locks

Thursday, May 12, 2011: Paris


During our walks, we passed over two different bridges with an interesting tradition: locks.


There was a huge collection of locks that were latched to these gated bridges. It was a very urban-looking tradition in an otherwise traditional city. Most of the locks had identifying information (a couple's initials) or a little message and a date on them.

Thoughts:

(1) The locks seemed like the Parisian bridge version of graffiti. We wondered if the bridge reflected all the locks that had collected since the beginning of the tradition, or whether the Parisian authorities periodically cut off the locks, only for them to be replaced.


(2) Most of the locks had a past date on them. However, a few of the locks were forward-dated (we thought maybe it was an upcoming wedding date?). The oldest lock we saw on one of the bridges dated to 2007. We thought it'd be a pretty crazy Amazing Race challenge to find the oldest lock on the bridge.


(3) It would be brilliant if this tradition had been started by MasterLock or some other lock company.... almost on par with the Hallmark "Sweetest Day"or Smirnoff "You've been iced" movements.