With the wondrous wedding season upon us, my mind always moves across the pond to poetic, beautiful Paris. Something about the City of Light makes couples flock to the exquisite city. A few years back on an anniversary trip, my husband and I had the opportunity to explore this enchanting city and discovered a way to leave part of hearts and our story there long after we returned home. It all started with a lock…
Paris has always been a popular stop for travelers while in Europe. Famous for romance, delectable food, wondrous wine and palatable pastries, it’s no wonder that many people make it a honeymoon destination or anniversary trip as well. A popular activity while in the city is to just stroll along the river walkways along the Seine.
Upon walking hand in hand along the pathways beside the river, we encountered a plethora of different sights- artists creating colorful paintings, picnic blankets set near the river’s edge with wine and cheese partakers, river boat tours with many people watchers taking in the sights, and one unusual sight that caught our eye- a bridge covered with locks of different shapes and sizes and colors! Intrigued by the conglomeration, we had to learn more about this interesting spectacle.
In the City of Light, there is a trendy gesture for couples to share a token of their love in a (somewhat) lasting memento. Asking a local near the bridge, we learned the tradition of couples writing their name on a lock and attaching it to the bridge metalwork originated on the Pont des Arts. The bridge connects the Palais du Louvre and the Institut de France. The bridge has been commonly referred to as ‘a symbol of passion and fidelity.”
Curious to understand more, I learned that the gesture was initiated around 2008. It was based on a 2006 novel by Italian Federico Moccia. Moccia’s novel, Ho Voglia di Te (I want You), notes a loving pair writing their names onto a padlock and attaching it to the Rome’s Milvian bridge. The couple then threw the keys into the river as a sign of eternal love. Hence, the tradition made its way to Paris and continues on…
Entwining our initials on the lock sold to us by a peddler on the bridge, we added a token of our story to hook on with so many warm hearts before us to be a part of this fun spirit of serendipity. Like many before and many after, we gently tossed the keys away to symbolize the strength of the long-lasting love lock tradition.
While all romance and things light and happy tickle our fancy, the weight of the locks can be structurally overbearing for the older bridges. Know if you partake in the Valentine-like tradition, snap a picture for your memory book as the locks may be removed. Removals of the locks have been noted as the weight of the locks were causing structural issues to the bridges of Paris which were built in the 1800’s. Nevertheless, the lovely locks move and groove through the City of Light finding their ways to 11 other bridges and landmarks even the iconic Eiffel towel.
Love grows and so does the tradition of locks-Locking a symbol of your love has even caught on in other cities such as NYC, Melbourne and Munich. Last summer in Pittsburgh, we even spied some locks on the 6th street bridge which connects Downtown to the northside.
So if you are traveling with your love and spy something colorful and metal attached to the bridges in the city you are visiting, it just may be a lovely lock - a beautiful reminder that love grows and lives joyfully in the hearts of us all!
