a appointment with his colleague Professor Topolino, an expert in ultrasound, who lives at 57 bis de la route de St. Cergue. It is only the beginning of the story.
On their way by road from Geneva, after a car chase by the villains, Tintin, Hadock and Milou fall into Lake Geneva and "An hour and a half later..." they appear together to the entrance sign to the town of Nyon: the first recognizable location . Other family snapshots will also appear on the following pages, such as the Quai des alpes, on the shores of the lake, surrounded by trees and the unmistakable green benches, or the Fontaine du Maiîre Jacques, on rue de Rive.
Although its interior cannot be visited, Professor Topolino's house is preserved , on Rute St. Cergue (but at 113, not 57 bis), an exact building depicted in the vignette, where Topolino is beaten, gagged, and confined to his basement by a Calculus impersonator. It is also here that an explosion takes place that blows up all its foundations and causes the firemen to immediately come to his aid. The 1953 red Willys jeep that Hergé drew as a public body vehicle can be visited on request at the fire department (Champ Colin, 4) , where the plates of this episode are also kept.
**The Nyon tourist office organizes themed routes **, which can be completed with other scenes from the area that served as inspiration in these vignettes, such as Cornavin station in Geneva which was actually the Lausanne station, and the Bordurie embassy that Hergé placed in the town of Rolle, on the shores of the lake, 15 kilometers from Nyon, and which is nothing more than the Geneva hotel school.
The Nyon Tourist Office offers Tintin-themed tours