Love locks, or love padlocks, have popped up in tourist heavy locations around the world for years.
Attached to a bridge or other public fixture, love locks are supposed to symbolize a couple’s unbreakable love.
Fromage.
Sure, it’s a romantic idea to some but the negative impact is often not considered. Paris, for example, chose to change the design of Pont des Arts (the pedestrian only bridge the spans the Seine) after the added weight of countless locks caused the bridge to partially collapse.
So what are people doing with their love locks now? Where there’s a will, there’s a way – they’re still appearing around the city wherever people can attach them.
And don’t worry, the Pont des Arts is still being umm “decorated”.
Shout out to The Big Guy wandering around Paris with a Sharpie in his pocket. I can only imagine where else he scrawled this.
Bonne journée!
Marla
In case you haven’t seen my take on the love locks, here’s the link:
https://operasandcycling.com/pont-des-arts-without-the-love-locks/
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Great post, as always!
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Thanks!
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I am wondering who got started with this idea.
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And why! 😄 I do remember seeing something online about it not being Paris. Apparently they only started showing up there in the mid to late 2000s.
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I think it is a cute idea. Just simply curious.
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Ugh! I have a particular dislike for vandals and these love locks qualify as vandalism for me. Don’t even get me started on Big Guy.
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I mean, he refers to himself as “Big Guy”. 🤣
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Mannaggia! I don’t know who thought of this dumb custom, but the first time I witnessed it was in 2004 on the Ponte Vecchio in Firenze. There were hundreds of them, and soon afterwards they just began cutting them off. Last time I was there I did not see any locks. They do terrible damage to priceless structures. Nice photos of them though! Ciao, Cristina
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