Love Lock Desecration
 

I thought I had seen everything, but this hits a new low. Walking from the Petit Palais across the beautiful Pont Alexandre III last week I was stunned when I looked up to see one of the lovely bronze nymphs that decorate that iconic structure had "Love Locks" snapped to one of the fingers of the hand holding a sea shell to its ear.

https://plus.google.com/photos/10836...38823983504426

Any @$#wipe who would do that to such a delightful work of art deserves to be love locked to the bottom of the Seine, IMHO!

:-(

Yet one more indication that there's no hope for the species. One step forward, 2 back.

For whatever reason I can't see the photo but my blood is boiling just thinking about it! People have no respect.

This is getting worse. I can't see the photo either.

I guess this is far far worse than the grafitti that has begun to appear closer and closer to the Duomo in Florence, or is it?

Yes, it is awful, but this is the very forum where, years ago, we first heard of love locks from savvy travelers who were anxious to be the first to talk about this phenomena.

My incompetence with the internet strikes again. Here is a workable link a kind soul on TA supplied.

http://architectureandinteriordesign...ii-locks-l.jpg

Oi vey.

Poor statue.

They are all over the Ponte Accademia in Venice.

I was so overwhelmed by these Pinteresque nightmare locks that I had to have 3 Stoli martinis and a Klonopin chaser at a beccafico in Campo San Stefano.

Then that big black guy tried to sell me a fake Prada bag.........


Thin

All is not lost:

http://www.metronews.fr/paris/anne-h...RQ8bb1gRZin5I/

The just need to hang a few tourist!

Let's see if the new mayor of Paris is sincere and actually puts forth this legislation.
It's an abomination!

It's totally brainless, but I held my tongue when someone on this very forum proudly mentioned their kids having done it.

I mean grown-up "kids."

Pinteresque? As in Harold?

I was grossed out to see The Pont de l'Archevêché also covered but The statue is almost shocking

This whole phenomenon raises an interesting question about people thinking their private concern trumps everyone else's when it comes to public space. Do other countries ever have the question about people leaving private tributes at the scene of traffic accidents? There have been cases in the UK of people getting upset when the local authorities start removing the wilted flowers and notes people have left at such spots, even after several months. We've had one spot near us where a certain young man (who, let's face it, was entirely responsible for his own motorbike accident) is still commemorated by repeated appearances of flowers a couple of years after it all happened (rumour has it, his family is not one that you'd want to mess with). Somehow, people feel they "own" such spots and need to mark it - in addition to whatever memorial they may have in cemeteries and their own homes.

What Patrick mentioned is pretty "popular" in Germany.
Mostly on rural roads you find on the spot of the scene small crosses commemorating victims of traffic accidents, sometimes with candles or flowers added. In the cities, these signs would be more temporary and somewhat not the norm.
I cannot imagine anyone having a problem with a few private flowers "invading" the public space. And I have never ever heard of an incident when the authorities would have removed such items.

The "self-made" Michael Jackson memorial (if fact, just a statue of a composer which fans "decorated" with posters, candles, flowers, teddy bears and such after the death of Michael Jackson) in downtown Munich did raise a few questions but has become part of the cityscape now.

Otherwise the lovelock frenzy is only a problem with one or two historic bridges in Berlin and I think Hamburg. There, these locks are regularly removed so it has deterred visitors from using these bridges for their obscure activity.

In Munich and Cologne, modern-day railway/pedestrian bridges are the object of desire for the love-lock people. But there no one cares as the rail network company also does not care as they say it is irrelevant for the structural integrity of the bridges.

Forgot to post the link to a picture of the Jackson Memorial
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3cQXkyRuZF...6729_22561.jpg