I can't comment on Paris, but I thought I read that this was a practice of local lovebirds on the Ponte Vecchio .

This explains all the locks we saw on the pedestrian bridge in Salzurg. I don't think the locks were actually particularly defacing this bridge, but throwing all those keys in the river is a bad idea.

Tourists do a lot of stupid things everywhere and cause damage about everywhere they go, unfortunately, but this isn't just a Paris phenomenon and I'm not sure it is just tourists. According to Wikipedia, this is some strange phenom all over the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_padlocks

I don't think it's romantic at all, but I think stuff like that is stupid.

People are affixing locks to a bridge in Wroclaw as well. It's becoming an international trend.

I think this is more the work of young people so perhaps posting on the thorn tree site would be a good idea.

I also think that it's not only tourists who do this but students as well. I can't imagine that Wroclaw gets the number of tourists who arrive with locks to put on a bridge. And Wroclaw doesn't seem to be a particularly romantic destination.

Unless someone is monitoring who is putting the locks on bridges then it's unfair to blame it all on tourists. Where did you get your information that it's only tourists who are culpable? Could it possibly also be people who live, work, and attend school in these cities?

We also noticed this in Prague on Kampa Island on a small bridge - it was near John Lennon's memorial, I think.

The first time I saw it was in Bolzano, Italy.

My understanding is, as Bitter said, it started in Italy with local lovers, which is where I first saw it.

Phread, I have enjoyed some of your other blog entries in previous weeks, so I mean this in the best way: I think you need to proofread this entry because there are sentence fragments and overall it's not easy to follow what you're trying to say. (Look at paragraphs 2-4.) It seems very passionate but not as articulate as usual. Oh, and that bracelet is great!

I'm back from Paris for a week. I did see those locks and thought they looked pretty...not realizing that it was causing damage. Wouldn't it be easy for the local government to squash the habit by taking most of them off and posting signs?

So I guess this is the new "carving initials in a tree".

Of course the couple I saw doing it last year...

Were French

So "blame the tourists" may be popular, but at least a few of the "culprits" probably aren't tourist, but teenagers who think this is cute (this couple had about 4 of the stupid locks and I was thinking "if you 'love' survives longer then it takes someone to cut the lock off you will be lucky" LOL!)

They do this on bridges all over Europe and some spots in Asia also, but it began in Italy.

It certainly is not just tourists. People get married and put a lock on the bridge. Here in Frankfurt it is simply a popular thing to do on the Eisener Steg bridge.

ggreen, I really appreciate the critiques, I will get on it now.
china_cat, yes I worry about the fish, too.
ACarol, lots of French tourists in Paris. And non-French, taxpaying locals, for that matter. You point has been well taken.
Be it tourists or locals, it would be great if people got the word out to stop....

well, i only saw it on a pretty miserable looking bridge in Paris, and compared to the vehicle noise and general pollution in the city, it seems small beer.

that's not to want to encourage this sort of thing, but it's easy to get it out of perspective. and surely it's up to the authorities in these cities to put up some signs, and if necessary, make a few arrests for criminal damage.

word would then get round quickly enough!

and they are flying around the world burning fossil fuels, destroying the planet.

Your proposal on this is?

This really looks more like the sort of thing a traveler would do, not a tourist.

It gives locals a good reason to not appreciate visitors, so the 'good' tourists are likely to start suffering from reactions to the insensitive tourists sooner or later.

I would like to ask Phread a question.

Don't the people you photgraph get angry with you for invading their privacy?

If I was walking down the road with my husband arm/arm and somebody jumped out and snapped a photo of us I would probably throw something at them. (Or I would shoot them if I had my Holland & Holland hunting rifle with me.)

Just wondering.

I think it is different for people like Tommy Ton, Kamel, Garance or Scott because they are photographing the fashion flock and these people love an audience.

Thin--who likes Deux Magots better than Flore because it is next to the windows of Louis Vuitton

"The danger of going out in public is that you might have your picture taken." -- Diane Arbus

See also the recent documentary "Bill Cunningham New York."

Been to Paris many times and never really noticed the locks like your pictures show - I believe you and perhaps because i have not been to Paris in a few years this is a recent trend. That said I find it rather cute and in no way do the photos you present upset me at all - and if the city of Paris wanted to some strong bolt cutters like Parisian bike thieves have quickly and easily used for years could get rid of the locks in one fell swoop if they wanted to - may even be a work stimulus program Hollande could use to give folks work - I mean those zillions cleaning the streets with medieval looking brooms could easily be put to this task as well.

PalenQ, interestingly according to the wikipedia entry Christina posted above:
"In Paris Town Hall in May 2010 expressed concern over the growing number of love-locks on the Pont des Arts, Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor and the Pont de l'Archevêché bridges, stating: 'they raise problems for the preservation of our architectural heritage'. Lovelocks disappeared suddenly in 2010, but the Administration denied responsibility. The Pont de l'Archevêché saw the return of those love-locks immediately."

Positively Sisyphean!!

And Phread, you're very welcome. I enjoy living vicariously a little bit of la vie parisienne through your posts!

I have seen the documentary on Bill Cunningham.

I probably saw it before you did. My friend and I had lunch at the French Culinary Institute (L'ecole) in Soho, then we walked over to the IFC Center to see the film. The place was packed. This was March, 2011.

I have met Bill as he used to come to the shows of Todd Oldham, my former employer.

And if you are so smart you would know that Bill has his subjects sign a release so the photos can be shown in the Times.

Does Phread do this?

Also, most people would KILL to have Bill photograph them.

My Lanvin, you have such a flair for the obvious.


Please, I am Thingorjus!

ggreen - yes Sisyphean for sure - but like graffiti the theory is that if you clean it up quick enough that's the best way to deter it. How about security cameras to nab the miscreants - assuming the are violating some law - like a littering law?

But for me these type things only endear me to a place not turn me off - I love the bright graffiti everywhere in a place like Italy -great art at times - as great as boring Old Masters in stuffy art museums - a living art - and the lock thing is much like graffiti it seems though less conpisuous.

I don't mind the locks on the link fences but when they start abusing the monuments , sculptures like that poor crab, I'm all for some punishment.

We actually saw a fence covered with chewing/bubble gum in Assisi (up the big hill to the fort).

Phread, maybe put the word out that the keys are valuable--sure to be folks taking up diving!

OR set up a card table and sell chains for the lovers to hang the keys? There's money to be made from this.

I'm with cigalechanta. Graffitti bothers me more than locks on fences. But keys in the Seine can't be a good thing.

But keys in the Seine can be used to open locks in the Seine!

Pepper, I do not jump out and snap photos. I stand pretty obviously on the sidewalk, often half way in an intersection, with a rather large camera and a not very zoom lens (I can't shoot until thet are pretty close). People see me. Those who do not want me to take their photos make it very clear and I happily comply. Unlike Bil Cunningham, I do not get paid for this and will never use the photos for advertising, so I do not require a release.
Like Bill, people ask me to take their photos all the time.
I live here. Not only are people constantly taking photos of me, but they ask me to step back, step forward, or repeat an action for their photos. Just today, having a romantic moment with Mr French, two women asked him to actually leave our table to photograph them. Photography seems to have become part of the Paris experience.
TDudette, love the chain idea!

This trend started a number of years ago, I think on the on the Ponte Milvio in Rome..it seems that Rome has designated "official" spots for the locks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/world/europe/05iht-rome.4.6991537.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8719307/Venice-cracks-down-on-love-locks.html


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8953642/Rome-orders-Ponte-Milvio-love-padlocks-removed.html

<< But for me these type things only endear me to a place not turn me off >>

Me too! Though I haven't seen the fences full of locks like those Phread has - just a few here and there. Southern Italy has some great graffiti, much better than generic tagging. Love those Circumvesuviana trains!

That said, there is clearly a problem with the locks being a target for metal thieves cutting out huge pieces of fencing. Sounds at least as dangerous for passerby as the similar thieves here in NYC who have been stealing manhole covers!

throw the key at those lock losers!

I am glad to read this and will most definitely NOT be bringing a lock to Paris in Sept - at least not to leave anywhere! I had heard of this in Italy, but did not know it was happening in Paris.