There is no way I can fully summarize how tremendously cool this is in my short blog. Melinda is about out of her mind with interest and excitement. Get this…

The city of Nantes collaborates with this company called Royal de Luxe, best described as the maker of these HUGE marionettes, among other things. Based in Nantes, they travel all over the world to put on shows. The excitement in town right now is that they’re returning to Nantes with three days of performances beginning tomorrow, and have already kicked things off with a few surprises, thanks to the cooperative city.

One surprise has to do with making it look like a giant wall fell from the sky and crashed-landed in the center of town (see today’s photo – that’s Bernard in the white hat and Melinda in orange). The secrecy involved in planning this is stunning and the workmanship spectacular. The “installation” took place overnight, better ensuring the biggest surprise.

The other has to do with a huge dog marionette being frozen in a block of ice and being placed outside the ancient cathedral in town to melt. I presume that the melting is timed for a performance tomorrow, likely involving the dog walking or meeting up with the Little Giant.

Anyway, if this interests you at all, go take a look at these links:
Flickr Photos – Royal de Luxe
The Berlin Reunion
Facebook – Royal de Luxe
A Blog Post From 2005
2011 Schedule in Nantes