Pont Des Arts (love lock bridge)

To be totally honest, my recent trip to Europe and the United Kingdom was probably the most ill-planned of all my travels. I normally have every little detail mapped out: I’d have a plan of action for every minute I’m away and I would follow that schedule to a “T”. Yes, I’m strange like that – I really think I’d make a great contender in The Amazing Race – except that I’m diminutive and can’t carry a giant backpack the way those contestants do. BUT — I digress.

As I was saying … when I went away last May, I seriously didn’t have any plans whatsoever. All I knew was that I’ll be in these cities on these days – and even though I had “must see places” (for Paris these were the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower) – I kinda just went with the flow and let myself be surprised by what I would discover.

One of the locales that wasn’t on my “must see list” was the Pont Des Arts or the “love lock bridge”. I only knew about this bridge because of the film, Now You See Me, and even so, I wouldn’t know where to find it in Paris! But since my sister asked me to put a lock on the bridge for her and her husband, it became IMPERATIVE that I find this place.

Fortunately, the love-lock bridge is just across the road from the Louvre and I found this out by accident. I took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour and the route ran past the bridge. I was so excited when I saw it from my perch on the upper deck of the bus, I wanted to get off and just look at all the padlocks. I didn’t though. Like a dutiful tourist, I stayed on until the end of the tour. I did go back later in the day to complete my task and … of course, take pictures!

Here are some of the locks on the lovely bridge. It’s no wonder a section of the bridge fell off – all those padlocks would definitely put a lot of stress on the railings. (hover over each image to view the captions).

A colourful heart-shaped padlock (and a purple combination lock)

and even more locks

This one’s wrapped in red organza.

If you don’t have a padlock, just write on one of the big metal hearts that were placed there by other lovers.

This one’s quite old. Rusted through but still there.

I think this was a bike lock and everyone put more locks on it.

Chain of padlocks

Padlocks on padlocks

More padlocks on padlocks.

The base of yet another lamp post.

More locks …

Hand-drawn heart on a lock

This one’s tied with a pretty pink bow.

Just. Too. Many!

Another of those metal hearts – this one’s for a family. Lovers still found a way to attach their locks on to it.

That’s the base of a lamp post. Crazy isn’t it?

Even the lamp itself was not spared.

Yes, I managed to put a lock in for my sister and brother-in-law, and I even have the photos to prove it (private images though so I won’t share those here). I tried to find their lock when I came back on the 12th of June but I swear, I couldn’t locate it! I know I put their lock on the 5th lamppost on the left coming from The Louvre – but it was just nowhere to be seen! 😦

It really would have been nice if I could have placed a lock there for me and my significant other but it’s not meant to be just yet. Maybe when I return to Paris (or Cologne! Their iconic bridge also had lots of locks on it – will share photos of those in another blog post) I would be able to put a lock for me and Mr. Right. Who knows, right? 🙂