There were never any barriers during the parades because they didn't give out the exact route ahead of time. This makes everything more spontaneous and more interactive because you have to really hunt down what's going on if you want to see it. (It's not that hard -- you look for the mass of people.) In this photo, you can see the red and white ribbon that they use as a moving barrier. The guy in the tan shirt with the backpack is part of group holding the ribbon and keeping people back. *

The rocket was enormous. Yes, the Petite Géant started out in it. Check the photos from the Nantes website. They had a lot of trouble getting it onto the truck. *

The lackeys did all of the work making the Petite Géante come to life. There are two rows of four guys, one on each side. For each step, one of them runs ahead with a rope and heaves to lift the leg for one step. The next guy takes the rope and does the same thing. The lower leg swings forward on its own, but there's a guy behind that prevents the foot from swinging too far forward. *

Here is a picture of some of the cabling. They detach and re-attach the cables to different points to get her to do different things. It's amazing. *

This is the crew on the beam. The two people at the top are controlling head movements. I never figured out what the one in the middle did. *

Here's the back of the truck that's actually providing the power. *