Last weekend, from the 7th to the 9th of July, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the City of Le Havre, the iconic Royal de Luxe performed its newest creation: Franciscopolis in the "A Summer in Le Havre" event's program.
History of Royal de Luxe and Le Havre
The Giants first took their first steps in the city of Le Havre 25 years ago, and thereafter, the company returned with more spectacular performances to continue the Saga of the Giants series. As Le Havre is one of the most important port in the entire of France, the Scaphandrier, or the diver in English, represents the city's maritime relationships with the rest of the world.
A Giant Live Puppet Parade
I was particularly excited to be able to witness my first giant marionette parade from my apartment's balcony. I missed an opportunity to capture the front view of the little African giant since I was busy trying to salvage my lunch from the fire I started in the kitchen. As I hastily grabbed my phone and took the hustle and bustle that was happening down below on the streets.
With more than 10,000 spectators and volunteers, a crowd thronged the entire street.
There were security forces on horses...
in vans, and in cars to prevent against any threats of terrorism. Soldiers heavily armed with machine guns stood vigilant on the side roads.
Given the latest weapon of choice by the terrorists are vehicles, a blockade of 6 used cars was set up to prevent cars from entering the parade.
Although terrorism is always a threat, that doesn't stop the police on standby from being friendly. Here a police officer is showing a 6 year-old the interior of a police van. No wonder most French kids want to be a police officer!
People flooded the entire city of Le Havre to catch a glimpse of the Giants in front of the symbolic Marianne.
Finally, I managed to snap a quick picture of the first Giant.
And I gave a thumbs-up to the mobile performing band trailing behind the Giants. The musicians definitely needed some encouragement given that they are playing nonstop for 3 consecutive days for 8 hours straight!
We returned back to our balcony to catch the Scaphandrier!
The Wife looked particularly happy because she just had her staple of Magnum raspberry ice-cream. Feeling all relaxed without having to jostle with the crowd, she flashed her tiny victory sign at me.
And here comes, the Scaphandrier...
The Scaphandrier weighs 3 tonnes and has a height of 10.5 metre. Surrounding the Scaphandrier are the red Lilliputians, yup, like the Lilliputians from Guillver Travels. These Lilliputians worked tirelessly on the mechanics of the Giants, jumping up and down in order to parade the Giants around the city.
Here the Lilliputians worked on the ropes so the Scaphandrier can continue his journey around the city.
And off the Scaphandrier went...
After, a few hours, the Scaphandrier removed his helmet to quench his thirst directly from the firemen's hose!
The parade finally ended with the Scaphandrier disappearing in the water.
Next up: Bal des Merveilles (A world in music) 19 July to 23 July, Les Grandes Voiles (A prestigious fleet of 30 Tall Ships Regatta from around the world) 31st August to 3 September, and Week-end de la Glisse (International Festival of Extreme Sports Series) 25 to 27 August.