Love Locks

I'm sure they can be found in other cities, and in other countries too, but I was particularly drawn to the number of padlocks that decorated several bridges in Berlin. They symbolize the joining of two people together in a romantic courtship ritual -locking each other's hearts together. Bridges are invariably romantic anyway, or can be, and it is uplifting to see so many pledges of love fastened to their railings and decorative ironwork. From a distance they look like colourful decorations on a tree, but close up you can see that each is a personal token of two people coming together –some even have the names of the betrothed and the date on which their love was pledged. I imagine that each of them keeps a key, though I was amused to see that some practical couple opted for a combination code lock instead -after all, what happens if one of them should lose the key...?

Location: Berlin, Germany