Les cadenas d'amour

A curious custom developed in Europe sometime in the 1980s: young couples would symbolize their love by inscribing their names or initials on a padlock and attaching the lock to some public structure. The custom eventually evolved to attaching locks to bridge rails and tossing the key into the river below, sealing the relationship forever, as it were.

Can a love lock be picked? Our existential question of the day. Click to lockitup.

The custom of attaching "love locks" first appeared in Paris on the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge in the city center frequented by young artists and lovers (not to mention tourists). The city estimated that in 2010 there were upwards of two thousand locks attached to the bridge. Officials warned that they would be removed, citing them as damage to a historic structure. Although the city denies actually removing them, most of them disappeared in May, 2010.

That hasn't stopped the practice, though. The bridge in the photo above is the Pont de l'Archevêché on the upstream end of the Ile de la Cité. As you can see, the railing (which faces the cathedral of Notre Dame) is practically obliterated by love locks.

As usual, the information I relate here comes from Wikipedia. While my photos are true and accurate representations of what I see, I claim no accuracy whatsoever in my reporting. Have a nice day.