After solving the mystery of those rolls of carpet that are found on every street in Paris in our last blog, I mentioned those padlocks found on the guard rails of the walking bridges that cross the Seine. I guess I didn’t really notice them last year. I guess I was too agog looking at the Louvre, the Seine and the gorgeous Institut de France as I was walking back and forth on the Pont des Arts. I mean, really, who would notice these padlocks of various sizes attached to the fences on either side of the bridge when you are staring at the Louvre? But having taken a 3 month break from Paris to get warm in Delray Beach, quelle difference?
I guess last year, I sort of noticed the locks; at least enough to ask Katherine what she thought of them. And as the year progressed, you don’t really notice two or three locks growing into 6 or 7 locks, then multiplying to 20 or 30 locks. You get the picture. Walking frequently over the Pont des Arts, the small, gradual increase in the number of locks goes unnoticed. It’s like looking in the mirror every day and then one day you become aware that your hair is way too long and you need a haircut.
Well the first time this spring we walked over the Pont des Arts, it was like a lock plague had occurred. Hundreds, no thousands, of locks were attached to the fences. This time I had to find out what these locks were all about. Last year I thought that maybe the locks were remnants of bike thefts. You see these remnants all over Paris. People park their bikes and lock them up next to a fence or lamp pole. Sometimes all you see is a broken wheel attached to the pole; the rest of the bike is gone. Sometimes you see a smashed bike. Sometimes only a bike lock. But on closer inspection, these padlocks are different.
Some of these padlocks are so small they can barely close around the chain link. And upon a really close look, there is writing on the locks. And then the mystery is solved. They are padlocks of love! Names, initials, dates, and hearts are scraped in the metal lock surfaces. Undying love, forever declared, permanently on display for all to see.
So when Ross and his girlfriend, Diana, came to stay with us for a few days, we took them to the Louvre. We walked over the Pont des Arts and showed them the locks. Shock of shocks, the French lock police had swooped in and removed all the locks…..or at least most of them…..or more locks had been added since the lock purge just a few days before (the padlock purge made all the news, both the telly and the papers).... In any case, Ross and Diana continued on to explore the Louvre and we went shopping at le marché Maubert, our local market. 
On rue Monge, after Katherine had had her fix of "pain sucré" from the famed boulangerie "Eric Kayser," we spied a store selling several kinds of padlocks. We bought one for Ross and Diana. That night, they worked on “engraving” their padlock of love (or "cadenas d'amour") and the next morning they placed it on the Pont des Arts. Diana gave us strict instructions on where to locate it - "face the Louvre, then look for it on the left in the middle of the crossbar, after the second "poubelle" (garbage can)." Sure enough, a few days after they left, we strolled over to the Pont des Arts and, voilà, there was their cadenas d'amour. Katherine frequently walks across the Pont des Arts on her way to the shops on the rue Rivoli on the Right Bank so she's been checking on it (more regularly than I would like, I must say...) Soon enough, the "cadenas d'amour" police will surely come along in the dark of night and snip it off along with the other accumulating hordes. Until then we'll keep our eye on it until we leave Paris in October. And who knows, maybe Katherine and I will lock our love on the bridge…
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