How did this tradition start? Well, first let me say that I\u2019m using the word tradition lightly here. The act itself isn\u2019t new, but it\u2019s only become trendy in the past decade or so (in Paris, anyway). Nevertheless, the act has become part of the capital\u2019s modern-day heritage.<\/p>\n
There are varying accounts of how les cadenas d\u2019amour <\/strong>started, but the most common tale takes place en Serbie <\/strong>(in Serbia) in the town of Vrnja\u010dka Banja during World War 1. Schoolmistress Nada est tomb\u00e9e amoureuse d’un\u00a0<\/strong>(fell in love with a) Serbian officer named Relja. Relja went off to war in Greece where he fell in love with a woman from Corfu (he probably used\u00a0a wicked pick up line<\/a>).\u00a0He called off his previous engagement. \u00a0Les ruptures <\/strong>(breakups) absolutely suck, and Nada never quite got over it. She died some time later from a broken heart. Women in Vrnja\u010dka Banja, inspired by Nada’s sad story, wanted to protect their own hearts, so they wrote their names and the names of their loved ones on padlocks and attached them to the bridge where Nada and Relja used to meet. Une tradition est n\u00e9e <\/strong>(a tradition was born)!<\/p>\n Well, much to the chagrin of many lovers, the city of Paris (the city of love!) has removed hundreds of thousands of these locks from the famous Pont des Arts. Guess you don’t need a key to take the lock down when you have welding equipment. Last year, a section of the footbridge collapsed. After the accident, plastic panels were placed on the bridge to deter sweethearts from attaching a lock. There was even a campaign to get people to find other ways of expressing themselves. They tried a different method: an online campaign where you can ‘say it with a selfie’: simply take a picture of you and your lover, post it on social media, and use the hashtag #lovewithoutlocks.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t work. People continued to pile on the locks, so Paris officials had to make a drastic move. All the locks were removed and replaced with decorated plastic panels. Check them out. What do you think?<\/p>\n Not everyone is a big fan of the changes, but others like it. What do you think?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever seen padlocks with initials on them attached to a bridge? It\u2019s become a common practice for tourists and locals alike, but these locks are the source of headaches for city workers! Un \u00ab cadena d\u2019amour \u00bb est un cadena qu\u2019un couple accroche sur un pont pour symboliser publiquement leur amour (A \u201clove…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/06\/love-locks-1699584_960_720.jpg\")
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