Love Padlocks

I was intrigued by the literally, thousands of padlocks affixed to the bridges and gates all over Paris.  Many of them were inscribed with names and dates, and although I tried to find out what they meant ... no luck.  So many thanks to Wikipedia .. mystery solved.

 
These locks of love are fastened as a public display of everlasting love.  The practice is attributed to the novel  I Want You by Italian author Federico Moccia.

For a period of time, local authorities thought this to be a public nuisance and attempted to remove the padlocks.  The public outcry dissuaded any further attempts to remove the locks, and the impassioned were asked to merely refrain from throwing their keys into the public waterways.

Here is one of the locks that I found particularly noteworthy.  I love the idea of some hopeless romantic knitting this lock securely to the bridge.